Magnetic mapping for the detection and characterization of UXO: Use of multi-sensor fluxgate 3-axis magnetometers and methods of interpretation

Fluxgate vector magnetometers can be powerful instruments in magnetic mapping and in the detection of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Being lightweight and having low power requirements, they allow the development of multi-sensor use. The main problems in using fluxgate magnetometers arise from calibration errors and drift but these can be overcome using a quick and simple method of calibration in the field. This method also has the advantage of compensating permanent and induced magnetic fields generated by magnetized objects carried with the sensors. Measurement accuracy is similar to that obtained with scalar magnetometers. Multi-magnetometer profiling allows direct inversion of raw magnetic data along profiles in order to locate and characterize dipoles typically generated by UXO. The method used is a non-linear inverse procedure that estimates the three coordinates and magnetization vector of the dipole. Application of the technique to both a synthetic case and a field example illustrates the advantages of the method compared with the use of the analytic signal.