Fast and high airborne gravity gradiometer survey

摘要

A method for performing a gravity gradiometer survey of a surveyed region of terrain comprises providing an aircraft (e.g. jet) with a gravity gradiometer; flying said aircraft over said terrain at a speed of at least 100m/s and at an average height above said terrain of above said terrain of at least 300m; and collecting gravity gradient data for said surveyed region of terrain from said gravity gradiometer, said gravity gradient data comprising data for at least one component of the gravity gradient tensor. The spacing between flight lines in the survey flight pattern may be at least 300m. The aircraft may also carry a gravimeter, and the data from the gradiometer and the gravimeter may be combined. A model of the surveyed region is generated by fitting a prediction of a model to the gravity and gravity gradient data, wherein said fitting models a bandwidth or noise of one or both of the gravity and gravity gradient data. The gradiometer may be a superconducting gravity gradiometer.