Impedance profile inversion via the first transport equation

The subject of this paper is the inverse reflection problem for a stratified elastic half-space. That is, a linear elastic medium, whose elastic properties depend only on depth from a planar free surface, is stimulated at t = 0 by a plane wave impulsive source. The motion of a typical surface element is recorded for 0 ? t ? 2T. It is shown that this surface trace determines the acoustic impedance of the medium as a function of travel time, to (travel-time) depth T. Moreover, we give a precise characterization of those functions which may appear as surface traces, and show uniqueness, existence, and continuous dependence of the logarithm of the impedance as a function of the surface trace in the Sobolev H¹ topology.