Colorado Aeromagnetic Data Processing

The assembly of 34 individual aeromagnetic surveys and grids to create the Colorado state-wide compilation was done in several steps.

DATA PROCESSING STEPS

1. Grids were constructed from the original aeromagnetic survey data with a cell size of between 1/3 and 1/5 of the flightline spacing of the survey, using a minimum curvature gridding algorithm. For digitized contour line data, the initial grid was constructed using a minimum curvature algorithm and a spacing appropriate for the scale of the digitized map.
2. The Definitive Geomagnetic Reference Field (DGRF) calculated for the date of the original survey was applied (in some cases this required the determination and removal of the original reference field applied).
3. The survey grids were regridded, as necessary, to the final grid cell size of 500 m using a minimum curvature algorithm.
4. The original survey grids were continued to 1000 feet above ground and converted from level to drape as necessary. Upward continuation of the NURE surveys was by standard 2D FFT filtering techniques. Drape-to-level continuation was performed using two different methods: chessboard (Cordell and others, 1992) and xia-m (Phillips, 1996).
5. The datum levels of the converted grids were adjusted (by addition or subtraction of a constant value) to minimize differences at the boundaries.
6. These adjusted grids were combined into a single merged grid that shows the magnetic field measured or calculated at 1000 feet above ground.

GRID PROJECTION SPECIFICATIONS

• Projection = Lambert conformal conic
• Central meridian = 105.5 degrees W
• Base latitude = 37 degrees N
• Standard parallels = 33 and 45 N
• Semi-major ellipsoid axis = 6378206.4 m
• Eccentricity squared = 0.0067686579973

Top || Colorado Mag || Crustal Team || Geology || USGS