Review and numerical assessment of the direct topographical reduction in geoid determination   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

C. Jekeli  J. G. Serpas 《Journal of Geodesy》2003,77(3-4):226-239

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.  相似文献   

On the ellipsoidal correction to the spherical Stokes solution of the gravimetric geoid   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

J. Huang  M. Véronneau  S. D. Pagiatakis 《Journal of Geodesy》2003,77(3-4):171-181

The solutions of four ellipsoidal approximations for the gravimetric geoid are reviewed: those of Molodenskii et al., Moritz, Martinec and Grafarend, and Fei and Sideris. The numerical results from synthetic tests indicate that Martinec and Grafarends solution is the most accurate, while the other three solutions contain an approximation error which is characterized by the first-degree surface spherical harmonic. Furthermore, the first 20 degrees of the geopotential harmonic series contribute approximately 90% of the ellipsoidal correction. The determination of a geoid model from the generalized Stokes scheme can accurately account for the ellipsoidal effect to overcome the first-degree surface spherical harmonic error regardless of the solution used.  相似文献   

Applications of downward-continuation in gravimetric geoid modeling: case studies in Western Canada     

J. Huang  M. Véronneau 《Journal of Geodesy》2005,79(1-3):135-145

The objective of this study is to evaluate two approaches, which use different representations of the Earth’s gravity field for downward continuation (DC), for determining Helmert gravity anomalies on the geoid. The accuracy of these anomalies is validated by 1) analyzing conformity of the two approaches; and 2) converting them to geoid heights and comparing the resulting values to GPS-leveling data. The first approach (A) consists of evaluating Helmert anomalies at the topography and downward-continuing them to the geoid. The second approach (B) downward-continues refined Bouguer anomalies to the geoid and transforms them to Helmert anomalies by adding the condensed topographical effect. Approach A is sensitive to the DC because of the roughness of the Helmert gravity field. The DC effect on the geoid can reach up to 2 m in Western Canada when the Stokes kernel is used to convert gravity anomalies to geoid heights. Furthermore, Poisson’s equation for DC provides better numerical results than Moritz’s equation when the resulting geoid models are validated against the GPS-leveling. On the contrary, approach B is significantly less sensitive to the DC because of the smoothness of the refined Bouguer gravity field. In this case, the DC (Poisson’s and Moritz’s) contributes only at the decimeter level to the geoid model in Western Canada. The maximum difference between the geoid models from approaches A and B is about 5 cm in the region of interest. The differences may result from errors in the DC such as numerical instability. The standard deviations of the h−H−N for both approaches are about 8 cm at the 664 GPS-leveling validation stations in Western Canada.  相似文献   

On the accuracy of modified Stokes's integration in high-frequency gravimetric geoid determination     

P. Novák  P. Vaníc˘ek  M. Véronneau  S. Holmes  W. Featherstone 《Journal of Geodesy》2001,74(9):644-654

 Two numerical techniques are used in recent regional high-frequency geoid computations in Canada: discrete numerical integration and fast Fourier transform. These two techniques have been tested for their numerical accuracy using a synthetic gravity field. The synthetic field was generated by artificially extending the EGM96 spherical harmonic coefficients to degree 2160, which is commensurate with the regular 5^′ geographical grid used in Canada. This field was used to generate self-consistent sets of synthetic gravity anomalies and synthetic geoid heights with different degree variance spectra, which were used as control on the numerical geoid computation techniques. Both the discrete integration and the fast Fourier transform were applied within a 6^∘ spherical cap centered at each computation point. The effect of the gravity data outside the spherical cap was computed using the spheroidal Molodenskij approach. Comparisons of these geoid solutions with the synthetic geoid heights over western Canada indicate that the high-frequency geoid can be computed with an accuracy of approximately 1 cm using the modified Stokes technique, with discrete numerical integration giving a slightly, though not significantly, better result than fast Fourier transform. Received: 2 November 1999 / Accepted: 11 July 2000  相似文献   

Geoid determination with density hypotheses from isostatic models and geological information   总被引：2，自引：3，他引：2  

M. Kuhn 《Journal of Geodesy》2003,77(1-2):50-65

 Geoid determination by Stokes's formula requires a complete knowledge of the topographical mass density distribution in order to perform gravity reductions to the geoid boundary. However, deeper masses are also of interest, in order to produce a smooth field of gravity anomalies which will improve results from interpolation procedures. Until now, in most cases a constant mass density has been considered, which is a very rough approximation of reality. The influence on the geoid height coming from different mass density hypotheses given by the isostatic models of Pratt/Hayford, Airy/Heiskanen and Vening Meinesz is studied. Apart from a constant mass density value, additional density information deduced from geological maps and thick sedimentary layers is considered. An overview of how mass density distributions act within Stokes's theory is given. The isostatic models are considered in spherical and planar approximation, as well as with constant and lateral variable mass density of the topographical and deeper masses. Numerical results in a test area in south-west Germany show that the differences in the geoid height due to different density hypotheses can reach a magnitude of more than 1 decimetre, which is not negligible in a precise geoid determination with centimetre accuracy. Received: 7 January 2002 / Accepted: 20 September 2002 M. Kuhn now at: Western Australian Centre for Geodesy, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia Acknowledgements. The author would gratefully thank Prof. Dr.-Ing. B. Heck, who was the supervisor of my PhD thesis, and the second examiner Prof. Dr.-Ing. K.H. Ilk, as well as all other colleagues for their support of this work. Particular thanks go to the Landesvermessungsamt Baden–Württemberg (Survey Department of Baden–Württemberg), Bureau Gravimetrique International (BGI, France) for providing the gravity data and the Geologisches Landesamt Baden–Württemberg (Geological Department of Baden–Württemberg) for providing data and maps of the sediment layers within the Rhine Valley. Grateful thanks goes to Prof. W.E. Featherstone and the reviewers Prof. S.D. Pagiatakis, Dr. U. Marti as well as an unknown reviewer for their helpful comments on this paper.  相似文献   

Multiresolution tectonic features over the Earth inferred from a wavelet transformed geoid   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Ludìk Vecsey  Catherine A. Hier Majumder  David A. Yuen 《Visual Geosciences》2003,8(1):1-42

Geoid signals give information about the underlying density structure and can be used to locate the source depth of the mass anomalies. Wavelet analysis allows a multiresolution analysis of the signal and permits one to zoom into a specific area bounded by a particular length scale. The ability of wavelets to resolve the geoid signal into individual wavelength components without losing the spatial information makes this method superior to the more common spherical harmonic method. The wavelet analysis allows one to zoom into a specific area and look at the regional geology. We have used a wavelet transform of the geoid to study the regional geology of Japan and the Philippine Plate, South America, Europe, North America, East Africa and the Middle East, India and the Himalayas, China and Southeast Asia, and Australia. By filtering the Earth’s geoid anomalies with 2-D Gaussian wavelets at various horizontal length scales, one can detect the subduction zones along South America, the Aleutians, and the western Pacific; the Himalayas; the Zagros Mountains; the Mid-Atlantic ridge; and the island chains of the mid-Pacific. We have processed geoid data with a horizontal resolution down to approximately 200 km. Using an adjustable wavelet, one can detect structures that can only be picked up visually with much higher resolution spherical harmonic gravity data. We have also looked at the wavelength at which the maximum signal occurs over a range of scales. This method, known as E-max and k-max, is especially effective for detecting plate tectonic boundaries and ancient suture zones along with areas of strong non-isostatic gravitational potential due to high differential stress. These areas are likely to be at high risk of earthquakes. These methods will be especially useful to future studies of the geoid potentials of other planets, such as Mars and Venus, since they will allow careful studies of the regional geology variations with geoid data of the resolution available from satellites.  相似文献   

A formula for gravimetric terrain corrections using powers of topographic height     

Sun  W. 《Journal of Geodesy》2002,76(8):399-406

Journal of Geodesy - ?The application of Stokes' formula to create geoid undulations requires no masses outside the geoid. However, due to the existence of the topography, terrain...  相似文献   

Downward continuation and geoid determination based on band-limited airborne gravity data   总被引：4，自引：3，他引：4  

P. Novák  B. Heck 《Journal of Geodesy》2002,76(5):269-278

 The downward continuation of the harmonic disturbing gravity potential, derived at flight level from discrete observations of airborne gravity by the spherical Hotine integral, to the geoid is discussed. The initial-boundary-value approach, based on both the direct and inverse solution to Dirichlet's problem of potential theory, is used. Evaluation of the discretized Fredholm integral equation of the first kind and its inverse is numerically tested using synthetic airborne gravity data. Characteristics of the synthetic gravity data correspond to typical airborne data used for geoid determination today and in the foreseeable future: discrete gravity observations at a mean flight height of 2 to 6 km above mean sea level with minimum spatial resolution of 2.5 arcmin and a noise level of 1.5 mGal. Numerical results for both approaches are presented and discussed. The direct approach can successfully be used for the downward continuation of airborne potential without any numerical instabilities associated with the inverse approach. In addition to these two-step approaches, a one-step procedure is also discussed. This procedure is based on a direct relationship between gravity disturbances at flight level and the disturbing gravity potential at sea level. This procedure provided the best results in terms of accuracy, stability and numerical efficiency. As a general result, numerically stable downward continuation of airborne gravity data can be seen as another advantage of airborne gravimetry in the field of geoid determination. Received: 6 June 2001 / Accepted: 3 January 2002  相似文献   

EGMlab, a scientific software for determining the gravity and gradient components from global geopotential models     

R. Kiamehr  M. Eshagh 《Earth Science Informatics》2008,1(2):93-103

Nowadays, Global Geopotential Models (GGMs) are used as a routine stage in the procedures to compute a gravimetric geoid. The GGMs based geoidal height also can be used for GPS/levelling and navigation purposes in developing countries which do not have accurate gravimetric geoid models. Also, the GGM based gravity anomaly including the digital elevation model can be used in evaluation and outlier detections schemes of the ground gravity anomaly data. Further, the deflection of vertical and gravity gradients components from the GGMs can be used for different geodetic and geophysical interpretation purposes. However, still a complete and user-friendly software package is not available for universities and geosciences communities. In this article, first we review the procedure for determination of the basic gravity field and gradient components from the GGMs, then general MATLAB based software is presented and applied as a sample case study for determination of gravity components based on the most recent EIGEN-GL04C GRACE model in Sweden. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.  相似文献   

Geoid models around Sognefjord using depth data     

O. C. Dahl  R. Forsberg 《Journal of Geodesy》1998,72(9):547-556

Bathymetry data from Sognefjord, Norway, have been included in a terrain model, and their influence on the geoid has been calculated. The test area, located in the western part of Norway, was chosen due to its deep fjords and high mountains. Inclusion of bathymetry data in the terrain model altered the computed gravimetric geoid by as much as a few decimeters. The effect was detectable to a distance of more than 100 km. All calculated geoids, both with and without bathymetry data in the terrain model, fit the geoidal heights determined by available Global Positioning System (GPS) and levelling heights at the sub-decimetre level. Contrary to expectations, the accuracy in geoid prediction was reduced when using bathymetric data. The geoid changes were largest over the fjord where no GPS points were located. Different methods on the same area [isostatic and Residual Terrain Model (RTM)-terrain reductions] showed differences of approximately 1 m. Rigorous distinction between quasigeoid and geoid was found to be essential in this kind of area. Received: 12 May 1997 / Accepted 7 May 1998  相似文献