The effect of the magnetic field on the accuracy of measurements with Worden and Sharpe gravity meters

Summary The effect of an additional homogeneous magnetic field with an intensity of 0–4.5 Oe on the Worden quartz gravity meter No. 961 and on Sharpe quartz gravity meters Nos 173 and 174 was tested. Whereas no effect was observed with the Worden gravity meter, the magnetic field had a measurable effect on both the Sharpe gravity meters. The largest deviation of the reading beam is caused by the horizontal component of the magnetic field which acts in the plane of oscillation of the gravity-meter arm. The Sharpe gravity meter No. 173 is considerably sensitive; a field of 0.2 Oe intensity, corresponding to the magnitude of the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field in mid-latitudes, causes an error in the measurement of gravity of as much as 0.08 mGal. With a view to the different behaviours of the individual quartz gravity meters of the same type in a magnetic field, it should prove expedient to carry out check measurements with all gravity meters and, with regard to the sensitivity of the gravity meter to the magnetic field and the required accuracy of the gravity determination, take into account this perturbing factor in field measurements, as well as laboratory tests of gravity meters.     

Sensitivity of the Sharpe and Worden gravity meters to vertical motion

Summary Using the least-squares method the constants of both gravity meters — seismometers — were derived from the amplitude responses, observed under vertical motion on a vibrating table in the 0.3–30 s range. The values of the seismogram amplitudes, above which seismic waves cause an observable displacement of the gravity meter reading beam, were determined for the SKD and Press-Ewing station seismographs.     

LaCosteG型重力仪气压改正方法的研究

在探讨ＬａＣｏｓｔｅＧ型重力仪气压响应的数学力学模型及模型参数测定方法的基础上,提出了一种实用的气压改正程序。根据北京高崖口基线的实验观测资料,计算了Ｇ５７０仪器的气压响应模型参数,并对灵山基线的观测结果进行了气压改正,基本消除了气压影响,明显提高了观测精度。     

Gravity reduction with three-dimensional atmospheric pressure data for precise ground gravity measurements

The redistribution of air masses induces gravity variations (atmospheric pressure effect) up to about 20 μgal. These variations are disturbing signals in gravity records and they must be removed very carefully for detecting weak gravity signals. In the past, different methods have been developed for modelling of the atmospheric pressure effect. These methods use local or two-dimensional (2D) surface atmospheric pressure data and a standard height-dependent air density distribution. The atmospheric pressure effect is consisting of the elastic deformation and attraction term. The deformation term can be well modelled with 2D surface atmospheric pressure data, for instance with the Green's function method. For modelling of the attraction term, three-dimensional (3D) data are required. Results with 2D data are insufficient.From European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 3D atmospheric pressure data are now available. The ECMWF data used here are characterised by a spacing of Δ and Δλ = 0.5°, 60 pressure levels up to a height of 60 km and an interval of 6 h. These data are used for modelling of the atmospheric attraction term. Two attraction models have been developed based on the point mass attraction of air segments and the gravity potential of the air masses. The modelling shows a surface pressure-independent part of gravity variations induced by mass redistribution of the atmosphere in the order of some μgal. This part can only be determined by using 3D atmospheric pressure data. It has been calculated for the Vienna Superconducting Gravimeter site.From this follows that the gravity reduction can be improved by applying the 3D atmospheric attraction model for analysing long-periodic tidal waves including the polar tide. The same improvement is expected for reduction of long-term absolute gravity measurements or comparison of gravity measurements at different seasonal times. By using 3D atmospheric pressure data, the gravity correction can be improved up to some μgal.     

Estimating the influence of seismic and meteorological factors on the accuracy of measurements by relative gravimeters

Continuous high-precision long-term gravity measurements are carried out at the geophysical observatory located in the experimental base of Vladimir State University. The long time series of gravity acceleration and its standard deviation are obtained. The factors responsible for the increases in the studied deviations are analyzed. The recommendations for improving the accuracy of relative gravity measurements are formulated.     

Time series of superconducting gravimeters and water storage variations from the global hydrology model WGHM

The gravimetric time series achieved from the combination of superconducting and absolute gravimeters are characterized by highest precision and long-term stability. If the effects of Earth and ocean tides, atmosphere and polar motion are removed, the residual curve is dominated by hydrological mass variations. A major source of these variations is water storage changes in the vicinity of the sensor. However, global variations contribute to the signal significantly. For three stations of superconducting gravimeters, a comparison of the principal components obtained from the residual gravity curve on the one hand and continental water storage from the WaterGAP Global Hydrological Model (WGHM) on the other hand is carried out. The results demonstrate a coherence of seasonal variations but a difference in the contribution of the local zone at the individual stations, which point out the need for a careful and site-specific examination of local effects.     

Some pressure test phenomena of worden and CG-2 (sharpe) gravimeters

Summary The results of pressure tests of gravimeters Worden No. 961, CG-2 Nos 174 G, 323 and 374 in a pressure chamber are presented. Apart from deriving the barometric correction, the authors have also studied accompanying phenomena, which occur during pressure tests of gravimeters — the barometric after-effect and hysteresis. The processing of the results in two ways differing in the method of eliminating the drift of the gravimeter, yields nearly identical results. The hysteresis was investigated for atmospheric pressures of 720±150 Torr (1 Torr=0.133322 kPa), a rate of change of 30 Torr/min and a temperature of 22°C. The barometric after-effect was investigated in greater detail for the CG-2 gravimeter No. 174 G at a pressure difference of 225 Torr, rate of change of 30, 15 and 7.5 Torr/min and a gravimeter heating temperature of 35 °C. It was also found that the barometric correction can be determined, using the method given, with sufficient accuracy. As a result of the existence of hysteresis, however, the derived results must be applied carefully in field gravity measurements with some gravimeters.     

基于GPS和大气传输模型的InSAR大气改正方法研究

利用GPS数据改正InSAR大气影响中,GPS站网的低空间密度是限制改正精度的一个主要因素.文中引入大气传输模型（ATM）来考虑大气状态在时间上的演化,并兼顾了风向的估计,把GPS-ZWD（GPS湿延迟）时间序列观测值转换为空间上分布比较稠密的GPS-ZWD网络,然后利用该稠密网络在空间上内插产生水汽延迟图,来更好地模拟InSAR影像获取时刻的水汽场,提高大气改正精度.实验结果表明,在研究地区有限的数据条件下（即只有6个GPS点的情况下）,GPS+ATM算法在重现大气信号能力方面比单纯的使用影像获取时刻的GPS-ZWD数据要强,并且其对长波的大气误差去除更明显;用来做实验的三幅差分干涉图中,GPS+ATM算法对两幅以长波信号为主的干涉图中的大气影响分别降低了21.7%和22.6%,比仅使用SAR过境时刻GPS-ZWD数据时的结果分别改进了4.5%和8.7%.而对以短波信号为主的干涉图没有明显提高.     

Deep-sea temperature variations and their influence on heat-flow measurements

Deep-sea measurements of geothermal heat flow sometimes show a larger scatter within an area than is usual for continental measurements. Accurate records of deep-sea (greater than 4500 m) temperatures, near the sea floor, are used to show that these local variations in heat flow are unlikely to be due to temperature variations in the bottom water. Temperature measurements made at shallower depths over extended periods, by gauges deployed for tidal studies, are also considered. At two stations (2200 m and 3022 m) monthly temperature changes would produce significant gradients to a depth of 1 m into the sediments. Longer-period temperature variations can affect measured heat flow to much greater depths of penetration, and present evidence is insufficient to exclude the possibility.     

Airborne measurements of atmospheric electrical conductivities

Atmospheric electrical polar conductivities were measured using a Gerdien condenser mounted on an aircraft. These surveys, conducted over the western coast of South India, have detected enhanced conductivities associated with the placer deposits of the radioactive mineral monazite found in this region. The data reflect the variation in the level of surface radioactivity along the flight routes. In one flight that rose over the sea up to 1 km, the effect of radioactivity was seen to extend up to this point. Over land the influence of the surface radioactivity on electrical conductivity is mostly confined to the region of occurrence of the deposits. These studies also suggest the possibility of employing the Gerdien condenser in preliminary surveys to detect the presence of radioactivity.     

临近空间大气扰动变化特性的定量研究

本文利用TIMED/SABER 2002年1月至2013年1月共11年的卫星温度探测数据,通过全球网格化及在网格内作数学统计的方法,得到了20~100 km高度上全球网格点上温度的平均值和标准差,实现了对临近空间全球大气扰动进行定量刻画的目的.通过定量分析温度标准差的分布特性,文中得到了临近空间大气扰动的全球分布规律,并讨论了与这些分布规律相关的物理过程.结果表明,在20~70 km高度上,温度标准差为1~10 K,有显著的冬季/夏季的差异,冬季的温度标准差比夏季大;大气重力波扰动是最主要来源,同时大气传播性行星波引起的扰动也是来源之一.在70~100 km高度上,温度标准差常年较强,量值为10~30 K,冬季/夏季的差异小,低纬地区的温度标准差高于中高纬度地区,呈现许多局地化的小结构.大气重力波是引起该区域大气总扰动量的主要扰动来源,大气潮汐波、传播性行星波(准2天、准6.5天)也有重要贡献.     

Analysis of observations with dual sensor superconducting gravimeters

Among the 21 superconducting gravimeters presently operating worldwide four instruments exist that are equipped with two vertically aligned sensor units. Three of the instruments are installed in Germany (Bad Homburg, Moxa, Wettzell) and one in South Africa (Sutherland). Comparisons of the data sets obtained with the dual sensor systems yield information on instrumental effects and sensitivity as well as on the efficiency of reductions of environmental effects applied to the data. The latter is an important constraint when looking for small geodynamic signals like Slichter and core modes or aperiodic variations.From analyses of the two data sets of each instrument a small but significant difference of 1-3% in the response of the sensor units on barometric pressure variations is found. Likewise, the records of lower and upper sensor vary slightly but not systematically with regard to the noise levels in the different frequency ranges. The tidal analyses yield an agreement of the tidal parameters generally well within the standard deviations determined from the least squares adjustment in the tidal analysis. The deviations are in the range between 0×10⁻⁴ and 3×10⁻⁴ for the amplitude factor and the phases differ between 0.0005° and 0.01° for the four main tidal constituents O1, K1, M2, and S2.The comparison of the gravity residuals of the two sensors with each other as well as with their sum and difference in the time and frequency domain shows the existence of identical signals in the records of the two sensors in the whole range of observation. This probably means that either the environmental reductions applied are not sufficient or there are additional disturbing effects in the data which have not been taken care of yet. From the study it emerges that it is not possible to get entirely rid of the tidal signals in the data. This is probably also due to the fact that despite reductions the data sets contain additional signals and slightly different noise at tidal frequencies which affect the result of the tidal analysis.     

Global-scale validation of model-based load deformation of the Earth's crust from continental watermass and atmospheric pressure variations using GPS

Temporal mass variations in the continental hydrosphere and in the atmosphere lead to changes in the gravitational potential field that are associated with load-induced deformation of the Earth’s crust. Therefore, models that compute continental water storage and atmospheric pressure can be validated by measured load deformation time series. In this study, water mass variations as computed by the WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model (WGHM) and surface pressure as provided by the reanalysis product of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction describe the hydrological and atmospheric pressure loading, respectively. GPS observations from 14 years at 208 stations world-wide were reprocessed to estimate admittance factors for the associated load deformation time series in order to determine how well the model-based deformation fits to real data. We found that such site-specific scaling factors can be identified separately for water mass and air pressure loading. Regarding water storage variation as computed by WGHM, weighted global mean admittances are 0.74 ± 0.09, 0.66 ± 0.10, 0.90 ± 0.06 for the north, east and vertical component, respectively. For the dominant vertical component, there is a rather good fit to the observed displacements, and, averaged over all sites, WGHM is found to slightly overestimate temporal variations of water storage. For Europe and North America, with a dense GPS network, site-specific admittances show a good spatial coherence. Regarding regional over- or underestimation of WGHM water storage variations, they agree well with GRACE gravity field data. Globally averaged admittance estimates of pre-computed atmospheric loading displacements provided by the Goddard Geodetic VLBI Group were determined to be 0.88 ± 0.04, 0.97 ± 0.08, 1.13 ± 0.01 for the north, east and vertical, respectively. Here, a relatively large discrepancy for the dominant vertical component indicates an underestimation of corresponding loading predictions.     

Influence of energetic particles on atmospheric ionization

Atmospheric ionization rate for the incident electrons and heavy nuclei (protons and α-particles) of various origin is simulated using GEANT4 code. The photon-nuclei cascade generated by a primary particle is included in this code. “Secondary” bremsstrahlung effect from electrons causes peak ionization at low altitudes along with the more powerful peak at high altitudes. The contribution of helium to the total ionization rate, which turns out to be ∼10% of that of protons, is discussed.     

Influence of sunlight on atmospheric condensation nuclei

I has been shown that irradiation of air by sun-rays leads to a formation of atmospheric condensation nuclei, as measured with the automatic nucleus counter (1).To control the influence of the material, experiments were done in a gasometer where a rubber balloon was built in, also in a metal container covered either with uviol glass or window glass, or with air in a polyethylene balloon. The same influence of sunrays was observed in each case.Similar experiments were then done with compressed air from a metal container, or with oxygen gas, nitrogen gas or nitrous oxide all from metal containers. In all cases sun-rays produced condensation nuclei; the effect was present both at 1800 m and at 270 m altitude. Diffuse sunlight with high clouds also had an effect. Infra-red radiation and mechanical shaking were without result, but ultraviolet rays from a quartz-mercury lamp increased the nucleus count of the balloon whether it contained air or one of the above-mentioned gases.As yet it has not been possible to decide the mechanism of formation of these nuclei and what their meteorological and biological role might be.The detailed paper will appear later in «Geofisica pura e applicata».     

Influence of land evapotranspiration on climate variations

A coupled numerical model of the global atmosphere with a qualified biosphere (GOALS/LASG) has been used to assess the nature of the physical mechanisms for land-atmosphere interactions, and the impacts of the Asian/North American land-surface evapotranspiration on the regional and global climate. This sensitivity study suggests that the simulated climate would be relatively sensitive to land surface evapotranspiration, especially over the Asian regions. The removal of evapotranspiration in Asia would create a warmer and drier climate to a certain degree. Furthermore, the surface evapotranspiration anomalies would make a substantial contribution to the formation and variation of subtropical anticyclones through the changes in monsoon precipitation and the β -effect, but also make a large contribution to the variations of the atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere and even the globe. Therefore, besides the traditional perception that we have generally emphasized on the influence of subtropical anticyclones activities on the boreal summer precipitation over the regions of eastern China, the surface evapotranspiration anomalies, however, also have substantial impacts on the subtropical anticyclones through the changes in monsoon precipitation. For this reason, the variation in the internal heating sources of the atmosphere caused by the land surface evapotranspiration and the vapor phase change during the boreal summer is an important external factor forcing the weather and climate.     

Synoptic variations in the chemical composition of atmospheric precipitation

Summary A study of the chemical composition of monthly precipitation samples from a number of stations in Sweden brings out the existence of significant variations in the relative proportions of chlorides and sodium depending upon the general character of the prevailing circulation. In maritime westerly flows the weight ratio of chloride to sodium decreases eastward to values which lie far below that value characteristic of sea water. In precipitation falling from arctic or polar continental air masses the chloride component is almost completely absent. The highest amounts of chlorides relative to sodium are observed in precipitation from warm and most air masses reaching Sweden from the south or southeast.Significant variations are observed also in the yearly means of the chloride to sodium ratio depending upon the dominance of maritime or continental air currents.A sketch map of the «average» chloride concentration in European precipitation prepared from miscellaneous older data lends support to the results of the analysis of the monthly data. The separation of the chemical components indicated by this study would seem to be of considerable geochemical interest since it would permit different maritime salts to be deposited in widely separated parts of the continents.The full paper will be published in «Tellus», VII (1955), 1.

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Zusammenfassung Ein Studium der chemischen Zusammensetzung von Proben des monatlichen Niederschlages einer Anzahl von Beobachtungsstationen in Schweden deckt die Existenz von deutlichen Schwankungen im relativen Verhältnis von Chlor und Natrium auf, welche vom allgemeinen Charakter der vorherrschenden Zirkulation abhängen. In maritimen westlichen Strömungen nimmt das Gewichtsverhältnis von Chlor zu Natrium gegen Osten zu auf Werte, welche weit unterhalb des charakteristischen Betrages für Meerwasser liegen, ab. Im Niederschlag, welcher aus arktischen oder polar-kontinentalen Luftmassen stammt, fehlt die Chlor-Komponente beinahe vollständig. Der höchste Betrag von Chlor relativ zu Natrium wurde im Niederschlag aus warmen und den meisten Luftmassen, welche Schweden vom Süden und Südosten erreichen, gefunden.Deutliche Schwankungen wurden auch in den Jahresmitteln des Verhältnisses Chlor zu Natrium beobachtet, welche von der Vorherrschaft der maritimen oder kontinentalen Luftströmungen abhängen.Eine schematische Karte der «mittleren» Chlor-Konzentration im Europäischen Niederschlag, welche mit Hilfe von verschiedenen älteren Daten entworfen wurde, unterstützt die Resultate der Analyse der Monatswerte. Die Trennung der chemischen Komponenten, welche durch diese Untersuchung angedeutet wird, scheint von beträchtlichem Interesse für die Erdchemie zu sein, da auf diese Weise verschiedene maritime Salze in weit auseinander liegenden Teilen der Kontinente abgelagert würden.Die ausführliche Arbeit wird in der Zeitschrift «Tellus», VII (1955), 1 veröffentlicht werden.

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Presented by Mr. ClaesRooth, Institute of Meteorology, University of Stockholm, Lindhagensgatan 124v,Stockholm (Sweden).