Methods for Underwater Gravity Measurement Error Compensations Based on Correlation Analysis

The measurement of Earth’s gravitational field is important in geophysics, geodynamics, geodesy, oceanography, and space science. The ocean covers 71% of the earth’s surface; therefore, measuring the ocean’s gravitational field is crucial. Compared with shipborne gravimetry, underwater gravimetry near the seafloor is closer to gravity sources and can obtain short-wavelength gravity information that is useful for small-scale deposit detection and seawater intrusion monitoring. This article focuses on gravimetric errors caused by the poor dynamics of the carrier; an error compensation method for underwater gravimetry based on correlation analysis is proposed. By analyzing the error sources that affect the dynamics of the carrier, the relationship between the gravimetry error and impact factors related to the dynamics was established, and the model’s parameters were estimated by the least-squares fitting method. The experimental data show that this method can effectively compensate for gravimetric errors caused by carrier dynamics and provide the theoretical basis and algorithm model for underwater gravimetry in the bottom-tracking mode.