Local Geoid and Gravity Anomaly Predictions Using Point Masses.

Abstract

The point mass technique, which supplements a spherical harmonic expansion of the potential, allows short wavelength detail to be added to previously computed long wavelength geoidal features without distorting the latter. Recently, the AFGL short-arc approach to satellite altimetry has been modified to allow point mass adjustments. GEOS-3 altimeter residuals in the North Atlantic region were obtained from a first adjustment in terms of spherical harmonics and state vector parameters. A subsequent point mass adjustment was performed on these residuals to obtain the short wavelength geoid and gravity anomalies. Advantages of the point mass model stem from a flexible deployment of the new parameters (point mass magnitudes) in an area of interest that permits important computer savings when processing large amounts of satellite data in a local region. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 1979
Accession Number
ADA074524

Entities

People

  • George Hadgigeorge
  • Georges Blaha

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Altimeters
  • Altimetry
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Coefficients
  • Computer Simulations
  • Data Reduction
  • Earth Models
  • Geodesy
  • Geoids
  • Geophysics
  • Gravity
  • Gravity Anomalies
  • Long Wavelengths
  • Models
  • Short Wavelengths
  • Spherical Harmonics

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space