Downward continuation of aeromagnetic data to the marine surface

The existing methods of downward continuation of potential field cannot be used to continue the aeromagnetic data to the marine surface because of the limited continuation distance. An iteration method for the downward continuation of potential field with a much larger continuation distance has been developed, which can continue the aeromagnetic data to the marine surface and get the marine - magnetic chart with the same scale as the aeromagnetic data. This downward continuation method will greatly raise the efficiency of marine - magnetic investigation. The principle of the iteration method is presented. The method is demonstrated on synthetic models and real aeromagnetic data. Also, the error brought by continuation is discussed. The efficiency of the iteration method for the downward continuation of potential field is compared with the fast fourier transform (FFT) method, the former is much better than the latter.