Full waveform inversion (FWI) is recognized as a leading data-fitting methodology, leveraging the detailed information contained in physical waveform data to construct accurate, high-resolution velocity models essential for crosshole surveys. Despite its effectiveness, FWI is often challenged by its sensitivity to data quality and inherent nonlinearity, which can lead to instability and the inadvertent incorporation of noise and extraneous data into inversion models. To address these challenges, we introduce the scale-aware edge-preserving FWI (SAEP-FWI) technique, which integrates a cutting-edge nonlinear anisotropic hybrid diffusion (NAHD) filter within the gradient computation process. This innovative filter effectively reduces noise while simultaneously enhancing critical small-scale structures and edges, significantly improving the fidelity and convergence of the FWI inversion results. The application of SAEP-FWI across a variety of experimental and authentic crosshole datasets clearly demonstrates its effectiveness in suppressing noise and preserving key scale-aware and edge-delineating features, ultimately leading to clear inversion outcomes. Comparative analyses with other FWI methods highlight the performance of our technique, showcasing its ability to produce images of notably higher quality. This improvement offers a robust solution that enhances the accuracy of subsurface imaging.
Keywords: coherence enhancing diffusion; crosshole survey; edge enhancing diffusion; full waveform inversion; nonlinear anisotropic hybrid diffusion filer; scale-aware edge-preserving.