An airborne tensor VLF system. From concept to realization

Radio signals from very low frequency (VLF) transmitters distributed world-wide have been used for several decades to study the lateral variations of the electrical conductivity in the upper few hundred metres of the earth's crust. Traditionally, in airborne applications, the total magnetic fields from one or two transmitters are measured to form the basis for construction of maps that primarily show those conductive structures that are parallel or subparallel to the direction to the transmitters. The tensor VLF technique described in this paper makes use of all signals available in a predefined frequency band to construct transfer functions relating the vertical magnetic field and the two horizontal magnetic field components