Far-zone contributions to the gravity field quantities by means of Molodensky’s truncation coefficients

To reduce the numerical complexity of inverse solutions to large systems of discretised integral equations in gravimetric geoid/quasigeoid modelling, the surface domain of Green’s integrals is subdivided into the near-zone and far-zone integration sub-domains. The inversion is performed for the near zone using regional detailed gravity data. The farzone contributions to the gravity field quantities are estimated from an available global geopotential model using techniques for a spherical harmonic analysis of the gravity field. For computing the far-zone contributions by means of Green’s integrals, truncation coefficients are applied. Different forms of truncation coefficients have been derived depending on a type of integrals in solving various geodetic boundary-value problems. In this study, we utilise Molodensky’s truncation coefficients to Green’s integrals for computing the far-zone contributions to the disturbing potential, the gravity disturbance, and the gravity anomaly. We also demonstrate that Molodensky’s truncation coefficients can be uniformly applied to all types of Green’s integrals used in solving the boundaryvalue problems. The numerical example of the far-zone contributions to the gravity field quantities is given over the area of study which comprises the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The coefficients of a global geopotential model and a detailed digital terrain model are used as input data.     

A geoid solution for airborne gravity data

Airborne gravity data is usually attached with satellite positioning of data points, which allow for the direct determination of the gravity disturbance at flight level. Assuming a suitable gridding of such data, Hotine’s modified integral formula can be combined with an Earth Gravity Model for the computation of the disturbing potential (T) at flight level. Based on T and the gravity disturbance data, we directly downward continue T to the geoid, and we present the final solution for the geoid height, including topographic corrections. It can be proved that the Taylor expansion of T converges if the flight level is at least twice the height of the topography, and the terrain potential will not contribute to the topographic correction. Hence, the simple topographic bias of the Bouguer shell yields the only topographic correction. Some numerical results demonstrate the technique used for downward continuation and topographic correction.     

On Gravity Inversion for Point Mass Anomalies by Means of the Truncated Geoid

The physical meaning of the truncated geoid, which is defined by the convolution of gravity anomalies with the Stokes function on a spherical cap of specified radius, has been studied by the authors. They investigated its relation to the density distribution, generating the surface gravity, and its potential use in inversion. Some progress results for simulated studies on point mass anomalies are presented. The behavior of the truncated geoid is controlled by the radius of the integration domain, hereinafter referred to as the truncation parameter, which is treated as a free parameter. The change of the truncated geoid in response to the change of the truncation parameter was studied in the context of the simulated mass distributions. By means of such computer simulations we have managed to demonstrate the clear sensitivity of the truncated geoid to the depths, in addition to the horizontal positions, of point mass anomalies generating the synthetic surface gravity. The objective of this paper is to illustrate, with the help of computer simulation as the method of our study, the contribution of the truncated geoid to the solution of the gravimetric inverse problem. Further work towards employing the truncated geoid in gravity exploration is being conducted.     

Use of Green’s function for determining the disturbing potential of an ellipsoidal Earth

A spherical approximation makes the basis for a majority of formulas in physical geodesy. However, the present-day accuracy in determining the disturbing potential requires an ellipsoidal approximation. The paper deals with constructing Green’s function for an ellipsoidal Earth by an ellipsoidal harmonic expansion and using it for determining the disturbing potential. From the result obtained the part that corresponds to the spherical approximation has been extracted. Green’s function is known to depend just on the geometry of the surface where boundary values are given. Thus, it can be calculated irrespective of the gravity data completeness. No changes of gravity data have an effect on Green’s function and they can be easily taken into account if the function has already been constructed. Such a method, therefore, can be useful in determining the disturbing potential of an ellipsoidal Earth.     

On the discrete outer gravity field

Summary In the present paper the gravity field of the earth in the neighbourhood of the local disturbing masses is studied. The object of the method presented consists of the approximation of the disturbing potentialT _h , which fulfils Laplace's equation outside disturbing masses, on the earth's surface the fundamental boundary value condition of gravity and in infinity it is to be regular by the approximation of the disturbing potential (or by the discrete disturbing potential)T _h , which fulfils the respective finite difference approximation of Laplace's equation and the boundary value conditions in infinity and on the earth's surface. It is also shown that the approximation of the disturbing potentialT _h has the same properties as the disturbing potentialT. The method under consideration will be derived quite generally without any hypothesis about the distribution of the mass between the earth's surface and the geoid. It commences from the gravity data related to the earth's surface only-from the given geodetic measurements.     

On integral approach to regional gravity field modelling from satellite gradiometric data

Solution of the gradiometric boundary value problems leads to three integral formulas. If we are satisfied with obtaining a smooth solution for the Earth’s gravity field, we can use the formulas in regional gravity field modelling. In such a case, satellite gradiometric data are integrated on a sphere at satellite level and continued downward to the disturbing potential (geoid) at sea level simultaneously. This paper investigates the gravity field modelling from a full tensor of gravity at satellite level. It studies the truncation bias of the integrals as well as the filtering of noise of data. Numerical studies show that by integrating T _zz with 1 mE noise and in a cap size of 7°, the geoid can be recovered with an error of 12 cm after the filtering process. Similarly, the errors of the recovered geoids from T _xz,yz and T _{xx-yy, 2xy} are 13 and 21 cm, respectively.     

Ellipsoidal Neumann geodetic boundary-value problem based on surface gravity disturbances: case study of Iran

An ellipsoidal Neumann type geodetic boundary-value problem (GBVP) for the computation of disturbing potential on the surface of the Earth based on the surface gravity disturbance as the boundary data is formulated. The solution methodology of the GBVP can be algorithmically summarized as follows: (i) using global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) coordinates of the gravity stations, the surface gravity disturbances are generated as the boundary data. (ii) Applying the deflection correction to the gravity disturbances to arrive at the derivative of the surface disturbing potential along the ellipsoidal normal. (iii) Removing the low frequencies part of the gravity field using harmonic expansion to degree and order 110. (iv) Using the short wavelength part of the corrected gravity disturbances derived in the previous section as the boundary data within the constructed GBVP to derive the short wavelength disturbing potential over the Earth surface. (v) The computed shortwave length signals of disturbing potentials are converted to disturbing potential values by restoring the removed effects.     

A new ellipsoidal gravimetric, satellite altimetry and astronomic boundary value problem, a case study: The geoid of Iran

A new gravimetric, satellite altimetry, astronomical ellipsoidal boundary value problem for geoid computations has been developed and successfully tested. This boundary value problem has been constructed for gravity observables of the type (i) gravity potential, (ii) gravity intensity (i.e. modulus of gravity acceleration), (iii) astronomical longitude, (iv) astronomical latitude and (v) satellite altimetry observations. The ellipsoidal coordinates of the observation points have been considered as known quantities in the set-up of the problem in the light of availability of GPS coordinates. The developed boundary value problem is ellipsoidal by nature and as such takes advantage of high precision GPS observations in the set-up. The algorithmic steps of the solution of the boundary value problem are as follows:

- Application of the ellipsoidal harmonic expansion complete up to degree and order 360 and of the ellipsoidal centrifugal field for the removal of the effect of global gravity and the isostasy field from the gravity intensity and the astronomical observations at the surface of the Earth.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral on the multi-cylindrical equal-area map projection surface for the removal from the gravity intensity and the astronomical observations at the surface of the Earth the effect of the residual masses at the radius of up to 55 km from the computational point.

- Application of the ellipsoidal harmonic expansion complete up to degree and order 360 and ellipsoidal centrifugal field for the removal from the geoidal undulations derived from satellite altimetry the effect of the global gravity and isostasy on the geoidal undulations.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral on the multi-cylindrical equal-area map projection surface for the removal from the geoidal undulations derived from satellite altimetry the effect of the water masses outside the reference ellipsoid within a radius of 55 km around the computational point.

- Least squares solution of the observation equations of the incremental quantities derived from aforementioned steps in order to obtain the incremental gravity potential at the surface of the reference ellipsoid.

- The removed effects at the application points are restored on the surface of reference ellipsoid.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Bruns’ formula for converting the potential values on the surface of the reference ellipsoid into the geoidal heights with respect to the reference ellipsoid.

- Computation of the geoid of Iran has successfully tested this new methodology.

Conditionality of inverse solutions to discretised integral equations in geoid modelling from local gravity data

The eigenvalue decomposition technique is used for analysis of conditionality of two alternative solutions for a determination of the geoid from local gravity data. The first solution is based on the standard two-step approach utilising the inverse of the Abel-Poisson integral equation (downward continuation) and consequently the Stokes/Hotine integration (gravity inversion). The second solution is based on a single integral that combines the downward continuation and the gravity inversion in one integral equation. Extreme eigenvalues and corresponding condition numbers of matrix operators are investigated to compare the stability of inverse problems of the above-mentioned computational models. To preserve a dominantly diagonal structure of the matrices for inverse solutions, the horizontal positions of the parameterised solution on the geoid and of data points are identical. The numerical experiments using real data reveal that the direct gravity inversion is numerically more stable than the downward continuation procedure in the two-step approach.     

Spectral expressions for modelling the gravitational field of the Earth’s crust density structure

We derive expressions for computing the gravitational field (potential and its radial derivative) generated by an arbitrary homogeneous or laterally varying density contrast layer with a variable depth and thickness based on methods for a spherical harmonic analysis and synthesis of gravity field. The newly derived expressions are utilised in the gravimetric forward modelling of major known density structures within the Earth’s crust (excluding the ocean density contrast) beneath the geoid surface. The gravitational field quantities due to the sediments and crust components density contrasts, shown in numerical examples, are computed using the 2 × 2 arc-deg discrete data from the global crustal model CRUST2.0. These density contrasts are defined relative to the adopted value of the reference crustal density of 2670 kgm⁻³. All computations are realised globally on a 1 × 1 arc-deg geographical grid at the Earth’s surface. The maxima of the gravitational signal due to the sediments density contrast are mainly along continental shelf regions with the largest sedimentary deposits. The corresponding maxima due to the consolidated crust components density contrast are over areas of the largest continental crustal thickness with variable geological structure.     

Regional gravity field modeling based on rectangular harmonic analysis

Regional gravity field modeling with high-precision and high-resolution is one of the most important scientific objectives in geodesy,and can provide fundamental information for geophysics,geodynamics,seismology,and mineral exploration.Rectangular harmonic analysis(RHA)is proposed for regional gravity field modeling in this paper.By solving the Laplace’s equation of gravitational potential in local Cartesian coordinate system,the rectangular harmonic expansions of disturbing potential,gravity anomaly,gravity disturbance,geoid undulation and deflection of the vertical are derived,and so are the formula for signal degree variance and error degree variance of the rectangular harmonic coefficients(RHC).We also present the mathematical model and detailed algorithm for the solution of RHC using RHA from gravity observations.In order to reduce the edge effects caused by periodic continuation in RHA,we propose the strategy of extending the size of computation domain.The RHA-based modeling method is validated by conducting numerical experiments based on simulated ground and airborne gravity data that are generated from geopotential model EGM2008 and contaminated by Gauss white noise with standard deviation of 2 mGal.The accuracy of the 2.5′×2.5′geoid undulations computed from ground and airborne gravity data is 1 and 1.4cm,respectively.The standard error of the gravity disturbances that downward continued from the flight height of 4 km to the geoid is only 3.1 mGal.Numerical results confirm that RHA is able to provide a reliable and accurate regional gravity field model,which may be a new option for the representation of the fine structure of regional gravity field.     

Explicit formula for the geoid-quasigeoid separation

The explicit formula for the geoid-to-quasigeoid correction is derived in this paper. On comparing the geoidal height and height anomaly, this correction is found to be a function of the mean value of gravity disturbance along the plumbline within the topography. To evaluate the mean gravity disturbance, the gravity field of the Earth is decomposed into components generated by masses within the geoid, topography and atmosphere. Newton’s integration is then used for the computation of topography-and atmosphere-generated components of the mean gravity, while the combined solution for the downward continuation of gravity anomalies and Stokes’ boundary-value problem is utilized in computing the component of mean gravity disturbance generated by mass irregularities within the geoid. On application of this explicit formulism a theoretical accuracy of a few millimetres can be achieved in evaluation of the geoid-to-quasigeoid correction. However, the real accuracy could be lower due to deficiencies within the numerical methods and to errors within the input data (digital terrain and density models and gravity observations).     

High Resolution Constituents of the Earth’s Gravitational Field

During the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in April 2008, the new Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM08) was released with fully-normalized coefficients in the spherical harmonic expansion of the Earth’s gravitational potential complete to degree and order 2159 (for selected degrees up to 2190). EGM08 was derived through combination of a satellite-based geopotential model and 5 arcmin mean ground gravity data. Spherical harmonic coefficients of the global height function, that describes the surface of the solid Earth with the same angular resolution as EGM08, became available at the same time. This global topographical model can be used for estimation of selected constituents of EGM08, namely the gravitational potentials of the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean water (fluid masses below the geoid) and topographical masses (solid masses above the geoid), which can be evaluated numerically through spherical harmonic expansions. The spectral properties of the respective potential coefficients are studied in terms of power spectra and their relation to the EGM08 potential coefficients is analyzed by using correlation coefficients. The power spectra of the topographical and sea water potentials exceed the power of the EGM08 potential over substantial parts of the considered spectrum indicating large effects of global isostasy. The correlation analysis reveals significant correlations of all three potentials with the EGM08 potential. The potential constituents (namely their functionals such as directional derivatives) can be used for a step known in geodesy and geophysics as the gravity field reduction or stripping. Removing from EGM08 known constituents will help to analyze the internal structure of the Earth (geophysics) as well as to derive the Earth’s gravitational field harmonic outside the geoid (geodesy).     

Ellipsoidal vertical deflections and ellipsoidal gravity disturbance: Case studies

First, we present three different definitions of the vertical which relate to (i) astronomical longitude and astronomical latitude as spherical coordinates in gravity space, (ii) Gauss surface normal coordinates (also called geodetic coordinates) of type ellipsoidal longitude and ellipsoidal latitude and (iii) Jacobi ellipsoidal coordinates of type spheroidal longitude and spheroidal latitude in geometry space. Up to terms of second order those vertical deflections agree to each other. Vertical deflections and gravity disturbances relate to a reference gravity potential. In order to refer the horizontal and vertical components of the disturbing gravity field to a reference gravity field, which is physically meaningful, we have chosen the Somigliana-Pizzetti gravity potential as well as its gradient. Second, we give a new closed-form representation of Somigliana-Pizzetti gravity, accurate to the sub Nano Gal level. Third, we represent the gravitational disturbing potential in terms of Jacobi ellipsoidal harmonics. As soon as we take reference to a normal potential of Somigliana-Pizzetti type, the ellipsoidal harmonics of degree/order (0,0), (1,0), (1, − 1), (1,1) and (2,0) are eliminated from the gravitational disturbing potential. Fourth, we compute in all detail the gradient of the gravitational disturbing potential, in particular in orthonormal ellipsoidal vector harmonics. Proper weighting functions for orthonormality on the International Reference Ellipsoid are constructed and tabulated. In this way, we finally arrive at an ellipsoidal harmonic representation of vertical deflections and gravity disturbances. Fifth, for an ellipsoidal harmonic Gravity Earth Model (SEGEN: http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/gi/research/paper/coefficients/coefficients.zip) up to degree/order 360/360 we compute the global maps of ellipsoidal vertical deflections and ellipsoidal gravity disturbances which transfer a great amount of geophysical information in a properly chosen equiareal ellipsoidal map projection.     

Accuracy of deflections of vertical determined from discrete solution of the geodetic boundary value problem

Summary The general problem of determining the figure of the earth leads to the solution of the geodetic boundary value problem. By its discrete approximation we obtain the discrete disturbing potential that maintains all properties of the original problem. Thus, the discrete approximation of the disturbing potential can be used in studying the behaviour of the earth's gravity field outside the disturbing masses. The deflections of the vertical are one of the quantities describing the behaviour of the earth's gravity field. A method for their computation from the discrete solution of the geodetic boundary value problem is put forth and estimates for its accuracy are given.     

Discussion of Mean Gravity Along the Plumbline

According to the definition of the orthometric height, the mean value of gravity along the plumbline between the Earth's surface and the geoid is defined in an integral sense. In Helmert's (1890) definition of the orthometric height, a linear change of the gravity with depth is assumed. The mean gravity is determined so that the observed gravity at the Earth's surface is reduced to the approximate mid-point of the plumbline using Poincaré-Prey's gravity gradient. Niethammer (1932) and later Mader (1954) took into account the mean value of the gravimetric terrain correction within the topography considering the constant topographical density distribution along the plumbline (for more details see Heiskanen and Moritz, 1967). Vaníek et al. (1995) included the effect of the lateral variation of the topographical density into the definition of Helmert's orthometric height. Recently, Hwang and Hsiao (2003) discussed the influence of the vertical gradient of disturbing gravity on the orthometric heights. In this paper, the mean integral value of gravity along the plumbline within the topography is defined so that the actual topographical density distribution and the change of the disturbing gravity with depth are taken into account. Based on the definition of the mean gravity, the relation between the orthometric and normal heights is discussed.     

Direct BEM for high-resolution global gravity field modelling

The paper presents a high-resolution global gravity field modelling by the boundary element method (BEM). A direct BEM formulation for the Laplace equation is applied to get a numerical solution of the linearized fixed gravimetric boundary-value problem. The numerical scheme uses the collocation method with linear basis functions. It involves a discretization of the complicated Earth’s surface, which is considered as a fixed boundary. Here 3D positions of collocation points are simulated from the DNSC08 mean sea surface at oceans and from the SRTM30PLUS_V5.0 global topography model added to EGM96 on lands. High-performance computations together with an elimination of the far zones’ interactions allow a very refined integration over the all Earth’s surface with a resolution up to 0.1 deg. Inaccuracy of the approximate coarse solutions used for the elimination of the far zones’ interactions leads to a long-wavelength error surface included in the obtained numerical solution. This paper introduces an iterative procedure how to reduce such long-wavelength error surface. Surface gravity disturbances as oblique derivative boundary conditions are generated from the EGM2008 geopotential model. Numerical experiments demonstrate how the iterative procedure tends to the final numerical solutions that are converging to EGM2008. Finally the input surface gravity disturbances at oceans are replaced by real data obtained from the DNSC08 altimetryderived gravity data. The ITG-GRACE03S satellite geopotential model up to degree 180 is used to eliminate far zones’ interactions. The final high-resolution global gravity field model with the resolution 0.1 deg is compared with EGM2008.     

Comparison of global geopotential models from the champ and grace missions for regional geoid modelling in Turkey

The continuous efforts on establishment and modernization of the geodetic control in Turkey include a number of regional geoid models that have been determined since 1976. The recently released gravimetric Geoid of Turkey, TG03, is used in geodetic applications where GPS-heights need to be converted to the local vertical datum. To reach a regional geoid model with improved accuracy, the selection of the appropriate global geopotential model is of primary importance. This study assesses the performance of a number of recent satellite-only and combined global geopotential models (GGMs) derived from CHAMP and GRACE missions’ data in comparison to the older EGM96 model, which is the underlying reference model for TG03. In this respect, gravity anomalies and geoid heights from the global geopotential models were compared with terrestrial gravity data and low-pass filtered GPS/levelling data, respectively. Also, five new gravimetric geoid models, computed by the Fast Fourier Transform technique using terrestrial gravity data and the geopotential models, were validated at the GPS/levelling benchmarks. The findings were also compared with the validation results of the TG03 model. The tests showed that as it was expected any of the high-degree combined models (EIGEN-CG03C, EIGEN-GL04C, EGM96) can be employed for determining the gravity anomalies over Turkey. In the west of Turkey, EGM96 and EIGEN-CHAMP03S fit the GPS/levelling surface better. However, all the tested GGMs revealed equal performance when they were employed in gravimetric geoid modelling after de-trending the gravimetric geoid model with corrector surface fitting. The new geoid models have improved accuracy (after fit) compared to TG03.