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Upward And Downward Continuation

Chapter · January 2007

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_311

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Ravat, D., 2007, Upward and Downward Continuation, Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and
Paleomagnetism, D. Gubbins and E. Herrero-Bervera (eds.), Springer, 974-976.

974 UPWARD AND DOWNWARD CONTINUATION

Table U2 Dimensions and units of physical quantities used in geomagnetism

Physical quantity Dimension SI Emu Conversion factor

Length L m cm 102
Mass M kg G 103
Time T s s 1
Charge Q coulomb (C) coulomb 1
Electric current QT1 ampere (A) abamp 10
Potential difference L2 MT2 Q volt (V) emu 108
Electric field LMT2 Q V m1 emu 106
Resistance L2 MT1 Q2 ohm emu 109
Resistivity L3 MT1 Q2 ohmm emu 1011
Conductivity L2 M1 TQ2 siemensm1 emu 1011
Magnetic flux L2 MT1 Q1 weber (W) maxwell 108
Magnetic induction B MT1 Q1 tesla (T) gauss 104
Magnetic field intensity L1 T1 Q A m1 oersted ðMT1 Q1 Þ 103 =4p
Inductance L2 MQ2 henry (H) emu 109
Permeability LMQ2 H m1 Dimensionless 4p  107
Magnetic moment density L1 T1 Q A m1 emu ðMT1 Q1 Þ 103 =4p
Magnetic polarization MT1 Q1 T gauss 104
Susceptibility Dimensionless wSI wemu 4p

LMTQ denote length, mass, time, and charge. The conversion factor in the right column should be used to multiply a value in emu to yield the SI value. Note the difference in
definition for H, M, and w between the two systems. The siemen is sometimes called the mho.

volume of a material M. Furthermore, the definition of M differs
by a numerical factor of 4p between the two systems, which has the
undesirable effect that the dimensionless susceptibility w differs.
The magnetic polarization P (usually denoted as J in paleomagnetism
but this is used in MHD (q.v.) exclusively for electric current density),
has the same dimensions as B in both systems. Confusion propagates
because of sloppy terminology: it is standard practice in geomagnetism
and paleomagnetism to refer to B as the magnetic field rather than
magnetic induction, and magnetization is used to mean either M or P
(Table U2).
David Gubbins
Bibliography
Blakely, R.J., 1996. Potential Theory in Gravity and Magnetic Appli-
cations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Butler, R.F., 1992. Paleomagnetism: Magnetic Domains to Geologic
Terranes. Boston: Blackwell Scientific.
Jackson, J.D., 1999. Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd edition. New
York: Wiley.
Cross-references
Magnetohydrodynamics
UPWARD AND DOWNWARD CONTINUATION
Potential fields known at a set of points can be expressed at neighbor-
ing higher or lower spatial locations in a source free region using the
continuation integral that results from one of Green’s theorems (see,
e.g., Blakely, 1995). The principal uses of this concept are to adjust
altitude of observations to a datum as an aid to the interpretation of
a survey (see Crustal magnetic field), reduce short-wavelength data
noise by continuing the field upward, and increasing the horizontal
resolution of anomalies and their sources by continuing the field
downward. It is possible to continue the field upward or downward in
a number of different ways depending on the application at hand; for
example, designing continuation operators in spatial or wavenumber
space (Henderson and Zietz, 1949; Dean, 1958), using harmonic func-
tions (Courtillot et al., 1978; Shure et al., 1982; Fedi et al., 1999), and
deriving physical property variations of sources causing the fields
(Dampney, 1969; Emilia, 1973; Langel and Hinze, 1998). Applications
also vary widely: from environmental and exploration applica-
tions involving short-wavelength anomaly fields over small height
differences (a few meters to kilometers) to global distribution of
anomalies measured by satellites in which anomalies are downward
continued from satellite altitudes (300–700km) to Earth’s surface
and also downward continuing the core part of the Earth’s field all
the way to the top of the core to decipher features of core circulation
over time.
The effect of upward/downward continuation process on the fields
can be understood by examining the continuation operator in the
wavenumber domain. The operator has the form ejkjz , where jkj is
the wavenumber (jkj ¼ 2l where l is the full wavelength) and z
is the continuation level (Dean, 1958). The negative sign in the expo-
nent indicates upward continuation (away from the sources of the
field) and the positive sign implies the downward continuation (toward
the sources of the field). The response of the continuation operator
with respect to wavelength is illustrated in Figure U5, which shows
that shorter wavelengths are attenuated and smoothed in the process
of upward continuation, whereas in downward continuation the shorter
wavelengths are amplified and sharpened. Both operations are suscep-
tible to errors in the data and their results can be rendered invalid or at
least severely compromised due to the quality of data. For example, if
measurement errors are primarily short-wavelength, then the nature of
downward continuation operator which amplifies primarily the short-
wavelength components of the data can severely distort the downward
continued result. On the other hand, if the long-wavelength portion
of the field is contaminated, for example, by inaccurate compilation
of different surveys having different base levels, then the retention of
the corrupt long wavelengths in the process of upward continuation
can render the result unusable (Ravat et al., 2002).
The most straightforward upward/downward continuation of a field is
performed from one level surface to another level surface (Henderson
 UPWARD AND DOWNWARD CONTINUATION
Figure U5 Amplitude response of upward and downward continuation operators with respect to wavelength for certain heights (z ) of
continuation.
and Zietz, 1949; Henderson, 1970). This is often useful for interpreta-
tion and joining two adjacent surveys carried out at different altitudes.
As aid in interpretation, upward continuation allows one to assess the
effect of deeper sources because in this process the effect of shallower,
short-wavelength features is attenuated. Preferential upward and down-
ward continuation operators have been designed that can help attenuate
only the shallow, short-wavelength part of the spectrum, leaving the
deeper, long-wavelength part unaltered or, alternatively, preferentially
amplify only the deeper part of the spectrum without the deleterious
effects of amplifying short-wavelength noise (Pawlowski, 1995). Thus,
under certain situations, it is possible to isolate a magnetic anomaly sig-
nal from different depth layers of the crust. Downward continuation into
the region of sources leads the continuation integral to diverge even in
the case of noise-free data; in the case of high data density noise-free
data the depths at which the continuation integral blows up (data begin
to vary wildly) can be used to infer the depth to the top of the shallow
magnetic sources in the region.
When airborne magnetic surveys (see Aeromagnetic surveying) are
conducted in rugged terrain made up of magnetic formations, it is
not advisable to view the data at constant altitude because effects of
topographic variations can lead to anomaly artifacts. In such situations,
one might prefer to “continue” level survey data at some constant
distance away from topography (on a constant terrain clearance or
“draped” surface). Challenges of maintaining the constant terrain
clearance of aircrafts in a rugged topography may require one to adjust
the data further until the survey is accurately draping. Conversely,
flying conditions can lead to unintentional altitude variations in
surveys originally intended to be flown at constant barometric altitude
(level survey), and such surveys need datum corrections as well. Two
types of procedures have been commonly used in accomplishing
datum transformations from level-to-drape and drape-to-level surfaces:
975
Taylor’s series approximation and equivalent source concept. Taylor’s
series allows extrapolation of a function to nearby points and, given
vertical derivatives of the field and certain approximations regard-
ing behavior of the field, the series yields adequate values of level-
to-drape transformation. Similarly, an iterative Taylor’s series can be
used for drape-to-level transformation (Cordell and Grauch, 1985).
The equivalent source method (Dampney, 1969) employs Green’s
equivalent layer concept and uses a set of sources with arbitrary mag-
netization (often induced dipoles because of their simplicity; Emilia,
1973) to approximate the field. This process is equivalent to finding
the potential that satisfies the observed field. The inverted magnetiza-
tion of the sources is then used to predict the field in the neighborhood
of observations. Use of local harmonic functions (Fedi et al., 1999)
can also be useful for these purposes.
Dhananjay Ravat
Bibliography
Blakely, R.J., 1995. Potential Theory in Gravity and Magnetic Appli-
cations. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Cordell, L., and Grauch, V.J.S., 1985. Mapping basement magnetiza-
tion zones from aeromagnetic data in the San Juan basin,
New Mexico. In Hinze, W.J. (ed.) The Utility of Regional Gravity
and Magnetic Anomaly Maps. Tulsa: Society of Exploration Geo-
physicists, pp. 181–197.
Courtillot, V., Ducruix, J., and Le Moüel, J.L., 1978. Inverse methods
applied to continuation problems in geophysics. In Sabatier, P.C.
(ed.) Applied Inverse Problems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 48–82.
Dampney, C.N.G., 1969. The equivalent source technique. Geo-
physics, 34: 39–53.
 976 UPWARD AND DOWNWARD CONTINUATION
Dean, W.C., 1958. Frequency analysis for gravity and magnetic inter-
pretation. Geophysics, 23: 97–127.
Emilia, D.A., 1973. Equivalent sources used as an analytic base for
processing total magnetic field profiles. Geophysics, 38: 339–348.
Fedi, M., Rapolla, A., and Russo, G., 1999. Upward continuation of
scattered potential field data. Geophysics, 64: 443–451.
Henderson, R.G., 1970. On the validity of the use of the upward con-
tinuation integral for total magnetic intensity data. Geophysics, 35:
916–919.
Henderson, R.G., and Zietz, I., 1949. The upward continuation of
anomalies in total magnetic intensity fields. Geophysics, 14: 517–534.
Langel, R.A., and Hinze, W.J., 1998. The Magnetic Field of the
Earth’s Lithosphere: The Satellite Perspective. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
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Pawlowski, R.S., 1995. Preferential continuation for potential-field
anomaly enhancement. Geophysics, 60: 390–398.
Ravat, D., Whaler, K.A., Pilkington, M., Purucker, M., and Sabaka, T.,
2002. Compatibility of high-altitude aeromagnetic and satellite-
altitude magnetic anomalies over Canada. Geophysics, 67: 546–554.
Shure, L., Parker, R.L., and Backus, G.E., 1982. Harmonic splines for
geomagnetic modeling. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Inter-
iors, 28: 215–229.
Cross-references
Aeromagnetic Surveying
Crustal Magnetic Field