Software Update: Guided QI, Smarter Automation, and Scalable Seismic Workflows
Sharp Reflections Release 2026.1
Sharp Reflections Software 2026.1 is now available for download.
Sharp Reflections Software 2026.1 continues our mission to deliver seismic at the speed of thought — helping geoscientists move faster, work at scale, and make better decisions with confidence.
The 2026.1 release focuses on three core themes:
Together, these improvements reduce friction in everyday workflows while laying a strong architectural foundation for future multi-dimensional seismic analysis.
What’s New in 2026.1
1. QIGuide — Guided Quantitative Interpretation
Sharp Reflections (in collaboration with Equinor) introduces with 2026.1 QIGuide (Quantitative Interpretation Guide), a new interactive workflow that guides users through a complete EEI / χ (CHI) and AVO analysis with built-in QC at every step.
QIGuide provides:
A step-by-step, tabbed workflow covering initialization, wavelet estimation, operator design, intercept/gradient (or AI/GI), χ/EEI analysis, and AVO classification
Real-time, interactive QC, with linked section views and cross-plots that update instantly as parameters change
Automatic management of data dependencies between workflow steps
Flexibility to start from multiple entry points, supporting both exploratory and production workflows
Title
QIGuide is designed to make advanced QI workflows clearer, more repeatable, and easier to validate, without taking control away from expert users.
2. ML Wavelet Estimation & Well Tie
2026.1 introduces early capability for Machine Learning–based Wavelet Estimation and Well Tie, bringing increased automation to traditionally manual and time-consuming steps in the seismic-to-well tie workflow.
Supported functionality:
Automated wavelet extraction using ML techniques
Bayesian and multi-parameter optimization of well tie parameterization
Optional automation of stretch/squeeze behavior
This first release includes single-well support, with continued feature expansion (e.g. multi-well support, additional quality metrics/controls) planned for future releases.
Results & QC of ML Auto Well Tie
Seismic Reference Datum Handling
A new Seismic Reference Datum framework improves how reference datum and replacement velocity are handled across seismic and well workflows.
This enhancement provides:
More consistent depth/time context across displays
Clearer integration of wells and seismic data
Improved robustness for onshore seismic analysis projects
Synthetics and Seismic are now referenced to Seismic Reference Datum (SRD)
3. Live-Trace-Only (LTO) Data Handling — Efficiency Without Compromise
A foundational architectural enhancement in 2026.1 is native support for Live-Trace-Only (LTO) volumes, eliminating the need to pad missing or incomplete CDPs to a fixed trace count.
Why this matters:
Lower memory and storage overhead by avoiding dead or padded traces
Faster I/O and data access, with less wasted bandwidth
Preservation of true acquisition geometry, particularly important for irregular datasets
A scalable foundation for future workflows that operate natively on irregular data
In 2026.1, LTO support is enabled across a focused set of tools, with broader adoption planned as coverage expands.
Comparison of snail sorted gathers for two different CDPs on the left where most offset X/offset Y location have live data and on the right where there is much sparser data coverage.
LTO-Aware Data Selection and Analysis Tools
The OBN Data Selection Tool now supports Live-Trace-Only volumes, allowing users to QC, sort (incl. snail & butterfly options), and sub-select, on the fly, irregular datasets directly, without forcing early regularization.
When needed, the tool can still output regular, padded sub-volumes to maintain compatibility with other workflows — giving users control over when and where regularization is applied.
Gather viewers have also been enhanced with snail-sort support and stacking, muting, and additional select processing algorithms now support LTO datasets, improving QC, analysis, and visualization of irregular gathers.
The 2026.1 Release Notes document contains a current list of LTO-supported algorithms.
“It’s the little things”
…and 2026.1 includes several meaningful enhancements:
Quality-of-Life Enhancements
Availability
Sharp Reflections Software 2026.1 will be available in February 2026.
Get started now with QIGuide, ML Well Tie, and Live-Trace-Only workflows — please contact customersupport@sharpreflections.com.
Stay Sharp,
Joe Zuech
Head of Product – Sharp Reflections