An iterative Tikhonov regularization downward continuation of magnetic anomaly

The Tikhonov regularization downward continuation (TRDC) is one of the most robust methods to enhance magnetic anomalies, where the determination of an optimum value of the regularization parameter is a crucial task. In this study, we propose an iterative Tikhonov regularization downward continuation (ITRDC) strategy to downward continue magnetic anomalies with no sensitives to the regularization parameter, which is beneficial for accurate downward continuation. We show that using some arbitrary values for the regularization parameter in the proposed ITRDC method, the expected downward continued field can be obtained by a series of iterations. Based on synthetic and field data examples using a large continuation distance of 40 times of the data spacing, we show that the proposed method is more accurate and stable than the standard TRDC.