[en] The main attraction of using a spectral method instead of a conventional finite difference or finite element technique for full-wavefield forward modeling in elastic media is the increased accuracy of a spectral approximation. While a finite difference method accurate to second order typically requires 8 to 10 computational grid points to resolve the smallest wavelengths on a 1-D grid, a spectral method that approximates the wavefield by trignometric functions theoretically requires only 2 grid points per minimum wavelength and produces no numerical dispersion from the spatial discretization. The resultant savings in computer memory, which is very significant in 2 and 3 dimensions, allows for larger scale and/or higher frequency simulations