An autonomous magnetic observatory |
Gonsette, A., Rasson, J., Bracke, S., Poncelet, A., Hendrickx, O., Humbled, F. |
Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Dourbes, Belgium |
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We report here on a first experience in real-time remote automatic observatory. From June 2015 to February 2018, such a magnetic observatory was deployed in Aguada Pichana, Argentina. Near real-time definitive data were provided to the Oil&Gas industry. The observatory configuration was standard with a 3-axes variometer, a scalar magnetometer and a Gyrodif. The latter is an automatic DIFlux using an embedded FOG-based North-Seeker and an electronic level for determining the geodetic references. Apart for the True-North determination, the rest of the absolute measurement procedure is conventional, e.g. based on 4 declination and 4 inclination fluxgate-based measurements. Each local mid-night a series of magnetic measurements was performed while the rest of time was devoted to the True-North determination. Both streams were then combined to form the absolute measurements. The variometer baselines were in turn adjusted and applied to the 1sec data. A permanent satellite connection allowed the data transmission from Argentina to Belgium in near real-time. This project was a proof of concept for Oil&Gas industry but this automatic observatory setup could also serve the scientific community by contributing to plugging the gaps in the magnetic observatories coverage. |
Instrumentation |
oral |
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