On the effective position of the free-fall solution and the self-attraction effect of the FG5 gravimeters

FG5 absolute gravimeters are the most accurate gravimeters available at present and have significant influence on the realization of a gravity reference through international comparisons of absolute gravimeters. The latter comparisons are the only way to maintain the traceability of absolute gravimetry to the International System of Units (SI). Sources of systematic error such as the self-attraction effect (SAE) have to be taken into account when determining accurate values of the acceleration due to gravity, as needed, for example, for the watt balance project or the International Gravity Reference System. In this paper the SAE for two types of FG5 gravimeter is estimated using two independent methods. The resulting SAEs are 1.2(0.2) mu Gal and 1.7(0.2) mu Gal for FG5 with fibre and bulk interferometer types, respectively. The importance of accurately defining the measurement height is emphasized in the context of the SAE. The accuracy and advantages of referring gravity measurements to an effective position of the free-fall solution are demonstrated together with a simple and accurate empirical estimation of this effective position.