Ray theory is widely used in seismic processing. If the concept of
traveltime is largely used, the concept of ray also offers specific
possibilities. Beside the use of rays as a numerical solution for
the computation of traveltimes for tomography or for Kirchhoff migration,
the concept of locally coherent events allows a direct interpretation
of data in terms of rays. The analysis of locally coherent events
associated with the know-how developed for ray tracing may lead to
promising approaches for seismic proccessing : estimation of the
velocity macro-model (Stereotomography, migration based velocity analysis),
migration (oriented migration), multiples removal.
I will first present the concept of locally coherent events, then I
will show how it can be used for estimating velocity macro-models,
which remains one
of the most difficult challenges for seismic imaging.
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