Geoid

Not to be confused with geode.

Not to be confused with GEOID, a geocoding scheme.

The geoid (/ˈdʒiː.ɔɪd/) is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is extended through the continents (such as with very narrow hypothetical canals). According to Gauss, who first described it, it is the "mathematical figure of the Earth", a smooth but irregular surface whose shape results from the uneven distribution of mass within and on the surface of Earth.^[1] It can be known only through extensive gravitational measurements and calculations. Despite being an important concept for almost 200 years in the history of geodesy and geophysics, it has been defined to high precision only since advances in satellite geodesy in the late 20th century.

All points on a geoid surface have the same geopotential (the sum of gravitational potential energy and centrifugal potential energy). The force of gravity acts everywhere perpendicular to the geoid, meaning that plumb lines point perpendicular and water levels parallel to the geoid if only gravity and rotational acceleration were at work. Earth's gravity acceleration is non-uniform over the geoid, which is only an equipotential surface, a sufficient condition for a ball to remain at rest instead of rolling over the geoid.^[2] The geoid undulation or geoidal height is the height of the geoid relative to a given reference ellipsoid. The geoid serves as a coordinate surface for various vertical coordinates, such as orthometric heights, geopotential heights, and dynamic heights (see Geodesy#Heights).

Geoid undulation in pseudocolor, shaded relief and vertical exaggeration (10000 vertical scaling factor).

Geoid undulation in pseudocolor, without vertical exaggeration.

Description

 

1. Ocean
2. Ellipsoid
3. Local plumb line
4. Continent
5. Geoid

The geoid surface is irregular, unlike the reference ellipsoid (which is a mathematical idealized representation of the physical Earth as an ellipsoid), but is considerably smoother than Earth's physical surface. Although the "ground" of the Earth has excursions on the order of +8,800 m (Mount Everest) and −11,000 m (Marianas Trench), the geoid's deviation from an ellipsoid ranges from +85 m (Iceland) to −106 m (southern India), less than 200 m total.^[3]

If the ocean were isopycnic (of constant density) and undisturbed by tides, currents or weather, its surface would resemble the geoid. The permanent deviation between the geoid and mean sea level is called ocean surface topography. If the continental land masses were crisscrossed by a series of tunnels or canals, the sea level in those canals would also very nearly coincide with the geoid. In reality, the geoid does not have a physical meaning under the continents, but geodesists are able to derive the heights of continental points above this imaginary, yet physically defined, surface by spirit leveling.

Being an equipotential surface, the geoid is, by definition, a surface to which the force of gravity is everywhere perpendicular. That means that when traveling by ship, one does not notice the undulations of the geoid; the local vertical (plumb line) is always perpendicular to the geoid and the local horizon tangential to it. Likewise, spirit levels will always be parallel to the geoid.

Simplified example

The gravitational field of the earth is not uniform. An oblate spheroid is typically used as the idealized earth, but even if the earth were spherical and did not rotate, the strength of gravity would not be the same everywhere because density varies throughout the planet. This is due to magma distributions, the density and weight of different geological compositions in the earth's crust, mountain ranges, deep sea trenches, crust compaction due to glaciers, and so on.

If that sphere were then covered in water, the water would not be the same height everywhere. Instead, the water level would be higher or lower with respect to Earth's center, depending on the integral of the strength of gravity from the center of the earth to that location. The geoid level coincides with where the water would be. Generally the geoid rises where the earth material is locally more dense, which is where the earth exerts greater gravitational pull.

Shape

The geoid undulation, geoid height, or geoid anomaly is the height of the geoid relative to a given ellipsoid of reference. The undulation is not standardized, as different countries use different mean sea levels as reference, but most commonly refers to the EGM96 geoid.

 

Relationship to GPS/GNSS

In maps and common use the height over the mean sea level (such as orthometric height) is used to indicate the height of elevations while the ellipsoidal height results from the GPS system and similar GNSS.

The deviation ${\displaystyle N}$  between the ellipsoidal height ${\displaystyle h}$  and the orthometric height ${\displaystyle H}$  can be calculated by

$${\displaystyle N=h-H}$$

 

(An analogous relationship exists between normal heights and the quasigeoid.)

So a GPS receiver on a ship may, during the course of a long voyage, indicate height variations, even though the ship will always be at sea level (neglecting the effects of tides). That is because GPS satellites, orbiting about the center of gravity of the Earth, can measure heights only relative to a geocentric reference ellipsoid. To obtain one's orthometric height, a raw GPS reading must be corrected. Conversely, height determined by spirit leveling from a tide gauge, as in traditional land surveying, is closer to orthometric height. Modern GPS receivers have a grid implemented in their software by which they obtain, from the current position, the height of the geoid (e.g. the EGM-96 geoid) over the World Geodetic System (WGS) ellipsoid. They are then able to correct the height above the WGS ellipsoid to the height above the EGM96 geoid. When height is not zero on a ship, the discrepancy is due to other factors such as ocean tides, atmospheric pressure (meteorological effects), local sea surface topography and measurement uncertainties.

Relationship to mass density

The surface of the geoid is higher than the reference ellipsoid wherever there is a positive gravity anomaly (mass excess) and lower than the reference ellipsoid wherever there is a negative gravity anomaly (mass deficit).^[5]

This relationship can be understood by recalling that gravity potential is defined so that it has negative values and is inversely proportional to distance from the body. So, while a mass excess will strengthen the gravity acceleration, it will decrease the gravity potential. As a consequence, the geoid's defining equipotential surface will be found displaced away from the mass excess. Analogously, a mass deficit will weaken the gravity pull but will increase the geopotential at a given distance, causing the geoid to move towards the mass deficit. The presence of a localized inclusion in the background medium will rotate the gravity acceleration vectors slightly towards and away a denser or lighter body, respectively, causing a dimple or a bump in the equipotential surface.^[6]

The largest absolute deviation can be found in the "Indian Ocean geoid low".^[7]

Gravity anomalies

Main article: Gravity anomaly

 

Gravity and Geoid anomalies caused by various crustal and lithospheric thickness changes relative to a reference configuration. All settings are under local isostatic compensation.

Variations in the height of the geoidal surface are related to anomalous density distributions within the Earth. Geoid measures thus help understanding the internal structure of the planet. Synthetic calculations show that the geoidal signature of a thickened crust (for example, in orogenic belts produced by continental collision) is positive, opposite to what should be expected if the thickening affects the entire lithosphere. Mantle convection also changes the shape of the geoid over time.^[8]

 

Three-dimensional visualization of gravity anomalies in units of Gal., using pseudo color and shaded relief.

Determination

Further information: Physical geodesy § Geoid determination

See also: Earth ellipsoid § Determination

Calculating the undulation is mathematically challenging.^[9][10] This is why many handheld GPS receivers have built-in undulation lookup tables^[11] to determine the height above sea level.

The precise geoid solution by Vaníček and co-workers improved on the Stokesian approach to geoid computation.^[12] Their solution enables millimetre-to-centimetre accuracy in geoid computation, an order-of-magnitude improvement from previous classical solutions.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Geoid undulations display uncertainties which can be estimated by using several methods, e.g. least-squares collocation (LSC), fuzzy logic, artificial neutral networks, radial basis functions (RBF), and geostatistical techniques. Geostatistical approach has been defined as the most improved technique in prediction of geoid undulation.^[17]

Temporal change

See also: Geodesy § Temporal change

Recent satellite missions, such as the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) and GRACE, have enabled the study of time-variable geoid signals. The first products based on GOCE satellite data became available online in June 2010, through the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Earth observation user services tools.^[18][19] ESA launched the satellite in March 2009 on a mission to map Earth's gravity with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution. On 31 March 2011, the new geoid model was unveiled at the Fourth International GOCE User Workshop hosted at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.^[20] Studies using the time-variable geoid computed from GRACE data have provided information on global hydrologic cycles,^[21] mass balances of ice sheets,^[22] and postglacial rebound.^[23] From postglacial rebound measurements, time-variable GRACE data can be used to deduce the viscosity of Earth's mantle.^[24]

Spherical harmonics representation

Further information: Geopotential model § Spherical harmonics representation

 

Geoid undulation (red) relative to the reference ellipsoid (black), greatly exaggerated; see also: Earth's pear shape.

Spherical harmonics are often used to approximate the shape of the geoid. The current best such set of spherical harmonic coefficients is EGM2020 (Earth Gravity Model 2020), determined in an international collaborative project led by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA). The mathematical description of the non-rotating part of the potential function in this model is:^[25]

$${\displaystyle V={\frac {GM}{r}}\left(1+{\sum _{n=2}^{n_{\text{max}}}}\left({\frac {a}{r}}\right)^{n}{\sum _{m=0}^{n}}{\overline {P}}_{nm}(\sin \phi )\left[{\overline {C}}_{nm}\cos m\lambda +{\overline {S}}_{nm}\sin m\lambda \right]\right),}$$

 

where ${\displaystyle \phi \ }$  and ${\displaystyle \lambda \ }$  are geocentric (spherical) latitude and longitude respectively, ${\displaystyle {\overline {P}}_{nm}}$  are the fully normalized associated Legendre polynomials of degree ${\displaystyle n\ }$  and order ${\displaystyle m\ }$ , and ${\displaystyle {\overline {C}}_{nm}}$  and ${\displaystyle {\overline {S}}_{nm}}$  are the numerical coefficients of the model based on measured data. Note that the above equation describes the Earth's gravitational potential ${\displaystyle V\ }$ , not the geoid itself, at location ${\displaystyle \phi ,\;\lambda ,\;r,\ }$  the co-ordinate ${\displaystyle r\ }$  being the geocentric radius, i.e., distance from the Earth's centre. The geoid is a particular equipotential surface,^[25] and is somewhat involved to compute. The gradient of this potential also provides a model of the gravitational acceleration. The most commonly used EGM96 contains a full set of coefficients to degree and order 360 (i.e. ${\displaystyle n_{\text{max}}=360}$ ), describing details in the global geoid as small as 55 km (or 110 km, depending on your definition of resolution). The number of coefficients, ${\displaystyle {\overline {C}}_{nm}}$  and ${\displaystyle {\overline {S}}_{nm}}$ , can be determined by first observing in the equation for V that for a specific value of n there are two coefficients for every value of m except for m = 0. There is only one coefficient when m=0 since ${\displaystyle \sin(0\lambda )=0}$ . There are thus (2n+1) coefficients for every value of n. Using these facts and the formula, ${\textstyle \sum _{I=1}^{L}I={\frac {1}{2}}L(L+1)}$ , it follows that the total number of coefficients is given by

$${\displaystyle \sum _{n=2}^{n_{\text{max}}}(2n+1)=n_{\text{max}}(n_{\text{max}}+1)+n_{\text{max}}-3=130317}$$

 

using the EGM96 value of ${\displaystyle n_{\text{max}}=360}$ .

For many applications the complete series is unnecessarily complex and is truncated after a few (perhaps several dozen) terms.

Still, even high resolution models have been developed. Many of the authors of EGM96 have published EGM2008. It incorporates much of the new satellite gravity data (e.g., the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), and supports up to degree and order 2160 (1/6 of a degree, requiring over 4 million coefficients),^[26] with additional coefficients extending to degree 2190 and order 2159.^[27] EGM2020 is the planned follow-up of 2020 (now overdue), containing the same number of harmonics generated with better data.^[28]

See also

• Deflection of the vertical
• Geodetic datum
• Geopotential
• Planetary geoid
  • Areoid (Mars' geoid)
  • Selenoid (Moon's geoid)
• Physical geodesy
• International Terrestrial Reference Frame

References

1. Gauß, C.F. (1828). Bestimmung des Breitenunterschiedes zwischen den Sternwarten von Göttingen und Altona durch Beobachtungen am Ramsdenschen Zenithsector (in German). Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. p. 73. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
2. Geodesy: The Concepts. Petr Vanicek and E.J. Krakiwsky. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 1982 (first ed.): ISBN 0-444-86149-1, ISBN 978-0-444-86149-8. 1986 (third ed.): ISBN 0-444-87777-0, ISBN 978-0-444-87777-2. ASIN 0444877770.
3. "Earth's Gravity Definition". GRACE – Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. Center for Space Research (University of Texas at Austin) / Texas Space Grant Consortium. 11 February 2004. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
4. . NGA: Office of Geomatics. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
5. Fowler, C.M.R. (2005). The Solid Earth; An Introduction to Global Geophysics. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 214. ISBN 9780521584098.
6. Lowrie, W. (1997). Fundamentals of Geophysics. Fundamentals of Geophysics. Cambridge University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-521-46728-5. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
7. Raman, Spoorthy (16 October 2017). "The missing mass -- what is causing a geoid low in the Indian Ocean?". GeoSpace. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
8. Richards, M. A.; Hager, B. H. (1984). "Geoid anomalies in a dynamic mantle". Journal of Geophysical Research. 89 (B7): 5987–6002. doi:10.1029/JB089iB07p05987.
9. Sideris, Michael G. (2011). "Geoid Determination, Theory and Principles". Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. pp. 356–362. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8702-7_154. ISBN 978-90-481-8701-0. S2CID 241396148.
10. Sideris, Michael G. (2011). "Geoid, Computational Method". Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. pp. 366–371. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8702-7_225. ISBN 978-90-481-8701-0.
11. Wormley, Sam. . edu-observatory.org. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
12. "UNB Precise Geoid Determination Package". Retrieved 2 October 2007.
13. Vaníček, P.; Kleusberg, A. (1987). "The Canadian geoid-Stokesian approach". Manuscripta Geodaetica. 12 (2): 86–98.
14. Vaníček, P.; Martinec, Z. (1994). "Compilation of a precise regional geoid" (PDF). Manuscripta Geodaetica. 19: 119–128.
15. P., Vaníček; A., Kleusberg; Z., Martinec; W., Sun; P., Ong; M., Najafi; P., Vajda; L., Harrie; P., Tomasek; B., ter Horst. Compilation of a Precise Regional Geoid (PDF) (Report). Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick. 184. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
16. Kopeikin, Sergei; Efroimsky, Michael; Kaplan, George (2009). Relativistic celestial mechanics of the solar system. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. p. 704. ISBN 9783527408566.
17. Chicaiza, E.G.; Leiva, C.A.; Arranz, J.J.; Buenańo, X.E. (14 June 2017). "Spatial uncertainty of a geoid undulation model in Guayaquil, Ecuador". Open Geosciences. 9 (1): 255–265. Bibcode:2017OGeo....9...21C. doi:10.1515/geo-2017-0021. ISSN 2391-5447.
18. "ESA makes first GOCE dataset available". GOCE. European Space Agency. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
19. . GOCE. European Space Agency. 29 June 2010. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
20. "Earth's gravity revealed in unprecedented detail". GOCE. European Space Agency. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
21. Schmidt, R.; Schwintzer, P.; Flechtner, F.; Reigber, C.; Guntner, A.; Doll, P.; Ramillien, G.; Cazenave, A.; et al. (2006). "GRACE observations of changes in continental water storage". Global and Planetary Change. 50 (1–2): 112–126. Bibcode:2006GPC....50..112S. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2004.11.018.
22. Ramillien, G.; Lombard, A.; Cazenave, A.; Ivins, E.; Llubes, M.; Remy, F.; Biancale, R. (2006). "Interannual variations of the mass balance of the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets from GRACE". Global and Planetary Change. 53 (3): 198. Bibcode:2006GPC....53..198R. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.06.003.
23. Vanderwal, W.; Wu, P.; Sideris, M.; Shum, C. (2008). "Use of GRACE determined secular gravity rates for glacial isostatic adjustment studies in North-America". Journal of Geodynamics. 46 (3–5): 144. Bibcode:2008JGeo...46..144V. doi:10.1016/j.jog.2008.03.007.
24. Paulson, Archie; Zhong, Shijie; Wahr, John (2007). "Inference of mantle viscosity from GRACE and relative sea level data". Geophysical Journal International. 171 (2): 497. Bibcode:2007GeoJI.171..497P. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03556.x.
25. Smith, Dru A. (1998). "There is no such thing as 'The' EGM96 geoid: Subtle points on the use of a global geopotential model". IGeS Bulletin No. 8. Milan, Italy: International Geoid Service. pp. 17–28. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
26. Pavlis, N. K.; Holmes, S. A.; Kenyon, S.; Schmit, D.; Trimmer, R. "Gravitational potential expansion to degree 2160". IAG International Symposium, gravity, geoid and Space Mission GGSM2004. Porto, Portugal, 2004.
27. . National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
28. Barnes, D.; Factor, J. K.; Holmes, S. A.; Ingalls, S.; Presicci, M. R.; Beale, J.; Fecher, T. (2015). "Earth Gravitational Model 2020". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. 2015: G34A–03. Bibcode:2015AGUFM.G34A..03B.

Further reading

• H. Moritz (2011). "A contemporary perspective of geoid structure". Journal of Geodetic Science. Versita. 1 (March): 82–87. Bibcode:2011JGeoS...1...82M. doi:10.2478/v10156-010-0010-7.
• "CHAPTER V PHYSICAL GEODESY". ngs.noaa.gov. NOAA. Retrieved 15 June 2016.

External links

 

Look up geoid in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Main NGA (was NIMA) page on Earth gravity models 20 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• International Geoid Service (IGeS) 5 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• EGM96 NASA GSFC Earth gravity model
• Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008, Released in July 2008) 8 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
• NOAA Geoid webpage
• International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM)
• Kiamehr's Geoid Home Page 20 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
• (964KB pdf file)
• (PhD Thesis PDF)