Geopotential field anomaly continuation with multi-altitude observations

Conventional gravity and magnetic anomaly continuation invokes the standard Poisson boundary condition of a zero anomaly at an infinite vertical distance from the observation surface. This simple continuation is limited, however, where multiple altitude slices of the anomaly field have been observed. Increasingly, areas are becoming available which are constrained by multiple boundary conditions from surface, airborne, and satellite surveys. This paper describes the implementation of continuation with multi-altitude boundary conditions in Cartesian and spherical coordinates and investigates the advantages and limitations of these applications. Continuations by EPS (equivalent point source) inversion and the FT (Fourier transform), as well as by SCHA (spherical cap harmonic analysis) are considered. These methods were selected because they are especially well suited for analyzing multi-altitude data over finite patches of the earth such as those covered by the ADMAP database. In general, continuations constrained by multi-altitude data surfaces are invariably superior to those constrained by a single altitude data surface due to anomaly measurement errors and the non-uniqueness of continuation.

► We tested continuation methods with simulated and observed gravity and magnetic anomalies. ► Methods include EPS inversion, FT, and spherical cap harmonic analysis. ► Anomaly estimates from multi-altitude data were found to be superior to the classical single-altitude continuations.