Detailed 1×1° gravimetric Indian Ocean geoid and comparison with GEOS-3 radar altimeter geoid profiles

Summary. A new set of 1×1° mean free-air anomalies in the Indian Ocean is determined on the basis of previously published free-air anomaly maps (Talwani & Kahle) and the most recent Lamont surface ship gravity measurements. The data are then used to compute a (total) 1×1° gravimetric Indian Ocean geoid. The computation is carried out by combining the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) GEM-6 geoid and a difference geoid that corresponds to the differences between the set of 1×1° surface gravity values and the GEM-6 gravity anomalies. The difference geoid is highest over the Madagascar Ridge (+ 20 m) and lowest over the Timor Trough (-30 m). The total geoid is compared with GEOS-3 radar altimeter derived geoid profiles and geophysical implications are discussed.     

The reduction of aliasing in gravity anomalies and geoid heights using digital terrain data

Observations of gravity can be aliased by virtue of the logistics involved in collecting these data in the field. For instance, gravity measurements are often made in more accessible lowland areas where there are roads and tracks, thus omitting areas of higher relief in between. The gravimetric determination of the geoid requires mean terrain-corrected free-air anomalies; however, anomalies based only on the observations in lowland regions are not necessarily representative of the true mean value over the topography. A five-stage approach is taken that uses a digital elevation model, which provides a more accurate representation of the topography than the gravity observation elevations, to reduce the unrepresentative sampling in the gravity observations. When using this approach with the Australian digital elevation model, the terrain-corrected free-air anomalies generated from the Australian gravity data base change by between 77.075 and −84.335 mgal (−0.193 mgal mean and 2.687 mgal standard deviation). Subsequent gravimetric geoid computations are used to illustrate the effect of aliasing in the Australian gravity data upon the geoid. The difference between 'aliased' and 'non-aliased' gravimetric geoid solutions varies by between 0.732 and −1.816 m (−0.058 m mean and 0.122 m standard deviation). Based on these conceptual arguments and numerical results, it is recommended that supplementary digital elevation information be included during the estimation of mean gravity anomalies prior to the computation of a gravimetric geoid model.     

Gravity prediction using collocation and taking known mass density anomalies into account

Summary. The anomalous (gravitational) potential of the Earth, T , is split in two parts, T= T ^C + T _M. Here T _M is a harmonic function generated by known mass density anomalies and T ^C =T-T _M. This function will also be a harmonic function, which therefore may be approximated using the method of collocation, based on known gravity anomalies or altimeter derived geoid undulations, for example. Gravity anomalies can then be predicted using the known linearized relationship between T and Δ g . This procedure may give a 40–50 per cent increase in the precision of the prediction results as compared to a procedure where mass density anomalies are not taken into account.     

Iceocean mass balance during the Late Pleistocene glacial cycles in view of CHAMP and GRACE satellite missions

During the last glacial cycles, global sea level dropped several times by about 120 m and large ice sheets covered North America, northern Europe and Antarctica during the glacial stages. The changes in the iceocean mass balance have displaced mantle material mainly via viscous flow, and the perturbation of the equilibrium figure of the Earth by glacial isostatic adjustment is still observable today in timedependent changes of gravitational and rotational observations. Contemporary iceocean mass balance from volume changes of polar ice caps also contributes to secular variations of the Earth's gravitational field.
In the near future, several satellite gravity missions will significantly improve the accuracy of the observed timedependent gravitational field. In view of the expected improvements in the observations, we predict glacially induced perturbations of the gravitational field, induced by Late Pleistocene and contemporary ice volume changes, for a variety of radial mantle viscosity profiles. We assess the degree of uncertainty for the glacially induced contributions to gravitational and rotational parameters, both in the spectral and the spatial domain.
Predictions of power spectra for the glacially induced freeair gravity and geoid anomalies are about one order of magnitude lower than the observed values, and uncertainties arising from different plausible viscosity profiles are around 0.150.4 mGal and 0.21.5 m, respectively. Uncertainties from different ice models are of secondary importance for the predicted power spectra. Predicted secular changes in geoid anomalies in formerly glaciated areas are mainly controlled by the viscosity profile and contemporary ice volume changes. We also show that the simple threelayer viscosity profiles currently employed for the majority of postglacial rebound studies represent a limited subset for model predictions of the timedependent gravitational field.     

The Free Air Geoid for Australia

Summary The free air geoid, which is the co-geoid obtained by the use of free air anomalies in Stokes' integral, is computed for Australia from available gravity data. The set of anomalies used to represent the outer zones had been obtained previously using a combined solution from satellite data and terrestrial gravimetry. The solutions so obtained for the free air geoid are compared with the astrogeodetic determination of the geoid on the Australian Geodetic Datum by Fischer and Slutsky and the accuracy of the comparisons is estimated.     

Structural effects of the crust on the geoid modelled using deep seismic sounding interpretations

According to the theory of isostasy, the Earth has a tendency to deform its surface in order to reach an equilibrium state. The land-uplift phenomenon in the area of the Fennoscandian Shield is thought to be a process of this kind. The geoid, as an equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field, contains information on how much the Earth's surface departs from the equilibrium state. In order to study the isostatic process through geoidal undulations, the structural effects of the crust on the geoid have to be investigated.
  The structure of the crust of the Fennoscandian Shield has been extensively explored by means of deep seismic sounding (DSS). The data obtained from DSS are used to construct a 3-D seismic-velocity structure model of the area's crust. The velocity model is converted to a 3-D density model using the empirical relationship that holds between seismic velocities and crustal mass densities. Structural effects are then estimated from the 3-D density model.
  The structural effects computed from the crustal model show that the mass deficiency of the crust in Fennoscandia has caused a geoidal depression twice as deep as that observed from the gravimetric geoid. It proves again that the crust has been isostatically compensated by the upper mantle. In other words, an anomalously high-density upper mantle must exist beneath Fennoscandia.     

Coseismic rotation changes from the 2004 Sumatra earthquake: the effects of Earth's compressibility versus earthquake induced topography

Polar motion is modelled for the large 2004 Sumatra earthquake via dislocation theory for an incompressible elastic earth model, where inertia perturbations are due to earthquake-triggered topography of density–contrast interfaces, and for a compressible model, where inertia perturbation due to compression-dilatation of Earth's material is included; density and elastic parameters are based on a multilayered reference Earth. Both models are based on analytical Green's functions, propagated from the centre to the Earth's surface. Preliminary and updated seismological solutions are considered in elucidating the effects of improving earthquake parameters on polar motion. The large Sumatra thrust earthquake was particularly efficient in driving polar motion since it was responsible for large material displacements occurring orthogonally to the strike of the earthquake and to the Earth's surface, as imaged by GRACE gravity anomalies over the earthquake area. The effects of earthquake-induced topography are four times larger than the effects of Earth's compressibility, for l = 2 geopotential components. For varying compressional Earth properties and seismic solution, modelled polar motion ranges from 8.6 to 9.4 cm in amplitude and between 117° and 130° east longitude in direction. The close relationship between polar motion direction, earthquake longitude and thrust nature of the event, are established in terms of basic physical concepts.     

Gravimetric geoid in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

Summary. A total of 3708 1 × 1° free-air gravity anomaly averages have been used to construct a new 1 × 1° gravimetric geoid of the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The 1 × 1° averages are based on a compilation of 147000 surface ship and pendulum gravity measurements. The gravimetric geoid reveals information in the geoid of the Northwest Pacific not present in currently used satellite derived models. The RMS difference between the 1 × 1° geoid and satellite derived models is about ±6 m. Difference geoid undulations range from a maximum of +19 m over the Hawaiian ridge to a minimum of −31 m over the junction of the Kuril and Aleutian trenches. The Hawaiian swell is associated with a geoidal high of up to +15 m with wavelengths of about 2200 km and the topographic rises seaward of deep-sea trenches are associated with geoidal highs of up to 4m with wavelengths of about 220–900 km. The main difference between the gravimetric geoid and the satellite derived models occurs over the Pacific basin where discrepancies reach +10 m with wavelengths of 4000 km. The agreement between the gravi-metric geoid and Skylab-4 and Geos-3 altimeter data is close for wavelengths greater than about 300 km but poor for shorter wavelengths.     

The absolute gravity measurement by FG5 gravimeter at Great Wall Station,Antarctica

Gravity measurement is of great importance to the height datum in Antarctica.The absolute gravity measurement was carried out at Great Wall Station,Antarctica,using FG5 absolute gravity instrument.The gravity data was processed with corrections of earth tide,ocean tide,polar motion and the atmospher,and the RMS is within ±3×10-8 ms-2.The vertical and horizontal gravity gradients were measured using 2 LaCoaste & Romberg(LCR) gravimeters.The absolute gravity measurement provides the fundamental data for the validation and calibration of the satellite gravity projects such as CHAMP,GRACE and GOCE,and for the high accuracy geoid model.     

Retrieving earthquake signature in grace gravity solutions

The GRACE satellites have been orbiting the Earth since 2002, monitoring the time variable gravity field. Some of the observed fluctuations are due to geodynamic causes, but they are often hidden in the complex signal, composed of hydrology, ocean, atmosphere, and geodynamics, the signal of geodynamic origin being usually the smallest. In addition, dealiasing residuals and noise make the separation of the signal from the different causes more difficult. We proposed a method based on the Empirical Orthogonal Function decomposition to extract the signal of physical origin, under the hypothesis that the physical signal is spatially more consistent than the noise and aliasing incomplete correction. We used synthetic geoid variations associated with earthquakes located at nearly 2000 positions at the Earth surface, based on several examples of large actual subduction events. We show that, with the present day accuracy, we can retrieve the geoid variations associated with more than 98 per cent of the earthquakes of magnitude 9 or above, around 60 per cent for magnitude 8.8, 40 per cent for magnitude 8.6 and 33 per cent for magnitude 8.3. Some events, with the right properties and location, can be detected with magnitude as low as 8. We then applied the method to the GRACE solutions, and retrieved the Hokkaido event (2003) and the Sumatra event (2004), which is in agreement with the retrieval rates mentioned here above.     

利用FG5绝对重力仪进行南极长城站绝对重力测定

在南极地区进行重力测量是建立高程基准的基础,2005年,在南极长城站进行了绝对重力测量,观测仪器采用FG5绝对重力仪,经固体潮改正、海潮改正、极移改正及气压改正等,精度达±3×10-8m s-2,并同时利用2台LCR相对重力仪进行了重力垂直梯度测量和水平梯度测量。长城站绝对重力测量的实施,对于新一代卫星重力计划如CHAMP、GRACE和GOCE的地面校准及建立南极地区的高精度、高分辨率的大地水准面模型提供了基础数据。     

Tidal gravity and ocean tide loading in Europe

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The results are presented from tidal gravity measurements at five sites in Europe using LaCoste and Romberg ET gravimeters. Improvements that we have made to the accuracies of these gravimeters are discussed. It is shown that the 'standard' calibration of the International Center for Earth Tides, used for worldwide tidal gravity profiles, is 1.2 per cent too high. The M₂ and O₁ observations are compared with model calculations of the Earth's body tide and ocean tide loading and it is shown that there is a very significant improvement in the agreement between observations and models compared to that obtained with previous tidal gravity measurements. For O₁, where the ocean tide loading and attraction in central Europe is only 0.4 per cent of the body tide, our measurements verify that the Dehant-Wahr anelastic body tide model gravimetric factor is accurate to 0.2 per cent. It is also shown that the effects of lateral heterogeneities in Earth structure on tidal gravity are too small to explain the large anomalies in previously published tidal gravity amplitudes. The observations clearly show the importance of conserving tidal mass in the Schwiderski ocean tide model. For sites in central Europe, the M₂ and O₁ observations and the models are in agreement at the 0.1 μgal (10⁻⁹ m s⁻²) level and tidal corrections to this accuracy can now be made to absolute gravity measurements.     

The relationship between gravity and bathymetry in the Pacific Ocean

Summary. Surface-ship and satellite derived data have been compiled in new free-air gravity anomaly, bathymetry and geoid anomaly maps of the Pacific Ocean basin and its margin. The maps are based on smoothed values of the gravity anomaly, bathymetry and geoid interpolated on to a 90 × 90 km grid. Each smoothed value was obtained by Gaussian filtering measurements along individual ship and subsatellite tracks. The resulting maps resolve features in the gravity, bathymetry and geoid with wavelengths that range from a few hundred to a few thousand kilometres. The smoothed values of bathymetry and geoid anomaly have been corrected for age. The resulting maps show the Pacific ocean basin is associated with a number of ENE–WSW-trending geoid anomaly highs with amplitudes of about ± 5 m and wavelengths of about 3000 km. The most prominent of these highs correlate with the Magellan seamounts–Marshall Gilbert Islands–Magellan rise and the Hess rise–Hawaiian ridge regions. The correlation between geoid anomaly and bathymetry cannot be explained by models of static compensation, but is consistent with a model in which the geoid anomaly and bathymetry are supported by some form of dynamic compensation. We suggest that the dynamic compensation, which characterizes oceanic lithosphere older than 80 Myr, is the result of mantle convection on scales that are smaller than the lithospheric plates themselves.     

Observations and origin of Rayleigh-wave amplitude anomalies

This is a report of observations of amplitude anomalies of fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves ( R 1) between periods of 17 and 100  s. The anomalies are with respect to amplitudes predicted by Rayleigh-wave excitation for a reference earth model and catalogued centroid earthquake source parameters, such as are used in large-scale waveform inversions. The observations indicate that the amplitude anomalies are consistent for nearby recordings of the same event, while there is no obvious relation between the observed anomalies and the paths travelled by the waves. This is in contrast to Rayleigh-wave phase anomalies, which are consistent for similar propagation paths, and hence form the input in many inversions for along-path structure. The observations in this paper show that a similar inversion of intermediate-period amplitude anomalies for along- and near-path structure is not warranted without eliminating source effects, since the amplitude anomalies are dominated by scattering off near-source earth structure and by possible uncertainties in the source parameters. Sensitivity kernels that take the coupling between the moment tensor and displacement field into account demonstrate that Rayleigh-wave amplitude sensitivity is largest near the source. This report argues that the interaction between source-radiated Rayleigh waves and near-source earth structure may not be ignored in amplitude inversion procedures.     

Evolution of the intracratonic Officer Basin, central Australia: implications from subsidence analysis and gravity modelling

ABSTRACT The intracratonic basins of central Australia are distinguished by their large negative Bouguer gravity anomalies, despite the absence of any significant topography. Over the Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic Officer Basin, the anomalies attain a peak negative amplitude in excess of 150 mGal, amongst the largest of continental anomalies observed on Earth. Using well data from the Officer and Amadeus basins and a data grid of sedimentary thicknesses from the eastern Officer Basin, we have assessed the evolution of these intracratonic basins. One-dimensional backstripping analysis reveals that Officer and Amadeus basin tectonic subsidence was not entirely synchronous. This implies that the basins evolved as discrete geological features once the Centralian Superbasin was dismembered into its constituent basins. Two- and three-dimensional backstripping and gravity modelling suggest that the eastern Officer Basin evolved from a broad continental sag into a region of intracratonic flexural subsidence from the latest Neoproterozoic, when flexure of the lithosphere deepened the northern basin. The results from gravity modelling improve when the crust is thickened beneath the northern margin of the basin and thinned at the southern margin, as has been suggested by recent deep seismic data. The crustal thickening beneath the basin's northern margin abuts the region of greatest topographic relief and is consistent with the observed structure at the edges of many orogenic belts. If the Officer Basin evolved as a foreland-type basin from the late Proterozoic and has retained those features to the present, then one implication is that in the absence of any significant topography, cratonic lithosphere must be able to support stresses over very long periods of geological time.     

Regional tomographic inversion of the amplitude and phase of Rayleigh waves with 2-D sensitivity kernels

In this study, we test the adequacy of 2-D sensitivity kernels for fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves based on the single-scattering (Born) approximation to account for the effects of heterogeneous structure on the wavefield in a regional surface wave study. The calculated phase and amplitude data using the 2-D sensitivity kernels are compared to phase and amplitude data obtained from seismic waveforms synthesized by the pseudo-spectral method for plane Rayleigh waves propagating through heterogeneous structure. We find that the kernels can accurately predict the perturbation of the wavefield even when the size of anomaly is larger than one wavelength. The only exception is a systematic bias in the amplitude within the anomaly itself due to a site response.
An inversion method of surface wave tomography based on the sensitivity kernels is developed and applied to synthesized data obtained from a numerical simulation modelling Rayleigh wave propagation over checkerboard structure. By comparing recovered images to input structure, we illustrate that the method can almost completely recover anomalies within an array of stations when the size of the anomalies is larger than or close to one wavelength of the surface waves. Surface wave amplitude contains important information about Earth structure and should be inverted together with phase data in surface wave tomography.     

利用地球重力场模型确定南极大地水准面

利用我国最新地球重力场模型 WDM94,给出了南极 (纬度范围为 - 60°～ - 90°)大地水准面高和平均空间重力异常。为了全面总结分析南极大地水准面特征 ,收集了国外最新地球重力场模型 OSU91 ( 360阶次 )和 JGMOSU( 360阶次 ) ,计算了相应的大地水准面高和平均重力异常。其结果分别与 WDM94的结果作了比较 ,WDM94与 OSU91和 JGMOSU的大地水准面高标准差分别为± 1 .90 m和± 2 .0 9m,平均空间重力异常标准差分别为± 8.97mgal和± 9.32 mgal     

Thermal origin of mid-plate hot-spot swells

Summary. Additional evidence supports the idea that the shallow rises surrounding mid-plate, hot-spot volcanoes are caused by a broad-scale reheating of the lithosphere above hot-spots. Firstly, as required by the reheating concept, the rises appear to be supported by a density deficiency within the normal thickness of the lithosphere. The gravity anomalies over the Bermuda, Cape Verde, Hawaii and Cook-Austral swells indicate that the compensation of these swells is only 40 to 100 km deep. The geoid anomaly over the Hawaiian swell is consistent with these depths. Secondly, as also required by the reheating concept; swells and the volcanoes formed on swells subside at the same rate as younger, hotter lithosphere which is at the same ocean depth. Almost all mid-plate swells rise to an ocean depth of 4250 m, the depth of normal 25 Myr-old lithosphere. The Hawaiian Swell, Emperor Guyots, Cook-Austral Swell and Bikini and Enewetok Atolls all subside as 25 Myr-old lithosphere subsides.     

冰芯中MSA迁移假说的延伸和完善

MSA在冰芯深层的“迁移”现象的存在 ,关系到能否应用大气中 MSA季节特征进行极地冰芯断代 ,并以冰芯分析结果确定大气中生物硫化物含量的方法基础。本文展示各类最有代表性的冰雪 MSA剖面 ,对提出冰芯深层 MSA“迁移假说”的理论依据进行探讨 ,并根据最新资料 ,说明冰川中 MSA的“迁移”和重新分布 ,在表层粒雪和渗浸 -冻结冰层中同样可能发生。对“迁移假说”的延伸补充在于 ,粒雪中的 MSA迁移是在积雪中空气与外界贯通的“开放”条件下进行的 ,渗入雪层中的融水将 MSA溶出后 ,在晶粒间宏观向下输送 ,在阳离子集中的层位发生反应 ,生成盐类冰点的改变使之发生“冻结”,重新分布。而渗浸 -冻结冰层中的迁移机制可能和深层冰川冰中的情况接近 ,即在气体与外界隔绝条件下 ,主要在“封闭”的晶间脉状纹理中以“微观”形式进行。南极半岛 MSA迁移过程需要很长时间 ,而表层渗浸 -冻结冰层中 MSA迁移过程很快出现 ,说明冰中脉状纹理的加快形成、较高冰川温度和冰层中的较大含水量等因素会对 MSA“迁移”进程起促进作用。最后 ,对 MSA“迁移”情况下 ,如何进行有关冰芯 MSA计算进行了讨论 ,对设计实验验证并完善迁移理论提出了设想。     

Glacial isostatic adjustment in Fennoscandia for a laterally heterogeneous earth

Glaciation and deglaciation in Fennoscandia during the last glacial cycles has significantly perturbed the Earth's equilibrium figure. Changes in the Earth's solid and geoidal surfaces due to external and internal mass redistributions are recorded in sequences of ancient coastlines, now either submerged or uplifted, and are still visible in observations of present‐day motions of the surface and glacially induced anomalies in the Earth's gravitational field. These observations become increasingly sophisticated with the availability of GPS measurements and new satellite gravity missions.
Observational evidence of the mass changes is widely used to constrain the radial viscosity structure of the Earth's mantle. However, lateral changes in earth model properties are usually not taken into account, as most global models of glacial isostatic adjustment assume radial symmetry for the earth model. This simplifying assumption contrasts with seismological evidence of significant lateral variations in the Earth's crust and upper mantle throughout the Fennoscandian region.
We compare predictions of glacial isostatic adjustment based on an ice model over the Fennoscandian region for the last glacial cycle for both radially symmetric and fully 3‐D earth models. Our results clearly reveal the importance of lateral variations in lithospheric thickness and asthenospheric viscosity for glacially induced model predictions. Relative sea‐level predictions can differ by up to 10–20 m, uplift rate predictions by 1–3 mm yr⁻¹ and free‐air gravity anomaly predictions by 2–4 mGal when a realistic 3‐D earth structure as proposed by seismic modelling is taken into account.