Aeromagnetic survey using an unmanned autonomous helicopter over Tarumae Volcano, northern Japan
Takeshi Hashimoto 1 6 Takao Koyama 2 Takayuki Kaneko 2 Takao Ohminato 2 Takatoshi Yanagisawa 3 Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto 4 Eiichi Suzuki 51 Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, N10W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan.
2 Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
3 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15, Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan.
4 Earth and Planetary System Science, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, N10W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan.
5 River Centre of Hokkaido, 5-1, N7W4, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0807, Japan.
6 Corresponding author. Email: hasimoto@mail.sci.hokudai.ac.jp
Exploration Geophysics 45(1) 37-42 https://doi.org/10.1071/EG12087
Submitted: 27 December 2012 Accepted: 1 September 2013 Published: 30 September 2013
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently received attention in various research fields for their ability to perform measurements, surveillance, and operations in hazardous areas. Our application is volcano surveillance, in which we used an unmanned autonomous helicopter to conduct a dense low-altitude aeromagnetic survey over Tarumae Volcano, northern Japan.
In autonomous flight, we demonstrated positioning control with an accuracy of ~10 m, which would be difficult for an ordinary crewed vehicle. In contrast to ground-based magnetic measurement, which is highly susceptible to local anomalies, the field gradient in the air with a terrain clearance of 100 to 300 m was fairly small at 1 nT/m. This result suggests that detection of temporal changes of an order of 10 nT may be feasible through a direct comparison of magnetic data between separate surveys by means of such a system, rather than that obtained by upward continuation to a common reduction surface. We assessed the temporal magnetic changes in the air, assuming the same remagnetising source within the volcano that was recently determined through ground surveys. We conclude that these expected temporal changes would reach a detection level in several years through a future survey in the air with the same autonomous vehicle.
Key words: aeromagnetic survey, geomagnetism, Tarumae Volcano, unmanned autonomous helicopter.
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