Large-Dimensional Seismic Inversion Using Global Optimization with Autoencoder-Based Model Dimensionality Reduction

Seismic inversion problems often involve strong nonlinear relationships between model and data so that their misfit functions usually have many local minima. Global optimization methods are well known to be able to find the global minimum without requiring an accurate initial model. However, when the dimensionality of model space becomes large, global optimization methods will converge slow, which seriously hinders their applications in large-dimensional seismic inversion problems. In this article, we propose a new method for large-dimensional seismic inversion based on global optimization and a machine learning technique called autoencoder. Benefiting from the dimensionality reduction characteristics of autoencoder, the proposed method converts the original large-dimensional seismic inversion problem into a low-dimensional one that can be effectively and efficiently solved by global optimization. We apply the proposed method to seismic impedance inversion problems to test its performance. We use a trace-by-trace inversion strategy, and regularization is used to guarantee the lateral continuity of the inverted model. Well-log data with accurate velocity and density are the prerequisite of the inversion strategy to work effectively. Numerical results of both synthetic and field data examples clearly demonstrate that the proposed method can converge faster and yield better inversion results compared with common methods.