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Field Test of the Superconducting Gravimeter as a Hydrologic Sensor
Author(s) -
Wilson Clark R.,
Scanlon Bridget,
Sharp John,
Longuevergne Laurent,
Wu Hongqiu
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2011.00864.x
Subject(s) - gravimeter , groundwater recharge , aquifer , groundwater , hydrology (agriculture) , water level , environmental science , yield (engineering) , residual , gravimetry , geology , geodesy , soil science , geotechnical engineering , geography , geophysics , physics , casing , cartography , algorithm , computer science , thermodynamics , reservoir modeling
We report on a field test of a transportable version of a superconducting gravimeter (SG) intended for groundwater storage monitoring. The test was conducted over a 6‐month period at a site adjacent to a well in the recharge zone of the karstic Edwards Aquifer, a major groundwater resource in central Texas. The purpose of the study was to assess requirements for unattended operation of the SG in a field setting and to obtain a gravimetric estimate of aquifer specific yield. The experiment confirmed successful operation of the SG, but water level changes were small (<0.3 m) leading to uncertainty in the estimate of specific yield. Barometric pressure changes were the dominant cause of both water level variations and non‐tidal gravity changes. The specific yield estimate (0.26) is larger than most published values and dependent mainly on low frequency variations in residual gravity and water level time series.