ADGRAV

Antarctic Digital Gravity Synthesis (ADGRAV) - The Development of a New Generation Gravity Map of Antarctica

PI(s):

Robin E. Bell

Christopher Small

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) supported the development of a next-generation gravity map of Antarctica (ADGRAV - Antarctic Digital Gravity Synthesis). NSF funding covered the development of a Web-based access tool and the entry of data as it became available. Although this concept is targeted at the gravity field of Antarctica, it was closely coordinated with the Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project (ADMAP), BEDMAP, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The goal of this project was to develop an on-line Antarctic gravity database which facilitated access to improved high resolution satellite gravity models, in conjunction with shipboard, airborne, and land-based gravity measurements for the continental regions.

The ADGRAV compilation provided an important new tool to the Antarctic Earth science community, from the geologist needing to place field observations in a regional context to the seismologist studying continental scale mantle structure. ADGRAV complemented the parallel projects underway to develop new continental bedrock (BEDMAP) and magnetic (ADMAP) maps of Antarctica. An international effort paralleled these ongoing projects in contacting the Antarctic geophysical community, identifying existing data sets, agreeing upon protocols for the use of data contributed to the database, and finally assembling a new continental scale gravity map. The SCAR Solid Earth Geophysics Working Group offered general support for the ADGRAV concept as an outgrowth of ADMAP during the SCAR meeting in Conception, Chile in July 1998.

 

 

 

Acknowledgements

Federal funding for these activities were provided by the National Science Foundation under National Science Foundation 9725374.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.