Publication Date:
2021-05-17
Description:
Airborne gravimetry is an important method for measuring gravity over large un-
surveyed areas. This technology has been widely applied in Canada, Antarctica and
Greenland to map the gravity fields of these regions and in recent years, in the oil
industry. In 2005, two tests in the Italian area were performed by ENI in cooperation
with the Politecnico di Milano and the Danish National Space Center. To the knowl-
edge of the authors, these were the first experiments of this kind in Italy and were
performed over the Ionian coasts of Calabria and the Maiella Mountains. The Cal-
abria test field is characterized by strong gravity variations due to the geophysical and
topographic structure of the area. The ground gravity coverage is also quite dense.
It was thus possible to compare airborne gravity with the ground observed values in
order to check the precision of the airborne gravimetry. The second campaign was
performed in an unsurveyed area centred on the Maiella Mountains, thus filling the
data gap of this zone. Comparisons with existing ground data were also carried out
in this area.
After smoothing, the collected data have an accuracy of 2–3 mgal, as derived by
cross-over analysis. Moreover, the collocation method applied to compare and merge
ground-based and airborne data proved to be efficient and reliable. The standard de-
viation of the discrepancies between airborne data and collocation upward continued
gravity is, in both cases, less than 8 mgal. In the Maiella test, the gravity field obtained
by merging airborne and ground data using collocation also provides a more detailed
description of the high-frequency pattern of the geopotential field in this area.
Description:
Published
Description:
625–632
Description:
1T. Struttura della Terra
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
