INSTRUMENT DETAILS AND APPLICATIONS OF A NEW AIRBORNE MAGNETOMETER

Abstract

Since its invention and first use, the fluxgate magnetometer has had sensitivity, stability, speed of response, and other characteristics which were entirely suitable to the needs of both mineral and petroleum exploration, and which were compatible with the limitations and error functions of simple airborne surveying systems. The introduction of nuclear‐precession magnetometers employing the principle of quantum electronics has permitted and forced a revision of surveying systems and techniques to take advantage of the hundred‐fold increase in resolution they afforded. It appears that the new magnetometers have resolution capabilities beyond conventional survey needs, and measurement accuracy better than the accompanying survey positional accuracy.