Determination of the Calibration Factor of Superconducting Gravimeter 057 at the Lhasa Station: A frequency-Domain Approach

In this paper, the calibration factor of the superconducting gravimeter 057 (SG057) at the Lhasa station is accurately determined for the first time with a frequency-domain approach and the data recorded by the LaCoste Romberg Earth Tides No. 20 (LCR-ET20) gravimeter which is installed nearby SG057. The advantage of the frequency-domain approach is that it eliminates the influence of different gravimeter drifts on the determination of the calibration factor. The determined calibration factor of SG057 is (-77.7358 ± 0.0409) × 10-8 m s-2 V-1, and the relative accuracy is about 0.5‰. The newly determined calibration factor has been calculated with the Wuhan international tidal gravity reference values (ITGRVs) based on the data recorded by LCR-ET20 at the Wuhan station before it was installed at the Lhasa station. A high-precision synthesized gravity tide is achieved at the Lhasa station with accurate tidal parameters and theoretical tidal parameters for the long tidal waves from the Dehant-Defraigne-Wahr (DDW) earth tide model. The synthesized gravity tide can be used for tidal gravity corrections of future gravity measurements in the Tibetan area. The linear gravimeter drift of SG057 is estimated by gravity records without the effects of land uplift, atmosphere and polar motion yielding a rate of 6.8 × 10-8 m s-2 yr-1.