On the ellipsoidal correction to the spherical Stokes solution of the gravimetric geoid

The solutions of four ellipsoidal approximations for the gravimetric geoid are reviewed: those of Molodenskii et al., Moritz, Martinec and Grafarend, and Fei and Sideris. The numerical results from synthetic tests indicate that Martinec and Grafarends solution is the most accurate, while the other three solutions contain an approximation error which is characterized by the first-degree surface spherical harmonic. Furthermore, the first 20 degrees of the geopotential harmonic series contribute approximately 90% of the ellipsoidal correction. The determination of a geoid model from the generalized Stokes scheme can accurately account for the ellipsoidal effect to overcome the first-degree surface spherical harmonic error regardless of the solution used.     

Solutions of the linearized geodetic boundary value problem for an ellipsoidal boundary to order e 3

The geodetic boundary value problem (GBVP) was originally formulated for the topographic surface of the Earth. It degenerates to an ellipsoidal problem, for example when topographic and downward continuation reductions have been applied. Although these ellipsoidal GBVPs possess a simpler structure than the original ones, they cannot be solved analytically, since the boundary condition still contains disturbing terms due to anisotropy, ellipticity and centrifugal components in the reference potential. Solutions of the so-called scalar-free version of the GBVP, upon which most recent practical calculations of geoidal and quasigeoidal heights are based, are considered. Starting at the linearized boundary condition and presupposing a normal field of Somigliana–Pizzetti type, the boundary condition described in spherical coordinates is expanded into a series with respect to the flattening f of the Earth. This series is truncated after the linear terms in f, and first-order solutions of the corresponding GBVP are developed in closed form on the basis of spherical integral formulae, modified by suitable reduction terms. Three alternative representations of the solution are discussed, implying corrections by adding a first-order non-spherical term to the solution, by reducing the boundary data, or by modifying the integration kernel. A numerically efficient procedure for the evaluation of ellipsoidal effects, in the case of the linearized scalar-free version of the GBVP, involving first-order ellipsoidal terms in the boundary condition, is derived, utilizing geopotential models such as EGM96.     

Height datum unification between Shenzhen and Hong Kong using the solution of the linearized fixed-gravimetric boundary value problem

The paper proposes a new algorithm to unify height datums in different regions, which is based on the solution of the linearized fixed-gravimetric boundary value problem. Compared with traditional methods, this method uses GPS ellipsoidal height and gravity disturbances on the surface of the earth to obtain a quasigeoid, which is not related to any local vertical datums. As an example, we calculate the height datum difference between Shenzhen and Hong Kong by applying this new method. The result shows that the height difference obtained by this new method is consistent with the ground leveling result to a few centimeters.     

Uniquely and overdetermined geodetic boundary value problems by least squares

Least-squares by observation equations is applied to the solution of geodetic boundary value problems (g.b.v.p.). The procedure is explained solving the vectorial Stokes problem in spherical and constant radius approximation. The results are Stokes and Vening-Meinesz integrals and, in addition, the respective a posteriori variance-covariances. Employing the same procedure the overdeterminedg.b.v.p. has been solved for observable functions potential, scalar gravity, astronomical latitude and longitude, gravity gradients Г_xz, Г_yz, and Г_zz and three-dimensional geocentric positions. The solutions of a large variety of uniquely and overdeterminedg.b.v.p.'s can be obtained from it by specializing weights. Interesting is that the anomalous potential can be determined—up to a constant—from astronomical latitude and longitude in combination with either {Г_xz,Г_yz} or horizontal coordinate corrections Δx and Δy, or both. Dual to the formulation in terms of observation equations the overdeterminedg.b.v.p.'s can as well be solved by condition equations. Constant radius approximation can be overcome in an iterative approach. For the Stokes problem this results in the solution of the “simple” Molodenskii problem. Finally defining an error covariance model with a Krarup-type kernel first results were obtained for a posteriori variance-covariance and reliability analysis.     

Direct transformation from geocentric coordinates to geodetic coordinates

 The transformation from geocentric coordinates to geodetic coordinates is usually carried out by iteration. A closed-form algebraic method is proposed, valid at any point on the globe and in space, including the poles, regardless of the value of the ellipsoid's eccentricity. Received: 14 August 2000 / Accepted: 26 June 2002     

New solutions for the geodetic coordinate transformation

 The Cartesian-to-geodetic-coordinate transformation is approached from a new perspective. Existence and uniqueness of geodetic representation are presented, along with a clear geometric picture of the problem and the role of the ellipse evolute. A new solution is found with a Newton-method iteration in the reduced latitude; this solution is proved to work for all points in space. Care is given to error propagation when calculating the geodetic latitude and height. Received: 9 August 2001 / Accepted: 27 March 2002 Acknowledgments. The author would like to thank the Clifford W.␣Tompson scholarship fund, Dr. Brian DeFacio, the University of Missouri College of Arts &Sciences, and the United States Air Force. He also thanks a reviewer for suggesting and providing a prototype MATLAB code. A MATLAB program for the iterative sequence is presented at the end of the paper (Appendix A).     

The solution of mixed boundary value problems with the reference ellipsoid as boundary

In this paper we study the following mixed boundary value problem

Iterative vector methods for computing geodetic latitude and height from rectangular coordinates

 Two iterative vector methods for computing geodetic coordinates (φ, h) from rectangular coordinates (x, y, z) are presented. The methods are conceptually simple, work without modification at any latitude and are easy to program. Geodetic latitude and height can be calculated to acceptable precision in one iteration over the height range from −10⁶ to +10⁹ m. Received: 13 December 2000 / Accepted: 13 July 2001     

Data gaps in finite-dimensional boundary value problems for satellite gradiometry

 In the framework of a boundary value problem (BVP), when areas on the boundary are void of data the solution of the problem becomes undetermined and clearly more difficult. Physically, this could be the situation in which a gradiometer on a satellite on a perfectly circular orbit covers a sphere with measured second radial derivatives: if the satellite orbit is not polar, there are caps at satellite altitude which are not covered by data. A solution is presented based on an iterative algorithm, under the hypothesis of using a finite-dimensional model as is usually done in the time-wise approach. The convergence of the iterative solution is proved and a numerical example is shown to confirm the theoretical result. Received: 14 August 2000 / Accepted: 12 April 2001     

The geodetic boundary value problem and the coordinate choice problem

Summary The geodetic boundary value problem (g.b.v.p.) is a free boundary value problem for the Laplace operator: however, under suitable change of coordinates, it can be transformed into a fixed boundary one. Thus a general coordinate choice problem arises: two particular cases are more closely analyzed, namely the gravity space approach and the intrinsic coordinates (Marussi) approach.     

Fast transform from geocentric to geodetic coordinates

 A new iterative procedure to transform geocentric rectangular coordinates to geodetic coordinates is derived. The procedure solves a modification of Borkowski's quartic equation by the Newton method from a set of stable starters. The new method runs a little faster than the single application of Bowring's formula, which has been known as the most efficient procedure. The new method is sufficiently precise because the resulting relative error is less than 10⁻¹⁵, and this method is stable in the sense that the iteration converges for all coordinates including the near-geocenter region where Bowring's iterative method diverges and the near-polar axis region where Borkowski's non-iterative method suffers a loss of precision. Received: 13 November 1998 / Accepted: 27 August 1999     

The spherical horizontal and spherical vertical boundary value problem – vertical deflections and geoidal undulations – the completed Meissl diagram

 In a comparison of the solution of the spherical horizontal and vertical boundary value problems of physical geodesy it is aimed to construct downward continuation operators for vertical deflections (surface gradient of the incremental gravitational potential) and for gravity disturbances (vertical derivative of the incremental gravitational potential) from points on the Earth's topographic surface or of the three-dimensional (3-D) Euclidean space nearby down to the international reference sphere (IRS). First the horizontal and vertical components of the gravity vector, namely spherical vertical deflections and spherical gravity disturbances, are set up. Second, the horizontal and vertical boundary value problem in spherical gravity and geometry space is considered. The incremental gravity vector is represented in terms of vector spherical harmonics. The solution of horizontal spherical boundary problem in terms of the horizontal vector-valued Green function converts vertical deflections given on the IRS to the incremental gravitational potential external in the 3-D Euclidean space. The horizontal Green functions specialized to evaluation and source points on the IRS coincide with the Stokes kernel for vertical deflections. Third, the vertical spherical boundary value problem is solved in terms of the vertical scalar-valued Green function. Fourth, the operators for upward continuation of vertical deflections given on the IRS to vertical deflections in its external 3-D Euclidean space are constructed. Fifth, the operators for upward continuation of incremental gravity given on the IRS to incremental gravity to the external 3-D Euclidean space are generated. Finally, Meissl-type diagrams for upward continuation and regularized downward continuation of horizontal and vertical gravity data, namely vertical deflection and incremental gravity, are produced. Received: 10 May 2000 / Accepted: 26 February 2001     

Solution of the geodetic boundary value problem

Summary The possibility of improving the convergence of Molodensky’s series is considered. Then new formulas are derived for the solution of the geodetic boundary value problem. One of them presents an expression for the boundary condition which involves a linear combination of Stokes’ constants and surface gravity anomalies. This differs from the usually used relation by the appearance of additional terms dependent on second order terns with respect to the elevations of the earth’s surface. The formulas are derived for Stokes’ constants and the anomalous potential in terms of surface anomalies. As compared to the Taylor’s series of Molodensky, they are presented in the form of surface harmonic series. Due regard is made to the earth’s oblateness, in addition to the terrain topography.     

Fast numerical solution of the linearized Molodensky problem

 When standard boundary element methods (BEM) are used in order to solve the linearized vector Molodensky problem we are confronted with two problems: (1) the absence of O(|x|⁻²) terms in the decay condition is not taken into account, since the single-layer ansatz, which is commonly used as representation of the disturbing potential, is of the order O(|x|⁻¹) as x→∞. This implies that the standard theory of Galerkin BEM is not applicable since the injectivity of the integral operator fails; (2) the N×N stiffness matrix is dense, with N typically of the order 10⁵. Without fast algorithms, which provide suitable approximations to the stiffness matrix by a sparse one with O(N(logN) ^s ), s≥0, non-zero elements, high-resolution global gravity field recovery is not feasible. Solutions to both problems are proposed. (1) A proper variational formulation taking the decay condition into account is based on some closed subspace of co-dimension 3 of the space of square integrable functions on the boundary surface. Instead of imposing the constraints directly on the boundary element trial space, they are incorporated into a variational formulation by penalization with a Lagrange multiplier. The conforming discretization yields an augmented linear system of equations of dimension N+3×N+3. The penalty term guarantees the well-posedness of the problem, and gives precise information about the incompatibility of the data. (2) Since the upper left submatrix of dimension N×N of the augmented system is the stiffness matrix of the standard BEM, the approach allows all techniques to be used to generate sparse approximations to the stiffness matrix, such as wavelets, fast multipole methods, panel clustering etc., without any modification. A combination of panel clustering and fast multipole method is used in order to solve the augmented linear system of equations in O(N) operations. The method is based on an approximation of the kernel function of the integral operator by a degenerate kernel in the far field, which is provided by a multipole expansion of the kernel function. Numerical experiments show that the fast algorithm is superior to the standard BEM algorithm in terms of CPU time by about three orders of magnitude for N=65 538 unknowns. Similar holds for the storage requirements. About 30 iterations are necessary in order to solve the linear system of equations using the generalized minimum residual method (GMRES). The number of iterations is almost independent of the number of unknowns, which indicates good conditioning of the system matrix. Received: 16 October 1999 / Accepted: 28 February 2001     

Green's function solution to spherical gradiometric boundary-value problems

 Three independent gradiometric boundary-value problems (BVPs) with three types of gradiometric data, {Γ _rr }, {Γ _{r θ},Γ _{r λ}} and {Γ_θθ−Γ_λλ,Γ_θλ}, prescribed on a sphere are solved to determine the gravitational potential on and outside the sphere. The existence and uniqueness conditions on the solutions are formulated showing that the zero- and the first-degree spherical harmonics are to be removed from {Γ _{r θ},Γ _{r λ}} and {Γ_θθ−Γ_λλ,Γ_θλ}, respectively. The solutions to the gradiometric BVPs are presented in terms of Green's functions, which are expressed in both spectral and closed spatial forms. The logarithmic singularity of the Green's function at the point ψ=0 is investigated for the component Γ _rr . The other two Green's functions are finite at this point. Comparisons to the paper by van Gelderen and Rummel [Journal of Geodesy (2001) 75: 1–11] show that the presented solution refines the former solution. Received: 3 October 2001 / Accepted: 4 October 2002     

Variational formulation of the geodetic boundary value problem

A variational principle for the Stokesian boundary value problem is derived using the Euler-Lagrange theory. The resulting variational principle is then transformed into an equation determining the semi-major axis of the best fitting ellipsoid which fulfills the conditionU ₀ =W ₀ . The computations using three different geopotential models yields the semi-major axis of the earth ellipsoid asa=6378145.4 metres for the flatteningf=1/298.2564. The corresponding equatorial gravity and the geopotential number are computed as γ_a=978029.59 mgals andU ₀=W ₀=6.26367371 10⁶ kgalmeters respectively.     

Boundary-value problems in the complex world of geodetic measurements

A review of recent progress and current activities towards an improved formulation and solution of geodetic boundary value problems is given. Improvements stimulated and required by the dramatic changes of the real world of geodetic measurements are focused upon. Altimetry–gravimetry problems taking into account various scenarios of non-homogeneous data coverage are discussed in detail. Other problems are related to free geodetic datum parameters, most of all the vertical datum, overdetermination or additional constraints imposed by satellite geodetic observations or models. Some brief remarks are made on pseudo-boundary value problems for geoid determination and on purely gravitational boundary-value problems. Received: 17 March 1999 / Accepted: 19 April 1999     

大地主题解算方法综述

大地主题解算是大地测量中的重要问题,由于椭球的复杂性,随之产生的解算方法也是多种多样。本文分析了大地主题解算的一般方法及其公式的适用范围,指出了它们的特点和不足,讨论了现今常用解算方法存在的问题和进一步的研究方向。     

Determination of the boundary values for the Stokes–Helmert problem

 The definition of the mean Helmert anomaly is reviewed and the theoretically correct procedure for computing this quantity on the Earth's surface and on the Helmert co-geoid is suggested. This includes a discussion of the role of the direct topographical and atmospherical effects, primary and secondary indirect topographical and atmospherical effects, ellipsoidal corrections to the gravity anomaly, its downward continuation and other effects. For the rigorous derivations it was found necessary to treat the gravity anomaly systematically as a point function, defined by means of the fundamental gravimetric equation. It is this treatment that allows one to formulate the corrections necessary for computing the `one-centimetre geoid'. Compared to the standard treatment, it is shown that a `correction for the quasigeoid-to-geoid separation', amounting to about 3 cm for our area of interest, has to be considered. It is also shown that the `secondary indirect effect' has to be evaluated at the topography rather than at the geoid level. This results in another difference of the order of several centimetres in the area of interest. An approach is then proposed for determining the mean Helmert anomalies from gravity data observed on the Earth's surface. This approach is based on the widely-held belief that complete Bouguer anomalies are generally fairly smooth and thus particularly useful for interpolation, approximation and averaging. Numerical results from the Canadian Rocky Mountains for all the corrections as well as the downward continuation are shown. Received: 9 March 1998 / Accepted: 16 November 1998