Investigating variations in the gravitational constant

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Authors: Cooper, A. P. R., Gorman, M. R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1989
• Subjects: Greenland; Scripps; Zumberge; Dye 3; Dye-3; Ice cap; Polar Record
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400009992; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400009992

Abstract In August–September 1987 a group of geophysicists, led by M. Ander of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and M. Zumberge of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, performed a geophysical experiment to determine the value of the gravitational constant, G. Using the DYE-3 borehole on the Greenland ice cap, the experiment was intended to provide evidence concerning possible scale variations in G, and thus for non-Newtonian gravity. This report describes the background to the experiment and the radio echo-sounding survey carried out to provide terrain corrections for the gravity model. The experiment showed values of G differing from laboratory determinations by margins which considerably exceed experimental error.