The 1987 Southeastern Alaska Gravity Calibration Range: Absolute and relative gravity measurements

Abstract

In June 1987 a gravimeter calibration range was set up in southeastern Alaska and the Yukon territory, as part of a geophysical determination of the Newtonian gravitational constant. Absolute gravity measurements were made between the range endpoints using the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics absolute gravity meter. The calibration range spans 171.841±0.014 mGal, with a midpoint g value of 9.81746500 ms−2. Relative gravity meters, including a LaCoste and Romberg borehole gravity meter, were read along this range. A scale factor correction (SFC) for borehole meter 14 was found to be (8.1 ± 1.5) × 10−4, and for meter G‐349 the correction was (−3.3 ± 1.7) × 10−4. The SFC for meter D‐85 has an upper bound of ±1.0 × 10−4.