Abstract
The new-generation relative gravimeter Scintrex CG6 is put on the test bench: Its performance is compared to its predecessor, the Scintrex-CG5. A CG5 Scintrex and a CG6 Scintrex were both submitted to the same rigorous tests, which have been developed in recent years to highlight some defects of the CG5. The results show that the CG6 always performs better than the CG5. For instance, the instrumental drift is 5 times smaller for the CG6 than for the CG5. In the tidal bands, the noise level of the CG6 is 3 times lower than of the one of the CG5. We confirmed the tilt susceptibility of the CG5 and found that the CG6 is barely affected by long duration tilts before taking measurements. Unlike the CG5, the CG6 measurements are not influenced by external temperature variations. Overall, the CG6 provides more precise and stable gravity measurements compared to the CG5.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Data availability
The data used in this paper can be obtained from the author (olivier.francis@uni.lu).
Change history
16 December 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-021-01587-5
References
Fores B, Champollion C, Moigne NL et al (2017) Impact of ambient temperature on spring-based relative gravimeter measurements. J Geod 91:269–277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-016-0961-2
Hinderer J, Crossley D, Warburton RJ (2007) 3.04 - gravimetric methods – superconducting gravity meters, editor(s): gerald schubert, treatise on geophysics. Elsevier, pp 65–122, ISBN 9780444527486. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-044452748-6.00172-3
Imanishi Y (2009) High-frequency parasitic modes of superconducting gravimeters. J Geod 83:455–467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-008-0253-6
Klees R, Reudink RHC, Flikweert PLM (2017) Tilt susceptibility of the scintrex CG-5 autograv gravity meter revisited. In: Vergos G, Pail R, Barzaghi R (eds) International symposium on gravity, geoid and height systems 2016. International association of geodesy symposia, vol 148. Springer, Cham. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2017_4
Klees R, Reudink RHC, Flikweert PLM (2019) Tilt susceptibility of the scintrex CG-5 autograv gravity meter revisited. In: Vergos GS et al. (eds) Proceedings international symposium on gravity, geoid and height systems 2016, International Association of Geodesy, vol 48. Springer, New York, pp 119–123. https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2017_4
Lampitelli C, Francis O (2009) Hydrological effects on gravity and correlations between gravitational variations and level of the Alzette River at the station of Walferdange, Luxembourg. J Geodyn. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2009.08.003
Scintrex Ltd (2021) CG-5 scintrex autograv system operation manual, part 1 # 867700 revision 8., Scintrex Limited, Concord
Scintrex Ltd (2019) CG-6 oeprations manuels RevC, https://scintrexltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CG-6-Operations-Manual-RevC.pdf/
Peterson JR (1993) Observations and modeling of seismic background noise. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr93322. USGS Publications Warehouse, http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr93322
Reudink RHC, Klees R, Francis O, Kusche J, Schlesinger R, Shabanloui A, Sneeuw N, Timmen L (2014) High tilt susceptibility of the Scintrex CG-5 relative gravimeters. J Geodesy 2014(March):1–6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-014-0705-0
Van Camp M, Francis O (2007) Is the instrumental drift of superconducting gravimeters a linear or exponential function of time? J Geod 81:337–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-006-0110-4
Van Camp M, Vauterin P (2005) Tsoft: graphical and interactive software for the analysis of time series and Earth tides. Comput Geosci 31(5):631–640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2004.11.015
Van Camp M, Viron O, Watlet A, Meurers B, Francis O, Caudron C (2017) Geophysics from terrestrial time-variable gravity measurements. Rev Geophys 55(4):938–992. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017RG000566
Wenzel HG (1996) The nanogal software: earth tide data processing package ETERNA 3.30. Bull Inf Marées Terr 124:9425–9439
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Ing. Gilbert Klein and Ing. Marc Seil of the University of Luxembourg for the support they provided during the experiments. I also thank my daughter Sophie Francis for editing the draft of the paper. I wish to express my gratitude to the three reviewers and the associate editor for excellent and constructive suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
O.F. designed and performed the experiments. He did the interpretation of the results and wrote the paper.
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Francis, O. Performance assessment of the relative gravimeter Scintrex CG-6. J Geod 95, 116 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-021-01572-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-021-01572-y
Keywords
- Spring gravimeter
- Scintrex CG5 and CG6
- Susceptibility to tilt
- Sensitivity to temperature
- Hysteresis
- Precision