Wavefield decomposition for viscoelastic anisotropic media

Separating wave modes on seismic records is an essential step in imaging of multicomponent seismic data. Viscoelastic anisotropic models provide a realistic description of subsurface formations that exhibit anisotropy of both velocity and attenuation. However, mode separation has not been extended to viscoelastic anisotropic media yet. Here, we propose an efficient approach to wavefield decomposition that takes both velocity and attenuation anisotropy into account. Our algorithm operates in the frequency-wavenumber domain and, therefore, is suitable for general dissipative models. We present exact equations for wavefield decomposition in arbitrarily anisotropic attenuative homogeneous media. Then the proposed approach is applied to viscoelastic constant- Q VTI (transversely isotropic with a vertical symmetry axis) models. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our approach for piecewise-homogeneous media characterized by pronounced velocity and attenuation anisotropy.