The geodetic approximations in the conversion of geoid height to gravity anomaly by Fourier transform

Six sources of error in the use of Fourier methods for the conversion of geoid heights to gravity anomalies are considered. The errors due to spherical approximation are unimportant. The errors due to approximations in Stokes' integral may be eliminated by use of the gravity coating rather than the gravity anomaly. The chord-to-arc error and the truncation error may be reduced by using a reference field. Tapering of the edges of the measurement window reduces the truncation error. The long-wavelength components of the high degree spherical harmonics cause small offsets in the resulting gravity anomalies. The errors due to the plane approximation can be reduced by appropriate choice of map projection and area of integration.     

A solution to the downward continuation effect on the geoid determined by Stokes' formula

 The analytical continuation of the surface gravity anomaly to sea level is a necessary correction in the application of Stokes' formula for geoid estimation. This process is frequently performed by the inversion of Poisson's integral formula for a sphere. Unfortunately, this integral equation corresponds to an improperly posed problem, and the solution is both numerically unstable, unless it is well smoothed, and tedious to compute. A solution that avoids the intermediate step of downward continuation of the gravity anomaly is presented. Instead the effect on the geoid as provided by Stokes' formula is studied directly. The practical solution is partly presented in terms of a truncated Taylor series and partly as a truncated series of spherical harmonics. Some simple numerical estimates show that the solution mostly meets the requests of a 1-cm geoid model, but the truncation error of the far zone must be studied more precisely for high altitudes of the computation point. In addition, it should be emphasized that the derived solution is more computer efficient than the detour by Poisson's integral. Received: 6 February 2002 / Accepted: 18 November 2002 Acknowledgements. Jonas ?gren carried out the numerical calculations and gave some critical and constructive remarks on a draft version of the paper. This support is cordially acknowledged. Also, the thorough work performed by one unknown reviewer is very much appreciated.     

Improved convergence rates for the truncation error in gravimetric geoid determination

 When Stokes's integral is used over a spherical cap to compute a gravimetric estimate of the geoid, a truncation error results due to the neglect of gravity data over the remainder of the Earth. Associated with the truncation error is an error kernel defined over these two complementary regions. An important observation is that the rate of decay of the coefficients of the series expansion for the truncation error in terms of Legendre polynomials is determined by the smoothness properties of the error kernel. Previously published deterministic modifications of Stokes's integration kernel involve either a discontinuity in the error kernel or its first derivative at the spherical cap radius. These kernels are generalised and extended by constructing error kernels whose derivatives at the spherical cap radius are continuous up to an arbitrary order. This construction is achieved by smoothly continuing the error kernel function into the spherical cap using a suitable degree polynomial. Accordingly, an improved rate of convergence of the spectral series representation of the truncation error is obtained. Received: 21 April 1998 / Accepted: 4 October 1999     

国际高程参考系统在珠峰地区的实现

2020珠峰高程测量,首次确定并发布了基于国际高程参考系统(IHRS)的珠峰正高。在珠峰地区实现国际高程参考系统,采用的方案是建立珠峰区域高精度重力大地水准面。利用地球重力场谱组合理论和基于数据驱动的谱权确定方法,测试优选参考重力场模型及其截断阶数和球冠积分半径等关键参数,联合航空和地面重力等数据建立了珠峰区域重力似大地水准面模型,61点高精度GNSS水准高程异常检核表明,模型精度达3.8 cm,加入航空重力数据后模型精度提升幅度达51.3%。提出顾及高差改正的峰顶高程异常内插方法,采用顾及地形质量影响的高程异常——大地水准面差距转换改正严密公式,使用峰顶实测地面重力数据,基于国际高程参考系统定义的重力位值W₀和GRS80参考椭球,最终确定了国际高程参考系统中的高精度珠峰峰顶大地水准面差距。     

The IAG approach to the atmospheric geoid correction in Stokes' formula and a new strategy

The well-known International Association of Geodesy (IAG) approach to the atmospheric geoid correction in connection with Stokes' integral formula leads to a very significant bias, of the order of 3.2 m, if Stokes' integral is truncated to a limited region around the computation point. The derived truncation error can be used to correct old results. For future applications a new strategy is recommended, where the total atmospheric geoid correction is estimated as the sum of the direct and indirect effects. This strategy implies computational gains as it avoids the correction of direct effect for each gravity observation, and it does not suffer from the truncation bias mentioned above. It can also easily be used to add the atmospheric correction to old geoid estimates, where this correction was omitted. In contrast to the terrain correction, it is shown that the atmospheric geoid correction is mainly of order H of terrain elevation, while the term of order H ² is within a few millimetres. Received: 20 May 1998 / Accepted: 19 April 1999     

A formula for computing the gravity disturbance from the second radial derivative of the disturbing potential

 A formula for computing the gravity disturbance and gravity anomaly from the second radial derivative of the disturbing potential is derived in detail using the basic differential equation with spherical approximation in physical geodesy and the modified Poisson integral formula. The derived integral in the space domain, expressed by a spherical geometric quantity, is then converted to a convolution form in the local planar rectangular coordinate system tangent to the geoid at the computing point, and the corresponding spectral formulae of 1-D FFT and 2-D FFT are presented for numerical computation. Received: 27 December 2000 / Accepted: 3 September 2001     

采用点质量模型方法反演中国大陆及周边地区陆地水储量变化

研究了反演区域陆地水储量变化的点质量模型方法,采用Tikhonov正则化方法解决了反演过程中参数估计病态问题。利用GRACE（gravity recovery and climate experiment）时变重力场模型数据,用点质量模型方法反演了中国大陆及其周边地区陆地水储量变化,将点质量模型反演结果与球谐系数法反演结果、GLDAS（global land data assimilation）水文模型数据进行了验证分析,并选取了4个特征点计算了陆地水储量变化时间序列。实验结果表明,由于点质量模型方法将研究区域内不同网格质量变化对地球重力场的影响分离开来,所得区域陆地水储量变化局部信号更明显,并且点质量模型方法反演结果与GLDAS水文模型数据相关性更强。     

Performance of three types of Stokes's kernel in the combined solution for the geoid

When regional gravity data are used to compute a gravimetric geoid in conjunction with a geopotential model, it is sometimes implied that the terrestrial gravity data correct any erroneous wavelengths present in the geopotential model. This assertion is investigated. The propagation of errors from the low-frequency terrestrial gravity field into the geoid is derived for the spherical Stokes integral, the spheroidal Stokes integral and the Molodensky-modified spheroidal Stokes integral. It is shown that error-free terrestrial gravity data, if used in a spherical cap of limited extent, cannot completely correct the geopotential model. Using a standard norm, it is shown that the spheroidal and Molodensky-modified integration kernels offer a preferable approach. This is because they can filter out a large amount of the low-frequency errors expected to exist in terrestrial gravity anomalies and thus rely more on the low-frequency geopotential model, which currently offers the best source of this information. Received: 11 August 1997 / Accepted: 18 August 1998     

Two different methods of geoidal height determinations using a spherical harmonic representation of the geopotential, topographic corrections and the height anomaly–geoidal height difference

 It is suggested that a spherical harmonic representation of the geoidal heights using global Earth gravity models (EGM) might be accurate enough for many applications, although we know that some short-wavelength signals are missing in a potential coefficient model. A `direct' method of geoidal height determination from a global Earth gravity model coefficient alone and an `indirect' approach of geoidal height determination through height anomaly computed from a global gravity model are investigated. In both methods, suitable correction terms are applied. The results of computations in two test areas show that the direct and indirect approaches of geoid height determination yield good agreement with the classical gravimetric geoidal heights which are determined from Stokes' formula. Surprisingly, the results of the indirect method of geoidal height determination yield better agreement with the global positioning system (GPS)-levelling derived geoid heights, which are used to demonstrate such improvements, than the results of gravimetric geoid heights at to the same GPS stations. It has been demonstrated that the application of correction terms in both methods improves the agreement of geoidal heights at GPS-levelling stations. It is also found that the correction terms in the direct method of geoidal height determination are mostly similar to the correction terms used for the indirect determination of geoidal heights from height anomalies. Received: 26 July 2001 / Accepted: 21 February 2002     

Some modifications of Stokes' formula that account for truncation and potential coefficient errors

 Stokes' formula from 1849 is still the basis for the gravimetric determination of the geoid. The modification of the formula, originating with Molodensky, aims at reducing the truncation error outside a spherical cap of integration. This goal is still prevalent among various modifications. In contrast to these approaches, some least-squares types of modification that aim at reducing the truncation error, as well as the error stemming from the potential coefficients, are demonstrated. The least-squares estimators are provided in the two cases that (1) Stokes' kernel is a priori modified (e.g. according to Molodensky's approach) and (2) Stokes' kernel is optimally modified to minimize the global mean square error. Meissl-type modifications are also studied. In addition, the use of a higher than second-degree reference field versus the original (Pizzetti-type) reference field is discussed, and it is concluded that the former choice of reference field implies increased computer labour to achieve the same result as with the original reference field. Received: 14 December 1998 / Accepted: 4 October 1999     

Minimization and estimation of geoid undulation errors

The objective of this paper is to minimize the geoid undulation errors by focusing on the contribution of the global geopotential model and regional gravity anomalies, and to estimate the accuracy of the predicted gravimetric geoid.The geopotential model's contribution is improved by (a) tailoring it using the regional gravity anomalies and (b) introducing a weighting function to the geopotential coefficients. The tailoring and the weighting function reduced the difference (1) between the geopotential model and the GPS/levelling-derived geoid undulations in British Columbia by about 55% and more than 10%, respectively.Geoid undulations computed in an area of 40° by 120° by Stokes' integral with different kernel functions are analyzed. The use of the approximated kernels results in about 25 cm () and 190 cm (maximum) geoid errors. As compared with the geoid derived by GPS/levelling, the gravimetric geoid gives relative differences of about 0.3 to 1.4 ppm in flat areas, and 1 to 2.5 ppm in mountainous areas for distances of 30 to 200 km, while the absolute difference (1) is about 5 cm and 20 cm, respectively.A optimal Wiener filter is introduced for filtering of the gravity anomaly noise, and the performance is investigated by numerical examples. The internal accuracy of the gravimetric geoid is studied by propagating the errors of the gravity anomalies and the geopotential coefficients into the geoid undulations. Numerical computations indicate that the propagated geoid errors can reasonably reflect the differences between the gravimetric and GPS/levelling-derived geoid undulations in flat areas, such as Alberta, and is over optimistic in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia.Paper presented at the IAG General Meeting, Beijing, China, August 8–13, 1993.     

Geoid and high resolution sea surface topography modelling in the mediterranean from gravimetry,altimetry and GOCE data: evaluation by simulation

The determination of local geoid models has traditionally been carried out on land and at sea using gravity anomaly and satellite altimetry data, while it will be aided by the data expected from satellite missions such as those from the Gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE). To assess the performance of heterogeneous data combination to local geoid determination, simulated data for the central Mediterranean Sea are analyzed. These data include marine and land gravity anomalies, altimetric sea surface heights, and GOCE observations processed with the space-wise approach. A spectral analysis of the aforementioned data shows their complementary character. GOCE data cover long wavelengths and account for the lack of such information from gravity anomalies. This is exploited for the estimation of local covariance function models, where it is seen that models computed with GOCE data and gravity anomaly empirical covariance functions perform better than models computed without GOCE data. The geoid is estimated by different data combinations and the results show that GOCE data improve the solutions for areas covered poorly with other data types, while also accounting for any long wavelength errors of the adopted reference model that exist even when the ground gravity data are dense. At sea, the altimetric data provide the dominant geoid information. However, the geoid accuracy is sensitive to orbit calibration errors and unmodeled sea surface topography (SST) effects. If such effects are present, the combination of GOCE and gravity anomaly data can improve the geoid accuracy. The present work also presents results from simulations for the recovery of the stationary SST, which show that the combination of geoid heights obtained from a spherical harmonic geopotential model derived from GOCE with satellite altimetry data can provide SST models with some centimeters of error. However, combining data from GOCE with gravity anomalies in a collocation approach can result in the estimation of a higher resolution geoid, more suitable for high resolution mean dynamic SST modeling. Such simulations can be performed toward the development and evaluation of SST recovery methods.     

用重力异常逐级余差计算重力大地水准面

本文将计算重力大地水准面的频域方法推广至空域，提出了一种新的用重力数据和重力模型位系数联合确定大地水准面的方法。利用重力异常的逐级余差实施积分，使得通常的Ｓｔｏｋｅｓ积分方法具有明确的频域分析含义，可按精度要求确定出使用重力异常余差的块形大小及积分半径ψｏ。     

On the accuracy of modified Stokes's integration in high-frequency gravimetric geoid determination

 Two numerical techniques are used in recent regional high-frequency geoid computations in Canada: discrete numerical integration and fast Fourier transform. These two techniques have been tested for their numerical accuracy using a synthetic gravity field. The synthetic field was generated by artificially extending the EGM96 spherical harmonic coefficients to degree 2160, which is commensurate with the regular 5^′ geographical grid used in Canada. This field was used to generate self-consistent sets of synthetic gravity anomalies and synthetic geoid heights with different degree variance spectra, which were used as control on the numerical geoid computation techniques. Both the discrete integration and the fast Fourier transform were applied within a 6^∘ spherical cap centered at each computation point. The effect of the gravity data outside the spherical cap was computed using the spheroidal Molodenskij approach. Comparisons of these geoid solutions with the synthetic geoid heights over western Canada indicate that the high-frequency geoid can be computed with an accuracy of approximately 1 cm using the modified Stokes technique, with discrete numerical integration giving a slightly, though not significantly, better result than fast Fourier transform. Received: 2 November 1999 / Accepted: 11 July 2000     

Ellipsoidal geoid computation

Modern geoid computation uses a global gravity model, such as EGM96, as a third component in a remove–restore process. The classical approach uses only two: the reference ellipsoid and a geometrical model representing the topography. The rationale for all three components is reviewed, drawing attention to the much smaller precision now needed when transforming residual gravity anomalies. It is shown that all ellipsoidal effects needed for geoid computation with millimetric accuracy are automatically included provided that the free air anomaly and geoid are calculated correctly from the global model. Both must be consistent with an ellipsoidal Earth and with the treatment of observed gravity data. Further ellipsoidal corrections are then negligible. Precise formulae are developed for the geoid height and the free air anomaly using a global gravity model, given as spherical harmonic coefficients. Although only linear in the anomalous potential, these formulae are otherwise exact for an ellipsoidal reference Earth—they involve closed analytical functions of the eccentricity (and the Earths spin rate), rather than a truncated power series in e². They are evaluated using EGM96 and give ellipsoidal corrections to the conventional free air anomaly ranging from –0.84 to +1.14 mGal, both extremes occurring in Tibet. The geoid error corresponding to these differences is dominated by longer wavelengths, so extrema occur elsewhere, rising to +766 mm south of India and falling to –594 mm over New Guinea. At short wavelengths, the difference between ellipsoidal corrections based only on EGM96 and those derived from detailed local gravity data for the North Sea geoid GEONZ97 has a standard deviation of only 3.3 mm. However, the long-wavelength components missed by the local computation reach 300 mm and have a significant slope. In Australia, for example, such a slope would amount to a 600-mm rise from Perth to Cairns.     

A method of evaluating the truncation error coefficients for geoidal height

Neglecting distant zones in the computation of geoidal height using Stokes' formula gives rise to some truncation error. This truncation error is expressible as a weighted summation of the zonal harmonic components of the gravity anomaly. Making use of the well-known properties of Legendre polynomials, a compact method of computing these theoretical coefficients has been developed in this paper.     

Topographic effects by the Stokes–Helmert method of geoid and quasi-geoid determinations

The topographic potential and the direct topographic effect on the geoid are presented as surface integrals, and the direct gravity effect is derived as a rigorous surface integral on the unit sphere. By Taylor-expanding the integrals at sea level with respect to topographic elevation (H) the power series of the effects is derived to arbitrary orders. This study is primarily limited to terms of order H ². The limitations of the various effects in the frequently used planar approximations are demonstrated. In contrast, it is shown that the spherical approximation to power H ² leads to a combined topographic effect on the geoid (direct plus indirect effect) proportional to H˜² (where terms of degrees 0 and 1 are missing) of the order of several metres, while the combined topographic effect on the height anomaly vanishes, implying that current frequent efforts to determine the direct effect to this order are not needed. The last result is in total agreement with Bjerhammar's method in physical geodesy. It is shown that the most frequently applied remove–restore technique of topographic masses in the application of Stokes' formula suffers from significant errors both in the terrain correction C (representing the sum of the direct topographic effect on gravity anomaly and the effect of continuing the anomaly to sea level) and in the term t (mainly representing the indirect effect on the geoidal or quasi-geoidal height). Received: 18 August 1998 / Accepted: 4 October 1999     

Precise geoid determination over Sweden using the Stokes–Helmert method and improved topographic corrections

 Four different implementations of Stokes' formula are employed for the estimation of geoid heights over Sweden: the Vincent and Marsh (1974) model with the high-degree reference gravity field but no kernel modifications; modified Wong and Gore (1969) and Molodenskii et al. (1962) models, which use a high-degree reference gravity field and modification of Stokes' kernel; and a least-squares (LS) spectral weighting proposed by Sj?berg (1991). Classical topographic correction formulae are improved to consider long-wavelength contributions. The effect of a Bouguer shell is also included in the formulae, which is neglected in classical formulae due to planar approximation. The gravimetric geoid is compared with global positioning system (GPS)-levelling-derived geoid heights at 23 Swedish Permanent GPS Network SWEPOS stations distributed over Sweden. The LS method is in best agreement, with a 10.1-cm mean and ±5.5-cm standard deviation in the differences between gravimetric and GPS geoid heights. The gravimetric geoid was also fitted to the GPS-levelling-derived geoid using a four-parameter transformation model. The results after fitting also show the best consistency for the LS method, with the standard deviation of differences reduced to ±1.1 cm. For comparison, the NKG96 geoid yields a 17-cm mean and ±8-cm standard deviation of agreement with the same SWEPOS stations. After four-parameter fitting to the GPS stations, the standard deviation reduces to ±6.1 cm for the NKG96 geoid. It is concluded that the new corrections in this study improve the accuracy of the geoid. The final geoid heights range from 17.22 to 43.62 m with a mean value of 29.01 m. The standard errors of the computed geoid heights, through a simple error propagation of standard errors of mean anomalies, are also computed. They range from ±7.02 to ±13.05 cm. The global root-mean-square error of the LS model is the other estimation of the accuracy of the final geoid, and is computed to be ±28.6 cm. Received: 15 September 1999 / Accepted: 6 November 2000     

海洋重力大地水准面的确定

美国海洋卫星测高仪的出现,使应用Hotine积分确定海洋大地水准面成为现实。本文通过对Hotine积分及垂线偏差的计算公式进行改进,较好地改善了求和项的收敛性,减小了截断误差影响,并提出了利用Hotine函数和重力异常确定海洋大地水准面的方法。 实际计算表明:海洋重力大地水准面的精度在1米以内;卫星测高大地水准面间存在0.5米系统差;它和海底地形有一定的相关性,能较好地反映出海底地形的宏观特性。     

The geopotential from gravity measurements,levelling data and satellite results

The geodetic boundary value problem is formulated which uses as boundary values the differences between the geopotential of points at the surface of the continents and the potential of the geoid. These differences are computed by gravity measurements and levelling data. In addition, the shape of the geoid over the oceans is assumed to be known from satellite altimetry and the shape of the continents from satellite results together with three-dimensional triangulation. The boundary value problem thus formulated is equivalent to Dirichlet's exterior problem except for the unknown potential of the geoid. This constant is determined by an integral equation for the normal derivative of the gravitational potential which results from the first derivative of Green's fundamental formula. The general solution, which exists, of the integral equation gives besides the potential of the geoid the solution of the geodetic boundary value problem. In addition approximate solutions for a spherical surface of the earth are derived.