Storage and retrieval of gravity data

Abstract

At the Earth Physics Branch in Ottawa, storage and retrieval of gravity data has progressed from the pencil and paper system used until the late 1950’s to the current file-oriented gravity library operated on a large, high speed computer. The main impetus for the development of this computer library has been the requirements of the petroleum and mineral exploration industry, but military requirements and those of physical geodesy, geology and geophysics have had a large influence on the system at some or all stages of its development. The current system is user-oriented and tends to be complex internally to preserve a simple and convenient interface to the user.

The results of approximately150,000 gravity measurements are contained on the main output file: the principal factors file. These observations are mainly those of the Earth Physics Branch, but a small percentage have been provided by commerical geophysical companies, other government agencies and universities. Current plans call for more emphasis on extending the system to serve as a national library for gravity and related data.

Data reduction within the system is a partitionened process which employs a static model as a basis for the computation. Only a relatively minor change is required to develop a dynamic model for data reduction by eliminating the partitioned fashion in which field data are reduced. The capability of recognizing and computing accurately the magnitude of changes in the value of gravity and their geographic distribution will be a tremendous asset to studies of the dynamics of the earth.