Accounting for topography in the calculation of quasigeoidal heights and plumb-line deflections from gravity anomalies

A calculation of quasigeoidal heights and plumb-line deflections according to Molodensky formulae was carried out under elimination of the effect of topography from gravity anomalies. After the masses of topography had been removed a smoothed-out surface passing through astronomical and gravity stations was considered as representing the physical surface of the Earth. Thus it has been practically rendered possible to use the first-approximation formulae of Molodensky, and, in many cases, also the “zero-approximation” formulae analogous to the formulae of Stokes and Vening-Meinesz. The effect of the restored masses of topography was then added to the quantities found; the said effect was expressed as the effect of topography condensed on the normal equipotential surface passing through the point under investigation, plus a correction for condensation. Following some transformations, the resulting formulae (13) and (18) were obtained which formulae differ in their “zero-approximation” (15) and (20) from traditional formulas in that they contain terrait reductions added to free-air anomalies. Moreover, in the calculation of plumb-line deflections directly in mountain regions a correction for differing effects of topography before and after its condensation is to be introduced. A tentative expansion of terrain reduction in terms of spherical harmonics up to the third order is given; it can be seen therefrom that the Stokes series in its usual form is subject to a mean arror about 15–20%. It is also shown that the expansion of free-air anomalies in terms of spherical functions contains a first-order harmonic with a mean values about ±0.3 mgl. The said harmonic practically disappears in the expansion of the sum of free-air anomalies and terrain reductions.     

球近似下地球外空间任意类型场元的地形影响

传统的重力归算方法只适用于地球表面上的重力异常,不能用于扰动重力、垂线偏差、重力梯度等其他类型扰动重力场元,不适合处理除地面外其他高度上场元的地形影响问题。当前,地球重力场探测的场元类型越来越丰富,探测的高度也逐渐转向航空和卫星高度,精确处理地球外空间各种类型重力场元的地形影响已成为地球重力场领域面临的重要课题。本文通过直接分解由地形生成的具有调和性质的引力场,从而导出地球外空间任意高度、任意类型扰动重力场元的地形影响,在此基础上给出在球近似下地形影响的严密算法和高精度快速算法。利用本文推荐的地形影响计算方案,可以方便地处理各种类型地面重力、海洋重力、航空重力、卫星重力、卫星测高数据的地形影响,从而丰富重力场数据处理的内涵,改善地球重力场算法的性能。     

局部重力异常向上延拓的实用算法

针对局部重力异常向上延拓计算复杂、耗时长的问题,该文基于泊松积分离散化的基本原理,提出一种快速的局部格网重力异常向上延拓的实用算法;并结合中国东北和青藏高原地区大地水准面的重力异常格网数据,采用该延拓方法分别计算了空中10、50、100km处的重力异常,将其与等高度的EIGEN-6C4模型结果对比分析。实验结果表明:在顾及边界效应影响的情况下,相对于EIGEN-6C4模型,中国东北和青藏高原地区重力异常向上延拓的最大均方根误差分别优于1.5和3.5mGal;在保证精度可用的前提下,计算效率可以有大幅度提高,证明了该方法解算局部重力异常向上延拓的适用性。     

Cross-Coupling Correction for LaCoste ＆ Romberg Airborne Gravimeter

Abstract The cross-coupling corrections for the LaCoste ＆ Romberg airborne gravimeter are computed as a linear combination of 5 so-called cross-coupling monitors. The weight factors （coefficients） determined from marine gravity data by the factory are obviously not optimal for airborne application. These coefficients are recalibrated by minimizing the difference between airborne data and upward continued surface data （external calibration） and by minimizing the errors at line crossings （internal calibration） respectively. An integrating method to recalibrate the above-mentioned coefficients and the beam scale factor simultaneously is also presented. Experimental results show that the systemic errors in the airborne gravity anomalies can be greatly reduced by using any of the recalibrated coefficients. For example, the systemic error is reduced from 4.8 mGal to 1.8 mGal in Datong test.     

Modeling errors in upward continuation for INS gravity compensation

Accurate upward continuation of gravity anomalies supports future precision, free-inertial navigation systems, since the latter cannot by themselves sense the gravitational field and thus require appropriate gravity compensation. This compensation is in the form of horizontal gravity components. An analysis of the model errors in upward continuation using derivatives of the standard Pizzetti integral solution (spherical approximation) shows that discretization of the data and truncation of the integral are the major sources of error in the predicted horizontal components of the gravity disturbance. The irregular shape of the data boundary, even the relatively rough topography of a simulated mountainous region, has only secondary effect, except when the data resolution is very high (small discretization error). Other errors due to spherical approximation are even less important. The analysis excluded all measurement errors in the gravity anomaly data in order to quantify just the model errors. Based on a consistent gravity field/topographic surface simulation, upward continuation errors in the derivatives of the Pizzetti integral to mean altitudes of about 3,000 and 1,500 m above the mean surface ranged from less than 1 mGal (standard deviation) to less than 2 mGal (standard deviation), respectively, in the case of 2 arcmin data resolution. Least-squares collocation performs better than this, but may require significantly greater computational resources.     

利用航空重力测量和DEM确定地面重力场

本文基于空中一点重力异常可以代表地面一定相关区的平均重力异常的频谱特性，以及在局部区域空间异常与地形高的相关性，提出综合利用航空重力测量和数字高程模型确定地面重力异常的方法。该法可以解决航空重力测量分辨率受航高所限以及地面相关区重叠等问题，数值试验证明了此方法的有效性。     

Downward continuation of the free-air gravity anomalies to the ellipsoid using the gradient solution and terrain correction—An attempt of global numerical computations

The formulas for the determination of the coefficients of the spherical harmonic expansion of the disturbing potential of the earth are defined for data given on a sphere. In order to determine the spherical harmonic coefficients, the gravity anomalies have to be analytically downward continued from the earth's surface to a sphere—at least to the ellipsoid. The goal of this paper is to continue the gravity anomalies from the earth's surface downward to the ellipsoid using recent elevation models. The basic method for the downward continuation is the gradient solution (theg ₁ term). The terrain correction has also been computed because of the role it can play as a correction term when calculating harmonic coefficients from surface gravity data. Theg ₁ term and the terrain correction were expanded into the spherical harmonics up to180 ^th order. The corrections (theg ₁ term and the terrain correction) have the order of about 2% of theRMS value of degree variance of the disturbing potential per degree. The influences of theg ₁ term and the terrain correction on the geoid take the order of 1 meter (RMS value of corrections of the geoid undulation) and on the deflections of the vertical is of the order 0.1″ (RMS value of correction of the deflections of the vertical).     

Gravity-field improvement in the Mediterranean Sea by estimating the bottom topography using collocation

The contribution of bathymetry to the prediction of quantities related to the gravity field (e.g., gravity anomalies, geoid heights) is discussed in an extended test area of the central Mediterranean Sea. Sea gravity anomalies and a priori statistical characteristics of depths are used in a least-squares collocation procedure in order to produce new depths, giving a better smoothing of the gravity field when using a remove-restore procedure. The effect of the bottom topography on gravity-field modeling is studied using both the original and the new depths through a residual terrain modeling reduction. The numerical tests show a considerable smoothing of the sea gravity anomalies and the available altimeter heights when the new depth information is taken into account according to the covariance analysis performed. Moreover, geoid heights are computed by combining the sea gravity anomalies either with the original depths or with the new ones, using as a reference surface the OSU91A geopotential model. Comparing the computed geoid heights with adjusted altimeter sea-surface heights (SSHs), better results are obtained when subtracting the attraction of the new depth information. Similar results are obtained when predicting gravity anomalies from altimeter SSHs where the terrain effect on altimetry is based on the new bottom topography. Received: 10 September 1996 / Accepted: 4 August 1997     

顾及地形效应的地面重力向上延拓模型分析与检验

重力向上延拓在外部重力场逼近和航空重力测量数据质量评估中具有重要应用。本文深入分析研究了6种向上延拓计算模型的技术特点和适用条件,提出了应用超高阶位模型加地形改正、点质量方法结合移去-恢复技术实现“先向下后向上延拓”计算的实施策略,探讨了计算过程特别是前端向下延拓过程的稳定性问题。通过实际数值计算,定量评估了地形质量对不同高度向上延拓结果的影响,对比分析了不同向上延拓模型顾及地形效应的实际效果,同时对向上延拓模型计算精度进行了估计。在地形变化比较激烈的山区,地形质量对向上延拓结果的影响最大可达几十个mGal（10-5m·s-2）,当计算高度为10 km时,该项影响超过3 mGal;向上延拓计算模型误差（不含数据误差影响）一般不超过1 mGal;基于超高阶位模型和地形改正信息实施向下延拓过渡的布阿桑（Poisson）积分向上延拓模型,具有计算过程简便、计算结果稳定可靠等优点。     

Flight test results from a strapdown airborne gravity system

In June 1995, a flight test was carried out over the Rocky Mountains to assess the accuracy of airborne gravity for geoid determination. The gravity system consisted of a strapdown inertial navigation system (INS), two GPS receivers with zero baseline on the airplane and multiple GPS master stations on the ground, and a data logging system. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that a strapdown INS has been used for airborne gravimetry. The test was designed to assess repeatability as well as accuracy of airborne gravimetry in a highly variable gravity field. An east-west profile of 250 km across the Rocky Mountains was chosen and four flights over the same ground track were made. The flying altitude was about 5.5km, i.e., between 2.5 and 5.0km above ground, and the average flying speed was about 430km/h. This corresponds to a spatial resolution (half wavelength of cutoff frequency) of 5.07.0km when using filter lengths between 90 and 120s. This resolution is sufficient for geoid determination, but may not satisfy other applications of airborne gravimetry. The evaluation of the internal and external accuracy is based on repeated flights and comparison with upward continued ground gravity using a detailed terrain model. Gravity results from repeated flight lines show that the standard deviation between flights is about 2mGal for a single profile and a filter length of 120s, and about 3mGal for a filter length of 90s. The standard deviation of the difference between airborne gravity upward continued ground gravity is about 3mGal for both filter lengths. A critical discussion of these results and how they relate to the different transfer functions applied, is given in the paper. Two different mathematical approaches to airborne scalar gravimetry are applied and compared, namely strapdown inertial scalar gravimetry (SISG) and rotation invariant scalar gravimetry (RISG). Results show a significantly better performance of the SISG approach for a strapdown INS of this accuracy class. Because of major differences in the error model of the two approaches, the RISG method can be used as an effective reliability check of the SISG method. A spectral analysis of the residual errors of the flight profiles indicates that a relative geoid accuracy of 23cm over distances of 200km (0.1 ppm) can be achieved by this method. Since these results present a first data analysis, it is expected that further improvements are possible as more refined modelling is applied. Received: 19 August 1996 / Accepted: 12 May 1997     

利用重力异常数据构建重力梯度场的方法比较

为实现大范围、高精度基准重力梯度数据库的构建,考虑到重力梯度场对地形质量的敏感效应,一般利用恒密度数字高程模型来求取重力梯度值,从而忽略了地形密度变化以及水准面以下密度异常对重力梯度的影响。根据重力位理论中求解边值问题的数值应用方法,直接利用重力异常数据求取重力梯度场,弥补了密度变化和密度异常在重力梯度上的反映。根据模型算例和实测重力异常数据求取了剖面重力梯度值,结果表明,限于重力数据空间分辨率的影响,利用重力异常数据可恢复中长波段重力梯度场。该方法与地形数据求取重力梯度和卫星重力梯度测量等方法技术相结合,对重力梯度数据库的建设具有实际应用价值。     

重力均衡与地形波长——兼论均衡理论不适宜于珠峰重力值的推估

150多年来,重力均衡的理论已得到很大的发展,均衡异常与大地水准面差距在地球科学诸多学科中已得到了广泛的应用,各种均衡理论及其相应的重力异常在各种文献中已作了比较和评论;不同波长地形的重力效应,包括短波长的地形不能构成补偿也作了进一步研究。因此,在局部场中不宜用均衡补偿的方法作山区重力点值的推估,而曾经仅用地形(高程)的数据推估珠穆朗玛峰顶上的重力倒是适合的。     

Effect of the SRTM global DEM on the determination of a high-resolution geoid model: a case study in Iran

Any errors in digital elevation models (DEMs) will introduce errors directly in gravity anomalies and geoid models when used in interpolating Bouguer gravity anomalies. Errors are also propagated into the geoid model by the topographic and downward continuation (DWC) corrections in the application of Stokes’s formula. The effects of these errors are assessed by the evaluation of the absolute accuracy of nine independent DEMs for the Iran region. It is shown that the improvement in using the high-resolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data versus previously available DEMs in gridding of gravity anomalies, terrain corrections and DWC effects for the geoid model are significant. Based on the Iranian GPS/levelling network data, we estimate the absolute vertical accuracy of the SRTM in Iran to be 6.5 m, which is much better than the estimated global accuracy of the SRTM (say 16 m). Hence, this DEM has a comparable accuracy to a current photogrammetric high-resolution DEM of Iran under development. We also found very large differences between the GLOBE and SRTM models on the range of −750 to 550 m. This difference causes an error in the range of −160 to 140 mGal in interpolating surface gravity anomalies and −60 to 60 mGal in simple Bouguer anomaly correction terms. In the view of geoid heights, we found large differences between the use of GLOBE and SRTM DEMs, in the range of −1.1 to 1 m for the study area. The terrain correction of the geoid model at selected GPS/levelling points only differs by 3 cm for these two DEMs.     

高精度海岸带重力似大地水准面的若干问题讨论

本文针对海岸带多源重力数据和地形特点,通过理论分析和试算,对若干影响厘米级似大地水准面确定的关键问题进行了剖析,得出一些有益的结论。我国海岸带Molodensky一阶项对高程异常的贡献在10～30cm,需在Molodensky框架中精化重力似大地水准面;精细处理地形影响是提升多源重力场数据处理水平的重要途径;地球外空间不同高度、任意类型重力场参数的地形影响、地形补偿和地形Helmert凝聚算法可以统一;重力场数据处理中大地测量基准不一致的影响会随数据处理算法的不同而变化,在多源重力数据处理时此类影响易变得不可预测和控制;将地形Helmert凝聚理论引入Molodensky框架,可以解决以其他重力场参数（如扰动重力、垂线偏差等）为边界条件的似大地水准面精化问题。     

Comparison of mean gravity anomalies at elevation with corresponding ground anomalies

In support of requirements for the U.S. Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, gravity anomalies have been upward continued to several elevations in different areas of the United States. One area was 34⁰ to 40⁰ N in latitude and 96⁰ to 103⁰ W in longitude, generally called the Oklahoma area. The computations proceeded from 26, 032 point anomalies to the prediction of mean anomalies in 14, 704, 2.5′×2.5′ blocks and 9,284, 5′×5′ blocks. These anomalies were upward continued along 28 profiles at 5′ intervals for every 30′ in latitude and longitude. These anomalies at elevations were meaned in various patterns to form mean 30′×30″, 1⁰×1⁰, 5⁰×5⁰ blocks. Comparisons were then made to the corresponding ground values. The results of these comparisons lead to practical recommendations on the arrangement of flight profiles in airborne gravimetry.     

连续重力观测异常模式的多分辨率识别算法

在小波多孔算法的基础上,提出了一种综合信号频率信息和幅值信息的连续重力观测数据多分辨率异常模式识别算法,利用小波分解得到高频区域的能量作为频率指标,与幅值相结合,对信号及其多孔小波分解结果进行多分辨率异常模式识别。利用模拟数据和实际超导重力观测数据对算法的有效性进行了验证,结果表明,该算法能够准确地在带有噪声的信号中识别模拟数据的异常模式,可应用于连续重力观测台网数据分析处理,对于提升台网观测数据质量以及地震预测等实际应用都具有重要意义。用此方法分析拉萨和武汉的3台超导重力仪2015-04-25尼泊尔地震前一天的秒采样数据后,得到一段27 min的在频率指标上有超过90%相似性的异常模式,这一结果的更深层次物理解释仍需要进一步研究。     

Gravity gradient modeling using gravity and DEM

A model of the gravity gradient tensor at aircraft altitude is developed from the combination of ground gravity anomaly data and a digital elevation model. The gravity data are processed according to various operational solutions to the boundary-value problem (numerical integration of Stokes’ integral, radial-basis splines, and least-squares collocation). The terrain elevation data are used to reduce free-air anomalies to the geoid and to compute a corresponding indirect effect on the gradients at altitude. We compare the various modeled gradients to airborne gradiometric data and find differences of the order of 10–20 E (SD) for all gradient tensor elements. Our analysis of these differences leads to a conclusion that their source may be primarily measurement error in these particular gradient data. We have thus demonstrated the procedures and the utility of combining ground gravity and elevation data to validate airborne gradiometer systems.     

Short-wavelength Spectral Properties of the Gravity Field from a Range of Regional Data Sets

The GRACE (gravity recovery and climate experiment) and GOCE (gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer) dedicated gravity satellite missions are expected to deliver the long-wavelength scales of the Earth’s gravity field with extreme precision. For many applications in Earth sciences, future research activities will have to focus on a similar precision on shorter scales not recovered by satellite missions. Here, we investigate the signal power of gravity anomalies at such short scales. We derive an average degree variance and power spectral density model for topography-reduced gravity anomalies (residual terrain model anomalies and de-trended refined Bouguer anomalies), which is valid for wavelengths between 0.7 and 100  km. The model is based on the analysis of gravity anomalies from 13 test regions in various geographical areas and geophysical settings, using various power spectrum computation approaches. The power of the derived average topography-reduced model is considerably lower than the Tscherning–Rapp free air anomaly model. The signal power of the individual test regions deviates from the obtained average model by less than a factor of 4 in terms of square-root power spectral amplitudes. Despite the topographic reduction, the highest signal power is found in mountainous areas and the lowest signal power in flat terrain. For the derived average power spectral model, a validation procedure is developed based on least-squares prediction tests. The validation shows that the model leads to a good prediction quality and realistic error measures. Therefore, for least-squares prediction, the model could replace the use of autocovariance functions derived from local or regional data.     

Review and numerical assessment of the direct topographical reduction in geoid determination

Recent papers in the geodetic literature promote the reduction of gravity for geoid determination according to the Helmert condensation technique where the entire reduction is made in place before downward continuation. The alternative approach, primarily developed by Moritz, uses two evaluation points, one at the Earths surface, the other on the (co-)geoid, for the direct topographic effect. Both approaches are theoretically legitimate and the derivations in each case make use of the planar approximation and a Lipschitz condition on height. Each method is re-formulated from first principles, yielding equations for the direct effect that contain only the spherical approximation. It is shown that neither method relies on a linear relationship between gravity anomalies and height (as claimed by some). Numerical tests, however, show that the practical implementations of these two approaches yield significant differences. Computational tests were performed in three areas of the USA, using 1×1 grids of gravity data and 30×30 grids of height data to compute the gravimetric geoid undulation, and GPS/leveled heights to compute the geometric geoid undulation. Using the latter as a control, analyses of the gravimetric undulations indicate that while in areas with smooth terrain no substantial differences occur between the gravity reduction methods, the Moritz–Pellinen (MP) approach is clearly superior to the Vanicek–Martinec (VM) approach in areas of rugged terrain. In theory, downward continuation is a significant aspect of either approach. Numerically, however, based on the test data, neither approach benefited by including this effect in the areas having smooth terrain. On the other hand, in the rugged, mountainous area, the gravimetric geoid based on the VM approach was improved slightly, but with the MP approach it suffered significantly. The latter is attributed to an inability to model the downward continuation of the Bouguer anomaly accurately in rugged terrain. Applying the higher-order, more accurate gravity reduction formulas, instead of their corresponding planar and linear approximations, yielded no improvement in the accuracy of the gravimetric geoid undulation based on the available data.     

利用重力数据反演中国东海海域莫霍面深度

莫霍面是地壳与上地幔的分界面,莫霍面的研究有助于认识地球深部构造及演化。在以往的研究中,由于重力反演方法、使用资料不同,中国东海海域莫霍面深度反演结果有较大不确定性。通过收集中国东海海域高精度地形和自由空气重力异常数据,计算了布格重力异常并分析了其构造特征。提取了中国福建省大田至中国台湾省花莲剖面和中国东海陆架盆地至菲律宾海盆剖面的重力异常数据,采用人机交互正演、反演拟合技术得到了这两条剖面的地壳密度与莫霍面深度。通过向上延拓的方法提取了莫霍面所引起的重力异常,在两条剖面反演结果和地震探测结果的约束下进行Parker-Oldenburg界面反演,得到了该地区的莫霍面深度。反演结果显示,中国东海海域莫霍面深度的变化范围为-34.4~-8.8 km,其结构呈两凹两凸的特征。