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.     

Precise location of unsurveyed seamounts in the Austral archipelago area using SEASAT data

Summary. SEASAT altimetric geoid data are used to detect uncharted sea-mounts in the Austral archipelago area. The various physical parameters which affect the geoid signature of a seamount are inspected to analyse their influence on the precision of the location. These parameters are the shape of the seamount, its density, the crustal model, the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere and the distance between the seamount and sub-satellite tracks, respectively. The results of the tests performed on synthetic data as well as on charted structures show that when a seamount is detected on at least two neighbouring tracks, it is possible to locate it with good confidence and to give an estimation of its height. If the correct elastic thickness is assumed, the precision on the located is order 15 km. Ten previously unsurveyed seamounts have been located in the Austral archipelago. It appears that they are emplaced along two well-defined azimuths (N 110°E and N 150°E) and that two parallel distinct volcanic chains form the Austral archipelago.     

Combination of TOPEX/POSEIDON data with a hydrographic inversion for determination of the oceanic general circulation and its relation to geoid accuracy

A global estimate of the absolute oceanic general circulation from a geostrophic inversion of in situ hydrographic data is tested against and then combined with an estimate obtained from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetric data and a geoid model computed using the JGM-3 gravity-field solution. Within the quantitative uncertainties of both the hydrographic inversion and the geoid estimate, the two estimates derived by very different methods are consistent. When the in situ inversion is combined with the altimetry/geoid scheme using a recursive inverse procedure, a new solution, fully consistent with both hydrography and altimetry, is found. There is, however, little reduction in the uncertainties of the calculated ocean circulation and its mass and heat fluxes because the best available geoid estimate remains noisy relative to the purely oceano-graphic inferences. The conclusion drawn from this is that the comparatively large errors present in the existing geoid models now limit the ability of satellite altimeter data to improve directly the general ocean circulation models derived from in situ measurements. Because improvements in the geoid could be realized through a dedicated spaceborne gravity recovery mission, the impact of hypothetical much better, future geoid estimates on the circulation uncertainty is also quantified, showing significant hypothetical reductions in the uncertainties of oceanic transport calculations, Full ocean general circulation models could better exploit both existing oceanographic data and future gravity-mission data, but their present use is severely limited by the inability to quantify their error budgets.     

Comparison of tide model outputs for the northern region of the Antarctic Peninsula using satellite altimeters and tide gauge data

This study compares the common harmonic constants of the O₁, K₁, P₁, Q₁, M₂, S₂, N₂, and K₂ tidal constituents from eight global and four regional tide models with harmonic constants from satellite altimeter and tide gauge data for the northern region of the Antarctic Peninsula (58°S–66°S, 53°W–66°W). To obtain a more representative comparison, the study area was divided into three zones with different physical characteristics but similar maximum tidal amplitude variations: Zone I (north of 62°S), Zone II (south of 62°S and west of the Antarctic Peninsula), and Zone III (between 62°S and 64.3°S, and east of 58.5°W). Root sum square (RSS) values are less than or equal to 3.0, 4.2, and 8.4 cm for zones I, II, and III, respectively. No single model shows superior performance in all zones. Because there are insufficient satellite altimetry observations in the vicinity of Matienzo Base (64.9761°S, 60.0683°W), this station was analyzed separately and presents the greatest values of both root mean square misfit and RSS. The maximum, minimum, and average amplitude values of the constituents that follow in importance after the eight common tidal constituents, and which have amplitudes greater than 1 cm, are also analyzed.     

High-resolution mean sea surface computed with altimeter data of Ers-1 (geodetic mission) and topex-poseidon

The remote-sensing satellite ERS-1, launched in 1991 to study the Earth's environment, was placed on a geodetic (168-day repeat) orbit between 1994 April and 1995 March to map, through altimetric measurements, the gravity field over the whole oceanic domain with a resolution of 8 km at the equator in both along-track and cross-track directions. We have analysed the precise altimeter data of the geodetic mission, and, by also using one year of Topex-Poseidon altimeter data, we have computed a global high-resolution mean sea surface. The various steps involved in pre-processing the ERS-1 data consisted of correcting the data for environmental factors, editing, and reducing, through crossover analyses, the radial orbit error, which directly affects sea-surface height measurements. For this purpose, we adjusted sinusoids at 1 and 2 cycle rev⁻¹ along the ERS-1 profiles in order to minimize crossover differences between ERS-1 and yearly averaged Topex-Poseidon profiles. In effect, the orbit of Topex-Poseidon is very accurately determined (within 2–3 cm for the radial component), so Topex-Poseidon altimeter profiles can serve as a reference to reduce the ERS-1 radial orbit error. The ERS-1 residual orbit error was further reduced through a second crossover analysis between all ascending and descending profiles of the geodetic mission. The along-track ERS-1 and Topex-Poseidon data were then interpolated over the whole oceanic domain on a regular grid of 1/16°× 1/16° size. The mapping of the gridded sea-surface heights reveals the very fine structure of the marine geoid, up until now unknown at a global scale. This new data set will be most useful for marine geophysical and tectonic investigations.     

联合卫星重力和卫星测高确定南极绕极流

联合基于GRACE重力卫星观测资料恢复的重力场模型(EIGEN-GL04S1)和卫星测高推求的平均海面高模型(KMSS04)来构造南极绕极流区域的平均海面动力地形,并利用小波滤波方法去掉短波及噪声信号,进而推算大、中尺度的绕极流。与非卫星重力场模型、同化资料及海洋水文资料确定相应结果的验证分析表明:基于新的卫星重力场模型推算的南极绕极流区域的海面动力地形、PF、SAF和表层流场等都与海洋学结果相吻合,且局部特征更加清晰。表明卫-卫跟踪重力卫星计划确定的地球重力场模型较之以前存在的重力场模型在中长波部分精度有较大提高,从大地测量(从空间)角度来探测南极绕极流已达到较高的精度。     

First-order asymptotics for the eigenfrequencies of the Earth and application to the retrieval of large-scale lateral variations of structure

Summary . We present a variety of examples, showing systematic fluctuations as a function of angular order of measured eigenfrequencies for given normal modes of the Earth. The data are single station measurements from the GEOSCOPE network. Such fluctuations are attributed to departures from the lowest order asymptotic expression of the geometrical optics approximation. We derive first-order asymptotic expressions for the location parameter for all three components of the Earth's motion, by a method based on the stationary phase approximation and geometric relations on the unit sphere.
We illustrate the sensitivity of the fluctuations to the different parameters involved (source parameters, epicentral distance, laterally heterogeneous earth model) with synthetic examples corresponding to GEOSCOPE observations. Finally, we show the results of first attempts at inversion, which indicate that, when the fluctuations are taken into account, more accurate estimates of the great circle average eigenfrequencies can be obtained, and additional constraints put on the structure in the neighbourhood of the great circle.     

A relationship between red tide outbreaks and urban development along the coasts of Guangdong Province

Red tides are one of the main coastal catastrophic events in Guangdong Province of southern China. The comparison between the number of red tide events and the development indexes of cities along the coasts of the province shows that the regional differences in red tide outbreaks has close relations with the coastal urban developments. The cause for an initiation of red tide blooms may be natural factors, while wastewater caused by the fast development of population, industry and aquiculture of the coastal cities enhanced the blooms. It may explain why the two periods of frequent outbreaks of the red tides over the last two decades matched the urban developments in the coastal areas of Guangdong not only spatially but also temporally. The red tides in the first period were restricted only to the coasts of middle Guangdong, where urbanization process was at a higher speed than the other coastal areas of the province. In the second period, fast development of the coastal cities in eastern Guangdong led to an increase in the occurrence of red tides in local sea areas of the same coasts.