Improvements in height datum transfer expected from the GOCE mission

 One of the aims of the Earth Explorer Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation (GOCE) mission is to provide global and regional models of the Earth's gravity field and of the geoid with high spatial resolution and accuracy. Using the GOCE error model, simulation studies were performed in order to estimate the accuracy of datum transfer in different areas of the Earth. The results showed that with the GOCE error model, the standard deviation of the height anomaly differences is about one order of magnitude better than the corresponding value with the EGM96 error model. As an example, the accuracy of the vertical datum transfer from the tide gauge of Amsterdam to New York was estimated equal to 57 cm when the EGM96 error model was used, while in the case of GOCE error model this accuracy was increased to 6 cm. The geoid undulation difference between the two places is about 76.5 m. Scaling the GOCE errors to the local gravity variance, the estimated accuracy varied between 3 and 7 cm, depending on the scaling model. Received: 1 March 2000 / Accepted: 21 February 2001     

A note on Earth's rotation angular velocity in the general-relativity framework

 The value of the Earth's rotational angular velocity determined from observations is given in the GCRS (geocentric celestial reference system) defined by Resolution B1 of the 2000 IAU General Assembly. The same quantity derived from dynamical theories of the Earth's rotation, such as SMART97, is referred to the␣DGRSC (dynamically non-rotating ecliptical reference system). The relativistic theory of reference systems (RSs) enables unambiguous general-relativity relations between these quantities to be derived. Received: 9 November 2000 / Accepted: 9 July 2001     

Dual algebraic formulation of differential GPS

 A new approach to differential GPS is presented. The corresponding theoretical framework calls on elementary concepts of algebraic graph theory. The notion of double difference, which is related to that of closure in the sense of Kirchhoff, is revisited in this context. The Moore–Penrose pseudo-inverse of the closure operator plays a key role in the corresponding dual formulation. This approach, which is very attractive from a conceptual point of view, sheds a new light on the Teunissen formulation. Received: 21 May 2002 / Accepted: 18 November 2002 Correspondence to: A. Lannes     

On determination of heights by using terrestrial clocks and GPS signals

 Considering a GPS satellite and two terrestrial stations, two types of equations are derived relating the heights of the two stations to the measured data (frequency ratio or clock rate differences) and the coordinates and velocity components of all three participating objects. The potential possibilities of using such relations for the determination of heights (in terms of geopotential numbers or orthometric heights) are discussed. Received: 6 December 2000 / Accepted: 9 July 2001     

Nonlinear analysis of the three-dimensional datum transformation [conformal group ℂ7(3)]

 The weighted Procrustes algorithm is presented as a very effective tool for solving the three-dimensional datum transformation problem. In particular, the weighted Procrustes algorithm does not require any initial datum parameters for linearization or any iteration procedure. As a closed-form algorithm it only requires the values of Cartesian coordinates in both systems of reference. Where there is some prior information about the variance–covariance matrix of the two sets of Cartesian coordinates, also called pseudo-observations, the weighted Procrustes algorithm is able to incorporate such a quality property of the input data by means of a proper choice of weight matrix. Such a choice is based on a properly designed criterion matrix which is discussed in detail. Thanks to the weighted Procrustes algorithm, the problem of incorporating the stochasticity measures of both systems of coordinates involved in the seven parameter datum transformation problem [conformal group ℂ₇(3)] which is free of linearization and any iterative procedure can be considered to be solved. Illustrative examples are given. Received: 7 January 2002 / Accepted: 9 September 2002 Correspondence to: E. W. Grafarend     

A model for adjustment of differential gravity measurements with simultaneous gravimeter calibration

 A mathematical model is proposed for adjustment of differential or relative gravity measurements, involving simultaneously instrumental readings, coefficients of the calibration function, and gravity values of selected base stations. Tests were performed with LaCoste and Romberg model G gravimeter measurements for a set of base stations located along a north–south line with 1750 mGal gravity range. This line was linked to nine control stations, where absolute gravity values had been determined by the free-fall method, with an accuracy better than 10 μGal. The model shows good consistence and stability. Results show the possibility of improving the calibration functions of gravimeters, as well as a better estimation of the gravity values, due to the flexibility admitted to the values of the calibration coefficients. Received: 15 November 1999 / Accepted: 31 October 2000     

Present-day crustal deformation in China relative to ITRF97 kinematic plate model

 A global plate motion model is established based on the ITRF97 velocity fields and geological model NUVEL1. Sub-plate models are estimated by using the velocity fields derived from 45 global positioning system (GPS) sites under the ITRF97 reference frame in China. Comparisons between space geodesy and geological models are given. It is found that the Euler vector of the AFRC–EURA pair has an obvious discrepancy between space geodetic and geological models. The motion patterns of tectonic blocks in China predicted by GPS are consistent with those of geological data on the whole. Received: 9 November 2000 / Accepted: 17 September 2001     

A synthetic Earth for use in geodesy

 A synthetic Earth and its gravity field that can be represented at different resolutions for testing and comparing existing and new methods used for global gravity-field determination are created. Both the boundary and boundary values of the gravity potential can be generated. The approach chosen also allows observables to be generated at aircraft flight height or at satellite altitude. The generation of the synthetic Earth shape (SES) and gravity-field quantities is based upon spherical harmonic expansions of the isostatically compensated equivalent rock topography and the EGM96 global geopotential model. Spherical harmonic models are developed for both the synthetic Earth topography (SET) and the synthetic Earth potential (SEP) up to degree and order 2160 corresponding to a 5′×5′ resolution. Various sets of SET, SES and SEP with boundary geometry and boundary values at different resolutions can be generated using low-pass filters applied to the expansions. The representation is achieved in point sets based upon refined triangulation of a octahedral geometry projected onto the chosen reference ellipsoid. The filter cut-offs relate to the sampling pattern in order to avoid aliasing effects. Examples of the SET and its gravity field are shown for a resolution with a Nyquist sampling rate of 8.27 degrees. Received: 6 August 1999 / Accepted: 26 April 2000     

A computational approach for the analysis of changes in polygon distributions

 This paper develops a computational method for analyzing changes in polygon distributions. Unmovable polygons that change discontinuously without explicit functional linkage information are discussed. Six types of primitive events are used to describe the change: 1) generation, 2) disappearance, 3) expansion, 4) shrinkage, 5) union, and 6) division. The change of polygon distributions is decomposed into a combination of these events. A computational procedure for deducing a set of events from polygon distributions of two times is proposed. The method is applied to the analysis of the spatial competition between the major and small chains of convenience stores in Tokyo, Japan. Some empirical findings are shown. Received: 3 August 2000 / Accepted: 6 February 2001     

Improvement of the separability of a survey scheme for monitoring crustal deformations in the area of an active fault

 Monitoring of the crustal movements along a tectonic fault is of particular importance in the study of the mechanism of an earthquake. There are several techniques to gauge crustal deformations, including terrestrial survey methods, space-positioning techniques and permanently installed geotechnical instruments. Each technique or method has its own advantages and limitations. Integration of the various techniques into a monitoring scheme is recommended. It is discussed how a proper integrated system can significantly improve the separability of a monitoring scheme at little additional expense. Separability is the ability of a monitoring scheme to distinguish among potential deformation models, and can be used for the optimum design of monitoring schemes. Discussion concentrates on the separability between a dislocation model and a rigid movement model in the area of an active fault. The addition of a few strain observations to a conventional terrestrial survey scheme can better distinguish between the above-mentioned models. A simulated example is presented to demonstrate the idea. Received: 4 November 1997 / Accepted: 9 July 2001     

Investigation of tidal effects in lunar laser ranging

 The analysis of lunar laser ranging (LLR) data enables the determination of many parameters of the Earth–Moon system, such as lunar gravity coefficients, reflector and station coordinates which contribute to the realisation of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000 (ITRF 2000), Earth orientation parameters [EOPs, which contribute to the global EOP solutions at the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS)] or quantities which parameterise relativistic effects in the solar system. The big advantage of LLR is the long time span of lunar observations (1970–2000). The accuracy of the normal points nowadays is about 1 cm.  The capability of LLR to determine tidal parameters is investigated. In principle, it could be assumed that LLR would contribute greatly to the investigation of tidal effects, because the Moon is the most important tide-generating body. In this respect some special topics such as treatment of the permanent tide and the effect of atmospheric loading are addressed and results for the tidal parameters h ₂ and l ₂ as well as values for the eight main tides are given. Received: 14 August 2000 / Accepted: 15 October 2001     

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     

Deriving rules from activity diary data: A learning algorithm and results of computer experiments

 Activity-based models consider travel as a derived demand from the activities households need to conduct in space and time. Over the last 15 years, computational or rule-based models of activity scheduling have gained increasing interest in time-geography and transportation research. This paper argues that a lack of techniques for deriving rules from empirical data hinders the further development of rule-based systems in this area. To overcome this problem, this paper develops and tests an algorithm for inductively deriving rules from activity-diary data. The decision table formalism is used to exhaustively represent the theoretically possible decision rules that individuals may use in sequencing a given set of activities. Actual activity patterns of individuals are supplied to the system as examples. In an incremental learning process, the system progressively improves on the selection of rules used for reproducing the examples. Computer experiments based on simulated data are performed to fine-tune rule selection and rule value update functions. The results suggest that the system is effective and fairly robust for parameter settings. It is concluded, therefore, that the proposed approach opens up possibilities to derive empirically tested rule-based models of activity scheduling. Follow-up research will be concerned with testing the system on empirical data. Received: 31 January 2001 / Accepted: 13 September 2001     

A formula for gravimetric terrain corrections using powers of topographic height

Journal of Geodesy - ?The application of Stokes' formula to create geoid undulations requires no masses outside the geoid. However, due to the existence of the topography, terrain...     

Solution and econometric estimation of spatial dynamic models in continuous space and continuous time

 This paper presents and demonstrates a general approach to solving spatial dynamic models in continuous space and continuous time that characterize the behaviour of intertemporally and interspatially optimizing agents and estimating from discrete data the parameters of such models. The approach involves the use of a projection method to solve the models and a quasi-Newton algorithm to update quasi-FIML parameter estimates. Received: 26 July 2000 / Accepted: 31 January 2001     

Integer estimation in the presence of biases

 Carrier phase ambiguity resolution is the key to fast and high-precision GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) kinematic positioning. Critical in the application of ambiguity resolution is the quality of the computed integer ambiguities. Unsuccessful ambiguity resolution, when passed unnoticed, will too often lead to unacceptable errors in the positioning results. Very high success rates are therefore required for ambiguity resolution to be reliable. Biases which are unaccounted for will lower the success rate and thus increase the chance of unsuccessful ambiguity resolution. The performance of integer ambiguity estimation in the presence of such biases is studied. Particular attention is given to integer rounding, integer bootstrapping and integer least squares. Lower and upper bounds, as well as an exact and easy-to-compute formula for the bias-affected success rate, are presented. These results will enable the evaluation of the bias robustness of ambiguity resolution. Received: 28 September 2000 / Accepted: 29 March 2001     

Short-arc analysis of intersatellite tracking data in a gravity mapping mission

 A technique for the analysis of low–low intersatellite range-rate data in a gravity mapping mission is explored. The technique is based on standard tracking data analysis for orbit determination but uses a spherical coordinate representation of the 12 epoch state parameters describing the baseline between the two satellites. This representation of the state parameters is exploited to allow the intersatellite range-rate analysis to benefit from information provided by other tracking data types without large simultaneous multiple-data-type solutions. The technique appears especially valuable for estimating gravity from short arcs (e.g. less than 15 minutes) of data. Gravity recovery simulations which use short arcs are compared with those using arcs a day in length. For a high-inclination orbit, the short-arc analysis recovers low-order gravity coefficients remarkably well, although higher-order terms, especially sectorial terms, are less accurate. Simulations suggest that either long or short arcs of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data are likely to improve parts of the geopotential spectrum by orders of magnitude. Received: 26 June 2001 / Accepted: 21 January 2002     

Simplified formulae for the BIQUE estimation of variance components in disjunctive observation groups

 General rigorous and simplified formulae are reported for the best invariant quadratic unbiased estimates of the variance–covariance components, which can be applied to all least-squares adjustments with the general linear stochastic model. Simplified procedures are given for two cases frequently recurring in geodetic applications: uncorrelated groups of correlated or uncorrelated observations, with more than one variance component in each group. Received: 19 November 1998 / Accepted: 21 March 2000     

Residual errors in altimetry data detected by combinations of single- and dual-satellite crossovers

 The single- and dual-satellite crossover (SSC and DSC) residuals between and among Geosat, TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), and ERS 1 or 2 have been used for various purposes, applied in geodesy for gravity field accuracy assessments and determination as well as in oceanography. The theory is presented and various examples are given of certain combinations of SSC and DSC that test for residual altimetry data errors, mostly of non-gravitational origin, of the order of a few centimeters. There are four types of basic DSCs and 12 independent combinations of them in pairs which have been found useful in the present work. These are defined in terms of the `mean' and `variable' components of a satellite's geopotential orbit error from Rosborough's 1st-order analytical theory. The remaining small errors, after all altimeter data corrections are applied and the relative offset of coordinate frames between altimetry missions removed, are statistically evaluated by means of the Student distribution. The remaining signal of `non-gravitational' origin can in some cases be attributed to the main ocean currents which were not accounted for among the media or sea-surface corrections. In future, they may be resolved by a long-term global circulation model. Experience with two current models, neither of which are found either to cover the most critical missions (Geosat & TOPEX/Poseidon) or to have the accuracy and resolution necessary to account for the strongest anomalies found across them, is described. In other cases, the residual signal is due to errors in tides, altimeter delay corrections or El Ni?o. (Various examples of these are also presented.) Tests of the combinations of the JGM 3-based DSC residuals show that overall the long-term data now available are well suited for a gravity field inversion refining JGM 3 for low- and resonant-order geopotential harmonics whose signatures are clearly seen in the basic DSC and SSC sets. Received: 15 January 1999 / Accepted: 9 September 1999     

A unified approach to the Clenshaw summation and the recursive computation of very high degree and order normalised associated Legendre functions

 Spherical harmonic expansions form partial sums of fully normalised associated Legendre functions (ALFs). However, when evaluated increasingly close to the poles, the ultra-high degree and order (e.g. 2700) ALFs range over thousands of orders of magnitude. This causes existing recursion techniques for computing values of individual ALFs and their derivatives to fail. A common solution in geodesy is to evaluate these expansions using Clenshaw's method, which does not compute individual ALFs or their derivatives. Straightforward numerical principles govern the stability of this technique. Elementary algebra is employed to illustrate how these principles are implemented in Clenshaw's method. It is also demonstrated how existing recursion algorithms for computing ALFs and their first derivatives are easily modified to incorporate these same numerical principles. These modified recursions yield scaled ALFs and first derivatives, which can then be combined using Horner's scheme to compute partial sums, complete to degree and order 2700, for all latitudes (except at the poles for first derivatives). This exceeds any previously published result. Numerical tests suggest that this new approach is at least as precise and efficient as Clenshaw's method. However, the principal strength of the new techniques lies in their simplicity of formulation and implementation, since this quality should simplify the task of extending the approach to other uses, such as spherical harmonic analysis. Received: 30 June 2000 / Accepted: 12 June 2001