Time-lapse traveltime change of singly scattered acoustic waves

We present a technique based on the single-scattering approximation that relates time-lapse localized changes in the propagation velocity to changes in the traveltime of singly scattered waves. We describe wave propagation in a random medium with homogeneous statistical properties as a single-scattering process where the fluctuations of the velocity with respect to the background velocity are assumed to be weak. This corresponds to one of two end-member regimes of wave propagation in a random medium, the first being single scattering, and the second multiple scattering. We present a formulation that relates the change in the traveltime of the scattered waves to a localized change in the propagation velocity by means of the Born approximation for the scattered wavefield. We validate the methodology with synthetic seismograms calculated with finite differences for 2-D acoustic waves. Potential applications of this technique include non-destructive evaluation of heterogeneous materials and time-lapse monitoring of heterogeneous reservoirs.