Monte Carlo estimation and resolution analysis of seismic background velocities

The complete solution to an inverse problem, including information on accuracy and resolution, is given by the a posteriori probability density in the model space. By running a modified simulated annealing, samples from the model space can be drawn in such a way that their frequencies of occurrence approximate their a posteriori likelihoods. Using this method, maximum likelihood estimation and uncertainty analysis of seismic background velocity models are performed on multioffset seismic data. The misfit between observed and synthetic waveforms within the time windows along computed multioffset travel times, is used as an objective function for the simulated annealing approach. -from Authors