METHODS FOR THE COMPUTATION OF GEOID UNDULATIONS FROM POTENTIAL COEFFICIENTS,

Abstract

The undulations of the geoid may be computed from spherical harmonic potential coefficients of the earth's gravitational field. The report examines three procedures that reflect various points of view on how this computation should be carried out. One method requires only the flattening of a reference ellipsoid to be defined while the other two methods require a complete definition of the parameters of the ellipsoid. It was found that the various methods gave essentially the same undulations, provided that correct parameters were chosen for the reference ellipsoid. A discussion is given on how these parameters are chosen and numerical results are reported using recent potential coefficient determinations. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1970
Accession Number
AD0707836

Entities

People

  • Richard H. Rapp

Organizations

  • Ohio State University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coefficients
  • Computations
  • Earth Sciences
  • Ellipsoids
  • Geodesy
  • Geoids
  • Geophysics
  • Gravitational Fields
  • Interdisciplinary Science
  • Physics
  • Planetary Sciences
  • Reference Ellipsoids
  • Space Sciences
  • Undulation

Readers

  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Theoretical Analysis.