A study on the reference frame consistency in recent Earth gravitational models |
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| Authors: | Christopher Kotsakis |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geodesy and Surveying, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Box 440, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece |
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| Abstract: | All gravity field functionals obtained from an Earth gravitational model (EGM) depend on the underlying terrestrial reference
frame (TRF), with respect to which the EGM’s spherical harmonic coefficients refer to. In order to maintain a coherent framework
for the comparison of current and future EGMs, it is thus important to investigate the consistency of their inherent TRFs,
especially when their use is intended for high precision studies. Following the methodology described in an earlier paper
by Kleusberg (1980), the similarity transformation parameters between the associated reference frames for several EGMs (including
the most recent CHAMP/GRACE models at the time of writing this paper) are estimated in the present study. Specifically, the
differences between the spherical harmonic coefficients for various pairs of EGMs are parameterized through a 3D-similarity
spatial transformation model that relates their underlying TRFs. From the least-squares adjustment of such a parametric model,
the origin, orientation and scale stability between the EGMs’ reference frames can be identified by estimating their corresponding
translation, rotation and scale factor parameters. Various aspects of the estimation procedure and its results are highlighted
in the paper, including data weighting schemes, the sensitivity of the results with respect to the selected harmonic spectral
band, the correlation structure and precision level of the estimated transformation parameters, the effect of the estimated
differences of the EGMs’ reference frames on their height anomaly signal, and the overall feasibility of Kleusberg’s formulae
for the assessment of TRF inconsistencies among global geopotential models. |
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| Keywords: | Earth gravitational models GRACE CHAMP Reference frame Spherical harmonics Similarity transformation |
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