Application and prospect of gravity and geomagnetic measurements in reefs and their neighborhoods

Gravity and geomagnetic measurements play an indispensable role in the research of islands and reefs and their surrounding areas. Due to the large gradient and amplitude variations in the spatial distribution of gravity and geomagnetic fields, as well as the complex geographical environment in the islands and reefs and their surrounding areas, it is difficult to obtain high-resolution and high-precision gravity and geomagnetic measurement information in this area with traditional gravity and geomagnetic measurement technologies and methods. This has led to a prominent problem of low-quality and limited-variety gravity and geomagnetic measurements results. Therefore, in response of national demands and based on the current development status of gravity and geomagnetic surveying and platform technologies in China, it is necessary to resolve this situation through scientific and theoretical innovations and the application of interdisciplinary and multi-technology integrated research tools. The following are some prospects for future development.　　Research on gravity and geomagnetic measurement technologies should be strengthened to provide technical support for high-performance scientific payloads on various detection platforms in the space, air, sea, and underwater domains. Furthermore, researchers should continuously improve the spatial resolution and accuracy of survey data, eliminate the gravity and geomagnetic measurement blind spots in marine areas, and enrich the scientific attributes of gravity and geomagnetic measurement information, thereby building a high-level, three-dimensional observation system.　　Research on multi-source data fusion processing technologies should be enhanced to improve the accuracy of data processing. Furthermore, the local gravity and geomagnetic field functions should be gradually refined, thus achieving comprehensive description of the gravity and geomagnetic field information of islands, reefs, and their neighboring areas. High-precision models and reference maps of Earth's gravity field/geomagnetic field, capable of providing important scientific bases for future work, should be constructed. Techniques involved in acquiring the gravity and geomagnetic measurement results need to be improved so that more accurate values can be obtained.　　Natural advantages of islands and reefs as medium- to long-term fixed-point observation platforms should be made use of to conduct medium- to long-term multi-parameter fixed-point observations of geophysical fields. Furthermore, deep sea areas should be subjected to absolute gravity survey and geomagnetic field vector survey. Lastly, in-depth multidimensional, multiscale, and multi-geophysical field coupling studies in islands and reefs should be conducted and extended to the fundamental and application fields in “deep space-deep sea-deep Earth” and other domains.