Instantaneousfrequency:

By DO0 JUNG JIN

GeoenvironmentalConsultants
Grand Junciion.Colorado

I n Propertiesof instantaneousseismicattributes(July 1991 TLE),
R.E. White shows graphicallythat instantaneousfrequencycan be
negative.This propertyof the instantaneousfrequencyis very inter-
esting, especially when we keep in mind the fact that an analytic
signal associatedwith a real signal containsno negative-frequency
components..White’s graph, therefore, deserves some analytical
consideration.
Let x(t) and a(t) represent a recorded seismic trace and its
associatedanalyticsignal, respectively.Then
a(f) = x(t) - jh(t)
the reflectivity or sequenceof reflection coefficients consistsof
well-spaced large reflectionsseparatedby a low-level background
of very minor reflection coefficients.” In general,thesetwo require-
mentsare mutually exclusiveand the procedurewill not work. It is
noticedthatall examplesgiven by White for this procedureare from
syntheticdata, in which the kurtosisof the reflectivity is 50 or 6.
Although it is true that most seismic data are leptokurtic, their
kurtosisin generalis not ashigh as50 (often not even 6) asassumed
in the examplesof syntheticdata in White’s Figures8- 11.
If “instantaneousamplitudegives the magnitudeof reflection,”
why is it truethat “to call amplitudeenvelopethe reflectionstrength
is to cloudthe meaningwith dubiousinterpretationalassumptions?”

wherej = (-1)‘/2 and h(r) = iJ-12
is the quadraturetrace. Further, let A(r). o(t) and W(I) designatethe
instantaneous amplitude(amplitudeenvelope),instantaneous
and instantaneousfrequency,respectively,then
A(t) = [&t) + II*(~)]*‘~,
do F. mally, I believeprovidingthe following definitionof kurtosiswill
help eliminate possibleconfusionin connectionwith kurtosisand
leptokurticdistributionas describedin White’s paper. Kurtosis is
one of the four most importantparametersof descriptivestatistics.
phase,
They are mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis. Kurtosis is a
parameterthatcharacterizesthe peakednessof a frequencydistribu-
tion curveor histogramand is defined as follows:
K = M4/M22 ,

where K is the kuriosisand

where the prime symbol denotesthe derivative of the primed quan-

tity with respectto time

is the nth centralmoment or the rrthmomentaboutthe mean of the

I nsteadof stopping with the previous three equations,let’s take
anothersmall but very importantstep which hopefully will permit
some insights into the meaning of the instantaneousfrequency.
Differentiation of $(t) and substitutionof this value into the third of
the above equationsgives
w(t) = [x(r) h’(r) -x’(c) h(r)j/A *(t) .
This equationshowsthe natureof the instantaneousfrequency,one
that is entirely different from that of Fourierfrequency.In particular,
it reveals two very interestingpropertiesof the instantaneousfre-
quency:first, it becomesnegativewheneverx(r) h’(r) c x’(t) h(t); and
second, it is inversely proportionalto the squareof the amplitude
envelope. A consequenceof the secondproperty is that it becomes
infinite when the amplitudeenvelopeis zero or infinitesimallysmall
andthat it is indeterminatewheneverboththe numeratoranddenom-
inator are zero.
White quotesTurhan Taner’s suggestionthat “the phaseof the
seismicwavelet can be estimatedfrom a histogramof instantaneous
phaseat maxima of the amplitudeenvelope.” White statesa require-
ment for this procedureis that “the seismicreflectivity sequencebe
purely random or iid (independentlyidentically distributed)” and
anotherrequirementis that “reflectivity is sufficiently spiky; that is,
distribution,f(x) is the probability density function of a random
variablex and p is the mean value of x. The secondcentralmoment
(Mz) is the variance, u2, of the distributionso that the equationfor
kurtosiscan be rewritten
K=Mql(T4.
The peakednessof a distribution is described by one of the
following three adjectives,dependingon the value of the kurtosis:
l Mesokurticwhen K = 3 (this is thecasein a normaldistribution)
l Leptokurtic when K > 3 (distribution more heavily concen-
tratedaboutthe mean than the normal distribution)
l Plntykurticwhen K < 3 (distributionis less heavily concen-
tratedaboutthe meanthan the normal distribution)
In passing,it is pointedout that the first momentaboutthe origin
is the mean(p) andthe skewnessis definedasMdu3. It isalso noted
that the skewnessand kurtosis as defined above are sometimes
referred to as ,‘BI and 02, respectively,of Pearsonianp statistics.
Also, it shouldbe bornein mind thatsomeauthorsdefine the kurtosis
as K = Mda4 - 3. According to this definition, K - 0 in a normal
dislribution and the definitions for leptokurticand platykurticare
similarly adjusted.

GEOPHYSICS:THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION AUGUST 1992 45