The Earth's gravity field

The Earth's gravity field can be determined from gravity measurements made on the surface of the Earth, and through the analysis of the motion of Earth satellites. Gravity data can be used to solve the boundary value problem of gravimetric geodesy in various ways, from the classical formulation using a geoid to the concept of a reference surface interior to the masses of the Earth to a statistical method. We now have gravity information for 1⁰ data blocks over 46% of the Earth's surface and more than several million point measurements available.Satellite observations such as range, range-rate, and optical data have been analyzed to determine potential coefficients used to describe the Earth's gravitational potential field. Coefficients, in a spherical harmonic expansion to degree 12, can be determined from satellite data alone, and to at least degree 20 when the satellite data is combined with surface gravity material. Recent solutions for potential coefficients agree well to degree 4, but with increasing disagreement at higher degrees.