Application of the Fourier Series Expansion Method for the Inversion of Gravity Gradients using Gravity Anomalies

Abstract

Accurate and highly precise gravity gradient data are an important component of, for example, gravity field modeling, seabed topography inversion, and resource exploration. However, high-precision gravity gradient data are difficult to obtain. To address this difficulty, this work introduces the Fourier series expansion method to the modeling of gravity gradient fields. Based on gravity anomalies, the analytic expressions of the gravity gradient tensors have been deduced, which provides a new mathematical method for obtaining gravity gradient data. The expression’s derivation and verification processes are as follows. First, these analytic expressions for inverting the gravity gradient based on gravity anomaly data are derived according to the Laplace equation, the boundary value conditions of spherical approximation, and the Fourier series expansion method. Then, global 1’ × 1’ gravity field data provided by UCSD are used to verify the accuracy of these formulas. Finally, the results are analyzed. The experimental results show that the results obtained based on this inversion formula can sufficiently show the details of gravity gradient changes. The formulas derived in this paper have good computational efficiency in the inversion of regional gravity gradients and provide a new mathematical method for gravity gradient data acquisition.