Leveling airborne gamma‐radiation data using between‐channel correlation information

Abstract

A procedure for estimating background‐correction terms for the uranium channel of an airborne gamma‐ray survey has been developed. The residuals obtained from a multiple linear regression of flight‐line means for the uranium channel on the means for thorium and potassium are used to correct the uranium channel for each line. The procedure assumes that, were it not for these background errors, the uranium flight‐line means would be a linear function of the means for potassium and thorium. It also assumes that the background correction is the same for the whole of each line. In spite of these limitations, the method produces good background estimates consistent with those found by more sophisticated methods.