Orthometric corrections from leveling, gravity, density and elevation data: a case study in Taiwan

A new orthometric correction (OC) formula is presented and tested with various mean gravity reduction methods using leveling, gravity, elevation, and density data. For mean gravity computations, the Helmert method, a modified Helmert method with variable density and gravity anomaly gradient, and a modified Mader method were used. An improved method of terrain correction computation based on Gaussian quadrature is used in the modified Mader method. These methods produce different results and yield OCs that are greater than 10 cm between adjacent benchmarks (separated by 2 km) at elevations over 3000 m. Applying OC reduces misclosures at closed leveling circuits and improves the results of leveling network adjustments. Variable density yields variation of OC at millimeter level everywhere, while gravity anomaly gradient introduces variation of OC of greater than 10 cm at higher elevations, suggesting that these quantities must be considered in OC. The modified Mader method is recommended for computing OC.Acknowledgments.This study is supported by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), Taiwan, under the project `Measuring gravity on first-order benchmarks'. The authors are grateful to F.S. Ning and his colleagues at BSB (Base Survey Battalion) for their precision work in collecting gravity data, and to R. Forsberg for the terrain correction program. They also thank the Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Aerial Survey for elevation data and MOI for leveling data. Dr. Will Featherstone and three anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive comments.     

青藏地区大地水准面形态及其与构造动力学的关系

利用密合法求解青藏地区大地水准面模型，研究青藏地区大地水准面主要特征及其与该区内部构造和活动的相关性．表明青藏地区大地水准而异常与青藏高原隆起的形状极为相似，大地水准面整体负异常与下地幔相关，形状起伏与上地幔相对应，岩石层反映的大地水准而异常与青藏高原活动构造有较好的对应关系．     

Quasi-stationary sea surface topography estimation by the multiple input/output method

 Multiple input/multiple output system theory (MIMOST) is briefly presented, and the application of the method to the quasi-stationary sea surface topography (QSST) estimation and the filtering of the input observations are discussed. The repeat character of satellite altimetry missions provides more than one sample of the measured sea surface height (SSH) field, and an approximation of the input signal and error power spectral densities can be determined using this successive information. A case study in the Labrador Sea is considered using SSHs from ERS1 phases C and G, ERS1-GM, ERS2 phase A and TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetric missions in combination with shipborne gravity anomalies. The time period of the observations in this study is from 1993 to 1998. Some comparisons between the techniques used for the power spectral density approximation are carried out and some remarks on the properties of the estimated QSST are presented. Received: 19 October 1999 / Accepted: 23 October 2000     

利用重力场模型和局部重力资料计算GPS水准高的精度探讨

利用大地水准面高，结合GPS测量的高程信息,直接计算GPS水准高，是一种全新诱人的解决方案。本文就这种方案，根据其核心技术－大地水面高的性质：长波长－全球重力场；中波长－局部重力资料，短波长－数据地形，对它的具体实现，适用范围以及精度分析作了详尽的探讨，在此基础上，提出一些GPS水准应用规范和要求，并利用实验数据对其进行验证。     

The solution of the general geodetic boundary value problem by least squares

 A general scheme is given for the solution in a least-squares sense of the geodetic boundary value problem in a spherical, constant-radius approximation, both uniquely and overdetermined, for a large class of observations. The only conditions are that the relation of the observations to the disturbing potential is such that a diagonalization in the spectrum can be found and that the error-covariance function of the observations is isotropic and homogeneous. Most types of observations used in physical geodesy can be adjusted to fit into this approach. Examples are gravity anomalies, deflections of the vertical and the second derivatives of the gravity potential. Received: 3 November 1999 / Accepted: 25 September 2000     

古巴探区大地水准面模型的探索与确定

由于古巴国家没有现成可用的大地水准面模型,需要引进通用大地水准面模型或自建似大地水准面模型,以满足高程测量要求。针对这个问题,本文一方面积极制定似大地水准面建模方案设计,根据探区内水准点和项目测量设备的配备情况,拟采用GPS水准法自建似大地水准面模型;另一方面两个全球大地水准面模型OSU91A和DMA 10×10及一个加勒比区域大地水准面模型CALIB97被引用到探区,通过对探区内有代表性的高精度水准点进行GNSS观测验证,最终确定全球大地水准面模型OSU91A为适合探区、满足项目合同要求的通用大地水准面模型,从而解决了生产中的技术问题。     

On the combination of gravity anomalies and gravity disturbances for geoid determination in Western Australia

The geoid gradient over the Darling Fault in Western Australia is extremely high, rising by as much as 38 cm over only 2 km. This poses problems for gravimetric-only geoid models of the area, whose frequency content is limited by the spatial distribution of the gravity data. The gravimetric-only version of AUSGeoid98, for instance, is only able to resolve 46% of the gradient across the fault. Hence, the ability of GPS surveys to obtain accurate orthometric heights is reduced. It is described how further gravity data were collected over the Darling Fault, augmenting the existing gravity observations at key locations so as to obtain a more representative geoid gradient. As many of the gravity observations were collected at stations with a well-known GRS80 ellipsoidal height, the opportunity arose to compute a geoid model via both the Stokes and the Hotine approaches. A scheme was devised to convert free-air anomaly data to gravity disturbances using existing geoid models, followed by a Hotine integration to geoid heights. Interestingly, these results depended very weakly upon the choice of input geoid model. The extra gravity data did indeed improve the fit of the computed geoid to local GPS/Australian Height Datum (AHD) observations by 58% over the gravimetric-only AUSGeoid98. While the conventional Stokesian approach to geoid determination proved to be slightly better than the Hotine method, the latter still improved upon the gravimetric-only AUSGeoid98 solution, supporting the viability of conducting gravity surveys with GPS control for the purposes of geoid determination. AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank Will Featherstone, Ron Gower, Ron Hackney, Linda Morgan, Geoscience Australia, Scripps Oceanographic Institute and the three anonymous reviewers of this paper. This research was funded by the Australian Research Council.     

The northern European geoid: a case study on long-wavelength geoid errors

 The long-wavelength geoid errors on large-scale geoid solutions, and the use of modified kernels to mitigate these effects, are studied. The geoid around the Nordic area, from Greenland to the Ural mountains, is considered. The effect of including additional gravity data around the Nordic/Baltic land area, originating from both marine, satellite and ground-based measurements, is studied. It is found that additional data appear to increase the noise level in computations, indicating the presence of systematic errors. Therefore, the Wong–Gore modification to the Stokes kernel is applied. This method of removing lower-order terms in the Stokes kernel appears to improve the geoid. The best fit to the global positioning system (GPS) leveling points is obtained with a degree of modification of approximately 30. In addition to the study of modification errors, the results of different methods of combining satellite altimetry gravity and other gravimetry are presented. They all gave comparable results, at the 6-cm level, when evaluated for the Nordic GPS networks. One dimensional (1-D) and 2-D fast Fourier transform (FFT) methods are also compared. It is shown that even though methods differ by up to 6 cm, the fit to the GPS is essentially the same. A surprising conclusion is that the addition of more data does not always produce a better geoid, illustrating the danger of systematic errors in data. Received: 4 July 2001 / Accepted: 21 February 2002     

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.     

关于重力大地水准面计算精度问题

在众多影响重力大地水准面计算精度的因素中,计算模型误差及地面观测数据误差是其中的两个主要误差源。本文从实用角度出发,详细探讨了重力大地水准面计算公式选择问题;并通过实际数值计算,研究确定了地面观测数据计算精度、密度及覆盖范围等参数指标;最后以180阶次位系数定义地球重力场,对重力大地水准面计算精度进行了实际检验。