Conclusions

In this paper I showed that data at 32 bit floating bit precision is not needed to form an accurate migration image. It takes only four bits to form an acceptable zero offset image and six bits for a prestack image. The representation of the wavefield within the migration can also be reduced by at least a factor of two. These results offer promise in making external hardware processing solutions, such as FPGAs, GPUs, and the cell processor, effective in the near term.