Do Satellite Magnetic Anomaly Data Accurately Portray the Crustal Component?

Scalar aeromagnetic data obtained during the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office (NOO)-Vector Magnetic Survey of the conterminous United States were upward continued by equivalent point source inversion and compared with POGO satellite magnetic anomaly and preliminary scalar MAGSAT data. Initial comparisons indicate that the upward continued NOO data is dominated by long wavelength (approximately equal to 1000 to 3000 km) anomalies which are not present in the satellite anomaly data. Thus, the comparison of the data sets is poor. Several possible sources for these differences are present in the data analysis chain. However, upon removal of these long wavelengths from the upward continued NOO data, a close comparison observed between the anomalies verifies that satellite magnetic anomaly data do portray the crustal component within a range of wavelengths from roughly 1000 km down to the resolution limit of the observations.