The geoid: From geodesy to geophysics and from geophysics to geodesy

The word geoid appeared for the first time in 1873 in a work by Listing, at a time when an increasing number of measurements of meridian arcs were made, in order to determine the figure of the Earth.From that time, the mathematical methods (least squares, inverse methods ...) and the observation and modelling methods (collecting data, precision ...) have made concurrently great progress. Owing to these advances, the geometric method first, and the dynamic method next were developed by geodesy for the computation of the geoid. In particular, the increasing of data brought by satellites since the 60's led to a detailed knowledge of the geoid.The determination of the geoid is, for geodesy, a goal in itself. The geophysical viewpoint is to study the inner structure and the internal dynamics of the Earth, by the interpretation of the shape of the geoid and its anomalies. The two approaches are complementary to one another and react one on the other: from geodesy to geophysics and from geophysics to geodesy.The geoid has three advantages that can be stated in a few words each, although the third advantage brings in a complex subject. They are: first, the advantage of thinking in terms of small numbers; second, the fact that we know or can know directly the form of the geoid as a physical reality over much of the earth's surface; third, the geophysical implications of a knowledge of the geoid.Walter D. Lambert, 1961