Can a quantum gravimeter survive the Arctic? A journey from Poland to Greenland and back

An Absolute Quantum Gravimeter (AQG-B07) was deployed in western Greenland to evaluate the robustness, repeatability, and uncertainty of measurements under transport-intensive, harsh and completely remote field conditions. The campaign was conceived as a traceability experiment, linking laboratory reference measurements to remote field sites, with the Arctic environment being an extreme case scenario. A key objective was to assess the feasibility and credibility of absolute gravity measurements at the Kangia North (KAGA) permanent GNSS station near the calving front of the Ilulissat Glacier, one of the fastest-flowing and most dynamically active glaciers in Greenland.

Absolute gravity observations were first carried out at the Borowa Góra Geodetic-Geophysical Observatory (Poland), an ITGRF reference site with repeated absolute gravity measurements, including an international comparison campaign in 2025, and continuous gravity monitoring with a superconducting gravimeter (iGrav) since 2016. These measurements provide a reference baseline for instrument validation prior and subsequent to transport. Before the expedition, outdoor field tests were performed at the observatory in Poland to simulate remote site conditions.

The measurement protocol followed a closed-loop sequence, with the AQG being deployed under progressively less controlled conditions: from Borowa Góra Observatory, through intermediate measurements in the Ilulissat airport hangar (following shipment by sea), to the bedrock near the glacier front (reached by helicopter flight) approximately 50 km inland from Ilulissat within a UNESCO-protected area. Then, the gravimeter returned to the Ilulissat hangar for an additional benchmark observations and, after approximately two months of sea transport, measurements were repeated at Borowa Góra. This procedure enables a direct assessment of instrumental stability, drift, reproducibility and transport-related effects. The measurements were conducted under different microseismic noise conditions, ranging from stable low-noise laboratory and outdoor pillar at Borowa Góra, through semi-controlled hangar conditions with occasional human-induced disturbances, to highly variable and unpredictable (natural origin) noise levels at the glacier site. Throughout the campaign, auxiliary accelerometer data (with which the AQG is equipped) were recorded to characterize site-dependent noise and to quantify its influence on absolute gravity estimates.

We discuss the implications of these results for the uncertainty and credibility of absolute gravity measurements in remote cryospheric environments, with particular emphasis on transport effects, site noise characterization, and operational repeatability of AQGs. Practical solutions and identified limitations for AQG operation under outdoor and Arctic field conditions are presented.

The measurements at Borowa Góra were supported by the QuGrav project (National Centre for Research and Development, Innoglobo III Programme). The Greenland campaign was carried out within the project EQUIP-G (funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe program, grant number 101215427) and with support from the Danish Climate Data Agency, serving as a pilot study for future repeated quantum gravimetry observations in Greenland planned for 2028.