重力卫星精密星间测距系统滤波器技术指标论证

本文基于重力卫星精密星间测距测量模式,从星间测距观测值与地球重力场频谱关系的角度,建立了距离观测值关于重力位系数的敏感矩阵,分析了各阶次重力场位系数对应的敏感矩阵的频谱特性,讨论了星间测距信息中能反应地球重力场信息的有效信号频带,给出了能最大限度保留地球重力场信息的低通滤波器的通带截止频率、通带增益波纹和频率采样率技术指标设计方案,可为我国首期卫星跟踪卫星重力测量计划的主要技术指标的初步设计提供参考.     

GOCE Data Processing: The Spherical Cap Regularization Approach

Due to the sun-synchronous orbit of the satellite gravity gradiometry mission GOCE, the measurements will not be globally available. As a consequence, using a set of base functions with global support such as spherical harmonics, the matrix of normal equations tends to be ill-conditioned, leading to weakly determined low-order spherical harmonic coefficients. The corresponding geopotential strongly oscillates at the poles. Considering the special configuration of the GOCE mission, in order to stabilize the normal equations matrix, the Spherical Cap Regularization Approach (SCRA) has been developed. In this approach the geopotential function at the poles is predescribed by an analytical continuous function, which is defined solely in the spatially restricted polar regions. This function could either be based on an existing gravity field model or, alternatively, a low-degree gravity field solution which is adjusted from GOCE observations. Consequently the inversion process is stabilized. The feasibility of the SCRA is evaluated based on a numerical closed-loop simulation, using a realistic GOCE mission scenario. Compared with standard methods such as Kaula and Tikhonov regularization, the SCRA shows a considerably improved performance.     

卫星重力梯度测量与地球引力场的精度研究

本文根据地球引力位的球谐函数展开式,利用重力梯度张量各分量导出了位系数模型的精度估计公式.从三方面进行了研究:假定卫星重力梯度仪测量精度,探讨用重力梯度数据确定地球重力场模型的精度;求出位系数模型和大气阻力引起的重力梯度卫星的轨道误差;最后,反求轨道误差和位系数误差对重力梯度测量值的影响.数值计算表明,与地面技术和常规卫星方法相比,卫星梯度测量可使重力场模型的精度至少提高3-5倍;利用重力梯度张量全分量求得的重力值精度比单用径向分量V_rr的结果提高40％以上;若仅顾及位系数模型和大气阻力误差,则轨道误差对梯度测量值的影响△V_i3（i=3,2,1）至少可分别在1/4和1/3弧圈内达到△V_i3≤σ（仪器精度）.     

GOCE Quick-Look Gravity Solution: Application of the Semianalytic Approach in the Case of Data Gaps and Non-Repeat Orbits

The satellite mission GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer), the first Core Mission of the Earth Explorer Programme funded by ESA (European Space Agency), is dedicated to the precise modelling of the Earth's gravity field, with its launch planned for 2006. The mathematical models for parameterizing the Earth's gravity field are based on a series expansion into spherical harmonics, yielding a huge number of unknown coefficients. Their computation leads to the solution of very large normal equation systems. An efficient way to handle these equation systems is the so-called semianalytic or lumped coefficients approach, which theoretically requires an uninterrupted, continuous time series of observations, recorded along an exact circular repeat orbit. In this paper the consequences of violating these conditions are analyzed. The effects of an interrupted observation stream onto the estimated spherical harmonic coefficients are demonstrated, and an iterative strategy, which reduces the negative influence depending on the characteristics of the data gaps, is proposed. Additionally, the impact of an imperfectly closing orbit (non-repeat orbit) on the gravity field model is analyzed, and a strategy to minimize the corresponding errors is presented. The applicability of the semianalytic approach also to a joint inversion of satellite-to-satellite tracking data in high-low mode (hl-SST) and satellite gravity gradiometry (SGG) observations is demonstrated, where the analysis of the former component is based on the energy conservation law. Several realistic case studies prove that the semianalytic approach is a feasible tool to generate quick-look gravity solutions, i.e. fast coefficient estimates using only partial data sets. This quick-look analysis shall be able to detect potential distortions of statistical significance (e.g. systematic errors) in the input data, and to give a fast feedback to the GOCE mission control.     

A Comparison of Global and Regional GRACE Models for Land Hydrology

When using GRACE as a tool for hydrology, many different gravity field model products are now available to the end user. The traditional spherical harmonics solutions produced from GRACE are typically obtained through an optimization of the gravity field data at the global scale, and are generated by a number of processing centers around the world. Alternatives to this global approach include so-called regional techniques, for which many variants exist, but whose common trait is that they only use the gravity data collected over the area of interest to generate the solution. To determine whether these regional solutions hold any advantage over the global techniques in terms of overall accuracy, a range of comparisons were made using some of the more widely used regional and global methods currently available. The regional techniques tested made use of either spherical radial basis functions or single layer densities (i.e., mascons), with the global solutions having been obtained from the various major processing centers. The solutions were evaluated using a range of computed statistics over a selection of major river basins, which were globally distributed and ranged in size from 1 to 6 million km². For one of the basins tested, the Zambezi, additional validation tests were conducted through comparisons against a custom designed regional hydrology model of the region. We could not prove that current regional models perform better than global ones. Monthly mean water storage variations agree at the level of 0.02 m equivalent water height. The differences in terms of monthly mean water storage variations between regional and global solutions are comparable with the differences among only global or regional solutions. Typically they reach values of 0.02 m equivalent water heights, which seems to be the level of accuracy of current GRACE solutions for river basins above 1 million km². The amplitudes of the seasonal mass variations agree at the sub-centimetre level. Evident from all of the comparisons shown is the importance that the choice of regularization, or spatial filtering, can have on the solution quality. This was found to be true for global as well as regional techniques.     

Alternative expressions for gravity gradients in local north-oriented frame and tensor spherical harmonics

The traditional expressions for gravity gradients in local north-oriented frame and tensor spherical harmonics have complicated forms involved with first- and second-order derivatives of spherical harmonics and also singular terms. In this paper we present alternative expressions for these quantities, which are simpler and contain no singular terms. The presented formulas are useful for those disciplines of geosciences which are involved with potential theory, tensor spherical harmonics and second-order derivatives of spherical harmonic series in the local north-oriented frame. A simple numerical test on the solution of the gradiometric boundary value problems presents the correctness of these new expressions and ability of the solutions to continue the gravity gradients from satellite level down to sea level using spherical harmonics.     

Constrained Regional Recovery of Continental Water Mass Time-variations from GRACE-based Geopotential Anomalies over South America

We propose a “constrained” least-squares approach to estimate regional maps of equivalent-water heights by inverting GRACE-based potential anomalies at satellite altitude. According to the energy integral method, the anomalies of difference of geopotential between the two GRACE vehicles are derived from along-track K-Band Range-Rate (KBRR) residuals that correspond mainly to the continental water storage changes, once a priori known accelerations (i.e. static field, polar movements, atmosphere and ocean masses including tides) are removed during the orbit adjustment process. Newton's first law merely enables the Difference of Potential Anomalies from accurate KBRR data and the equivalent-water heights to be recovered. Spatial constraints versus spherical distance between elementary surface tiles are introduced to stabilize the linear system to cancel the effects of the north-south striping. Unlike the “mascons” approach, no basis of orthogonal functions (e.g., spherical harmonics) is used, so that the proposed regional method does not suffer from drawbacks related to any spectrum truncation. Time series of 10-day regional maps over South America for 2006–2009 also prove to be consistent with independent data sets, namely the outputs of hydrological models, “mascons” and global GRACE solutions.     

Topographic and atmospheric effects on goce gradiometric data in a local north-oriented frame: A case study in Fennoscandia and Iran

Satellite gradiometry is an observation technique providing data that allow for evaluation of Stokes’ (geopotential) coefficients. This technique is capable of determining higher degrees/orders of the geopotential coefficients than can be achieved by traditional dynamic satellite geodesy. The satellite gradiometry data include topographic and atmospheric effects. By removing those effects, the satellite data becomes smoother and harmonic outside sea level and therefore more suitable for downward continuation to the Earth’s surface. For example, in this way one may determine a set of spherical harmonics of the gravity field that is harmonic in the exterior to sea level. This article deals with the above effects on the satellite gravity gradients in the local north-oriented frame. The conventional expressions of the gradients in this frame have a rather complicated form, depending on the first-and second-order derivatives of the associated Legendre functions, which contain singular factors when approaching the poles. On the contrary, we express the harmonic series of atmospheric and topographic effects as non-singular expressions. The theory is applied to the regions of Fennoscandia and Iran, where maps of such effects and their statistics are presented and discussed.     

Interpretation of general geophysical patterns in Iran based on GRACE gradient component analysis

Only with satellites it is possible to cover the entire Earth densely with gravity field related measurements of uniform quality within a short period of time. However, due to the altitude of the satellite orbits, the signals of individual local masses are strongly damped. Based on the approach of Petrovskaya and Vershkov we determine the gravity gradient tensor directly from the spherical harmonic coefficients of the recent EIGEN-GL04C combined model of the GRACE satellite mission. Satellite gradiometry can be used as a complementary tool to gravity and geoid information in interpreting the general geophysical and geodynamical features of the Earth. Due to the high altitude of the satellite, the effects of the topography and the internal masses of the Earth are strongly damped. However, the gradiometer data, which are nothing else than the second order spatial derivatives of the gravity potential, efficiently counteract signal attenuation at the low and medium frequencies. In this article we review the procedure for estimating the gravity gradient components directly from spherical harmonics coefficients. Then we apply this method as a case study for the interpretation of possible geophysical or geodynamical patterns in Iran. We found strong correlations between the cross-components of the gravity gradient tensor and the components of the deflection of vertical, and we show that this result agrees with theory. Also, strong correlations of the gravity anomaly, geoid model and a digital elevation model were found with the diagonal elements of the gradient tensor.     

On the estimation of a multi-resolution representation of the gravity field based on spherical harmonics and wavelets

The gravitational potential of the Earth is usually modeled by means of a series expansion in terms of spherical harmonics. However, the computation of the series coefficients requires preferably homogeneous distributed global data sets. Since one of the most important features of wavelet functions is the ability to localize both in the spatial and in the frequency domain, regional and local structures may be modeled by means of a spherical wavelet expansion. In general, applying wavelet theory a given input data set is decomposed into a certain number of frequency-dependent detail signals, which can be interpreted as the building blocks of a multi-resolution representation. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the low-frequency part of the geopotential can be modeled appropriately by means of spherical harmonics. Hence, the main idea of this paper is to derive a combined model consisting of an expansion in spherical harmonics for the low-frequency part and an expansion in spherical wavelets for the remaining medium and high-frequency parts of the gravity field. Furthermore, an appropriate parameter estimation procedure is outlined to solve for the unknown model coefficients.     

An efficient and adaptive approach for modeling gravity effects in spherical coordinates

The need to obtain more reliable Earth structures has been the impetus for conducting joint inversions of disparate geophysical datasets. For seismic arrival time tomography, joint inversion of arrival time and gravity data has become an important way to investigate velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle. However, the absence of an efficient approach for modeling gravity effects in spherical coordinates limits the joint tomographic analysis to only local scales. In order to extend the joint tomographic inversion into spherical coordinates, and enable it to be feasible for regional studies, we develop an efficient and adaptive approach for modeling gravity effects in spherical coordinates based on the longitudinal/latitudinal grid spacing. The complete gravity effects of spherical prisms, including gravitational potential, gravity vector and tensor gradients, are calculated by numerical integration of the Gauss–Legendre quadrature (GLQ). To ensure the efficiency of the gravity modeling, spherical prisms are recursively subdivided into smaller units according to their distances to the observation point. This approach is compatible with the parameterization of regional arrival time tomography for large areas, in which both the near- and far-field effects of the Earth's curvature cannot be ignored. Therefore, this approach can be implemented into the joint tomographic inversion of arrival time and gravity data conveniently. As practical applications, the complete gravity effects of a single anomalous density body have been calculated, and the gravity anomalies of two tomographic models in the Taiwan region have also been obtained using empirical relationships between P-wave velocity and density.     

Local Ionospheric Modeling Using the Localized Global Ionospheric Map and Terrestrial GPS

global ionosphere maps are generated on a daily basis at CODE using data from about 200 GPS/GLONASS sites of the IGS and other institutions. The vertical total electron content is modeled in a solargeomagnetic reference frame using a spherical harmonics expansion up to degree and order 15. The spherical Slepian basis is a set of bandlimited functions which have the majority of their energy concentrated by optimization inside an arbitrarily defined region, yet remain orthogonal within the spatial region of interest. Hence, they are suitable for decomposing the spherical harmonic models into the portions that have significant strength only in the selected areas. In this study, the converted spherical harmonics to the Slepian bases were updated by the terrestrial GPS observations by use of the least-squares estimation with weighted parameters for local ionospheric modeling. Validations show that the approach adopted in this study is highly capable of yielding reliable results.     

Conforming Falcon‡ gravity and the global gravity anomaly

Gravity derived only from airborne gravity gradient measurements with a normal error distribution will have an error that increases with wavelength. It is straightforward in principle to use sparsely sampled regional gravimeter data to provide the long wavelength information, thereby conforming the derived gravity to the regional gravity. Regional surface or airborne gravimeter data are not always available and can be difficult and expensive to collect in many of the areas where an airborne gravity gradiometer survey is flown. However the recent release by the Danish National Space Centre of the DNSC08 global gravity anomaly data has provided regional gravity data for the entire earth of adequate quality for this purpose. Studies over three areas, including comparisons with ground, marine and airborne gravimetry, demonstrate the validity of this approach. Future improvements in global gravity anomaly data are expected, particularly as the product from the recently launched Gravity field and steady‐state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite becomes available and these will lead directly to an improvement in the very wide bandwidth gravity available after conforming gravity derived from gravity gradiometry with the global gravity.     

Iterative Spherical Downward Continuation Applied to Magnetic and Gravitational Data from Satellite

In the last few decades, satellites have acquired various potential data sets hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Conventionally, these global magnetic and gravitational data sets are approximated by using spherical harmonics that allow straightforward work with both fields outside the Earth’s mass. In this article, we present an alternative approach for working with potential data in mass-free space given over a regular coordinate grid on a spherical surface. The algorithm is based on an iterative scheme and the Poisson integral equation for the sphere. With help from the Fourier transform, global potential (magnetic or gravitational) data can efficiently be continued from a mean orbital sphere down to a reference surface without using the spherical harmonics. This is illustrated both with simulated magnetic field data and with real data from the satellite gradiometry mission GOCE. In the case of simulated magnetic data and the downward continuation for 450 km, we have achieved a root mean square at the level of 0.05 nT, while it was <1 E (eotvos) for real GOCE data continued for 250 km. The crucial point is to apply the algorithm twice as a large part of noise can be removed from the input data.     

Spherical earth gravity and magnetic anomaly analysis by equivalent point source inversion

To facilitate geologic interpretation of satellite elevation potential field data, analysis techniques are developed and verified in the spherical domain that are commensurate with conventional flat earth methods of potential field interpretation. A powerful approach to the spherical earth problem relates potential field anomalies to a distribution of equivalent point sources by least squares matrix inversion. Linear transformations of the equivalent source field lead to corresponding geoidal anomalies, pseudo-anomalies, vector anomaly components, spatial derivatives, continuations, and differential magnetic pole reductions. A number of examples using 1°-averaged surface free-air gravity anomalies and POGO satellite magnetometer data for the United States, Mexico and Central America illustrate the capabilities of the method.     

Atmospheric effects on satellite gravity gradiometry data

Atmospheric masses play an important role in precise downward continuation and validation of satellite gravity gradiometry data. In this paper we present two alternative ways to formulate the atmospheric potential. Two density models for the atmosphere are proposed and used to formulate the external and internal atmospheric potentials in spherical harmonics. Based on the derived harmonic coefficients, the direct atmospheric effects on the satellite gravity gradiometry data are investigated and presented in the orbital frame over Fennoscandia. The formulas of the indirect atmospheric effects on gravity anomaly and geoid (downward continued quantities) are also derived using the proposed density models. The numerical results show that the atmospheric effect can only be significant for precise validation or inversion of the GOCE gradiometric data at the mE level.     

Small-scale mantle convection system and stress field under the Pacific plate

The existence of nonhydrostatic high-degree harmonics in the gravitational field of the earth has recently been determined using satellite and gravity observations. In this paper, we have applied the Goddard Space Flight Center GEM-8 gravity field model to calculate the small-scale mantle flow system under the Pacific plate. The resulting tectonic forces or stresses exerted by the flow currents show tensional forces under the Hawaiian Island chain and a system of latitudinal convection rolls under the East Pacific plate and are in agreement with geophysical theories.     

Combined Regional Gravity Model of the Andean Convergent Subduction Zone and Its Application to Crustal Density Modelling in Active Plate Margins

The Central Andean subduction system is one of the most active geological structures on Earth. Although there have been a few previous studies, the structure and dynamics of the system are still not well understood. In the present study, we determine a combined regional gravity model of the Andean convergent subduction region for constraining lithospheric models. After a thorough validation and cleaning of the terrestrial gravity and height databases, the method of Least Squares Collocation was applied to consistently combine terrestrial and satellite gravity data, putting much emphasis on the stochastic modelling of the individual data components. As a result, we computed the first high-resolution regional gravity model of the study region that includes GOCE satellite gravity information. The inclusion of GOCE is an essential distinction from the independent global gravity model EGM2008. Validation against EGM2008 reveals that our regional solution is very consistent in regions where terrestrial gravity data are available, but shows systematic differences in areas with terrestrial data gaps. Artefacts in the EGM2008 of up to 150 mGal could be identified. The new combined regional model benefits from the very homogeneous error characteristics and accuracy of GOCE gravity data in the long-to-medium wavelengths down to 80–100 km. Reliable density modelling became possible also in the region of Central Andes, which lacks terrestrial gravity data. Finally, density models were adapted to fit the new regional gravity field solution. The results clearly demonstrate the capabilities of GOCE to better constrain lithospheric models.     

Direct BEM for high-resolution global gravity field modelling

The paper presents a high-resolution global gravity field modelling by the boundary element method (BEM). A direct BEM formulation for the Laplace equation is applied to get a numerical solution of the linearized fixed gravimetric boundary-value problem. The numerical scheme uses the collocation method with linear basis functions. It involves a discretization of the complicated Earth’s surface, which is considered as a fixed boundary. Here 3D positions of collocation points are simulated from the DNSC08 mean sea surface at oceans and from the SRTM30PLUS_V5.0 global topography model added to EGM96 on lands. High-performance computations together with an elimination of the far zones’ interactions allow a very refined integration over the all Earth’s surface with a resolution up to 0.1 deg. Inaccuracy of the approximate coarse solutions used for the elimination of the far zones’ interactions leads to a long-wavelength error surface included in the obtained numerical solution. This paper introduces an iterative procedure how to reduce such long-wavelength error surface. Surface gravity disturbances as oblique derivative boundary conditions are generated from the EGM2008 geopotential model. Numerical experiments demonstrate how the iterative procedure tends to the final numerical solutions that are converging to EGM2008. Finally the input surface gravity disturbances at oceans are replaced by real data obtained from the DNSC08 altimetryderived gravity data. The ITG-GRACE03S satellite geopotential model up to degree 180 is used to eliminate far zones’ interactions. The final high-resolution global gravity field model with the resolution 0.1 deg is compared with EGM2008.     

基于重力卫星数据监测地表质量变化的三维点质量模型法

利用卫星重力测量手段监测全球质量变化取得了巨大成功,本文基于牛顿万有引力定律在三维空间直角坐标系中导出利用重力卫星观测数据监测全球质量变化的三维点质量模型法,该方法可直接利用重力卫星的轨道和星间观测数据或时变重力场模型计算全球质量变化,由于利用卫星观测数据计算地表质量变化的向下延拓过程以及观测数据噪声的影响,需要采用合适的空间约束方程或正则化技术对解算结果进行约束或平滑处理.利用合成全球质量变化模型模拟一个月的GRACE双星轨道和星间距离变率数据计算全球质量变化,对三维点质量模型法进行分析验证,采用零阶Tikhonov正则化技术处理病态问题.结果表明,三维点质量模型法可有效用于重力卫星观测数据监测全球质量变化,为利用重力卫星观测数据监测全球质量变化提供一种可选的途径.