Name
Estimating the Total Gravity Value from its Vector Components in Airborne Gravimetry
Date & Time
Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM
Description
Airborne vector gravimetry is increasingly recognized for its utility in high-resolution geoid modelling. Recent research has demonstrated that incorporating the measured horizontal components (g_x,g_y) of the gravity vector can improve geoid accuracy by 40% compared to traditional vertical-only (g_z) approaches. While this geodetic gain is significant, the horizontal components remain underutilized in traditional geophysical exploration, where the vertical component is often treated as the sole primary signal. This study investigates whether the accuracy gains observed in geoid modelling translate into improved estimates of the total gravity magnitude (g) itself for geophysical density modelling.
Theoretically, the three components of the gravity vector are coupled via Laplace’s equation in source-free regions (∇.g=0). By treating gravity as a coherent vector field rather than a scalar quantity, we hypothesize that the horizontal components provide critical constraints on platform alignment errors and improve the recovery of high-frequency signal content related to lateral density variations. Using real airborne vector data provided by AIRGrav, we test the extent to which including horizontal components refines the determination of the gravity scalar (g). Preliminary assessments suggest that this vector integration method reduces "smearing" at geological boundaries and offers a more robust dataset for subsurface inversion than scalar-only processing.
Location Name
McCain 2017
Full Address
Dalhousie University
Halifax NS
Canada
Halifax NS
Canada
Session Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract ID
401
Speaker Organization
University of Calgary
Session Name
G3
Presenting Author
Ismael Foroughi, Department of Geomatics Engineering, University of Calgary