Preliminary analysis of the connection between ocean dynamics and the noise of gravity tide observed at the Sopronbánfalva Geodynamical Observatory, Hungary

An experimental development of a computer controlled photoelectric ocular system applied for the LaCoste and Romberg G949 gravimeter made the continuous observation of time variation of gravity possible. The system was operated for half a year in the Sopronbánfalva Geodynamical Observatory to test i...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Papp, Gábor, Szűcs, E., Battha, L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://real.mtak.hu/6436/
https://real.mtak.hu/6436/1/papp_et_al_2012_journal_of_geodyn.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264370712001123
Description
Summary:An experimental development of a computer controlled photoelectric ocular system applied for the LaCoste and Romberg G949 gravimeter made the continuous observation of time variation of gravity possible. The system was operated for half a year in the Sopronbánfalva Geodynamical Observatory to test its capabilities. The primary aim of this development was to provide an alternative and self-manageable solution for the standard electronic (Capacitive Position Indicator) reading of this type of gravimeter and use it for the monitoring of Earth tide. It, however, turned out that this system is sensitive enough to observe the effect of variable seismic noise (microseisms) due to the changes of ocean weather in the North Atlantic and North Sea regions at microGal level (1 μGal = 10−8 m/s2). Up to now not much attention was paid to its influence on the quality and accuracy of gravity observations because of the large distance (>1000 km) between the observation place (generally the Carpathian–Pannonian basin) and the locations (centres of storm zones of the northern hydrosphere) of triggering events. Based on an elementary harmonic surface deformation model the noise level of gravity observations was compared to the spectral characteristics of seismic time series recorded at the same time in the observatory. Although the sampling rate of gravity records was 120 s the daily variation of gravity noise level showed significant correlation with the variation of spectral amplitude distribution of the analysed high pass filtered (cut-off frequency = 0.005 Hz) seismograms up to 10 Hz. Also available daily maps of ocean weather parameters were used to support both the correlation analysis and the parameterization of the triggering events of microseisms for further statistical investigations. These maps, which were processed by standard image processing algorithms, provide numerical data about geometrical (distance and azimuth of the storm centres relative to the observation point) and physical (mass of swelling water) ...