Results from an absolute gravity survey in the United States

Abstract

Using the recently completed JILA absolute gravity meter, we made an absolute gravity survey which covered 12 sites in the United States. Over a period of 8 weeks, the instrument was driven a total distance of nearly 20,000 km to sites in California, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The time spent in carrying out a measurement at a single location was typically 1 day. A measurement accuracy of around 1×10 −7 m/s 2 (10 μGal) is believed to have been obtained at each of the sites.