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In geophysical and geodetic studies, gravity inversion is typically performed such that observed gravity values are first continued downward onto a regular (planar, spherical or spheroidal) surface by solving an inverse integral transform, which originates from a classical solution to the first boundary-value problem in potential theory. A typical example is continuing gravity observed at the topographic surface down to the mean sea level (geoid). Nowadays, gravity-dedicated satellite missions and aerial gravimetry provide gravity data above the topographic surface in addition to classical terrestrial gravity observations. For specific purposes (such as gravity data combination and validation, or quasigeoid determination), satellite and aerial gravity observations have to be continued to the irregular topographic surface. In this study, we address this issue by formulating a functional model for a spectral downward continuation of selected gravitational field quantities to an irregular topographic surface. Moreover, we generalize this functional model to allow for transformation between different types of gravitational field quantities. In particular, we derive spectral weights for estimation of the disturbing potential or disturbing/anomalous gravity at the Earth's surface by combining the first-, second- and third-order radial gradients of the disturbing potential (disturbing gradients). The correctness of the developed combined spectral estimator is verified in a closed-loop test based on synthetic satellite disturbing gradients. The combined spectral estimator is applied to simulated satellite disturbing gradients polluted by a realistic Gaussian noise. Results of the numerical experiments show that the combined spectral estimator puts the highest importance on the least polluted disturbing gradient, while the contribution of the least accurate disturbing gradient is negligible. An important advantage of this spectral combination method is that no matrix inversion with numerical instabilities requiring regularization is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article boundary-value problems of potential theory, that are required for transforming and continuing selected parameters of a potential field, are discussed. By the potential field parameters we understand the potential and its gradients (potential gradients) up to the third order. In particular, integral equations defined for a spherical boundary transforming potential gradients of different orders and continuing potential gradients of the same order through the 3-D space are reviewed and classified. This mathematical apparatus can be used for any harmonic potential, such as electric, magnetic or gravitational, under the assumption of its conservativeness, i.e., neglecting possible temporal variations. Integral transforms are discussed in context of geoscience applications, namely in terms of the Earth's gravitational field; however, the article can serve as a general reference for integral transforms of potential field parameters in any scientific or engineering area where potential fields are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional recovery of the disturbing gravitational potential in the area of Central Europe from satellite gravitational gradients data is discussed in this contribution. The disturbing gravitational potential is obtained by inverting surface integral formulas which transform the disturbing gravitational potential onto disturbing gravitational gradients in the spherical local north-oriented frame. Two numerical approaches that solve the inverse problem are considered. In the first approach, the integral formulas are rigorously decomposed into two parts, that is, the effects of the gradient data within near and distant zones. While the effect of the near zone data is sought as an inverse problem, the effect of the distant zone data is synthesized from the global gravitational model GGM05S using spectral weights given by truncation error coefficients up to the degree 150. In the second approach, a reference gravitational field up to the degree 180 is applied to reduce and smooth measured gravitational gradients. In both cases we recovered the disturbing gravitational potential from each of the four well-measured gravitational gradients of the GOCE satellite separately as well as from their combination. Obtained results are compared with the EGM2008, DIR-r2, TIM-r2 and SPW-r2 global gravitational models. The best fit was achieved for EGM2008 and the second approach combining all four well-measured gravitational gradients with rms of 1.231 m2 s-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Spectral formulas for the evaluation of gravitational gradients generated by upper Earth''s mass components are presented in the manuscript. The spectral approach allows for numerical evaluation of global gravitational gradient fields that can be used to constrain gravitational gradients either synthesised from global gravitational models or directly measured by the spaceborne gradiometer on board of the GOCE satellite mission. Gravitational gradients generated by static atmospheric, topographic and continental ice masses are evaluated numerically based on available global models of Earth''s topography, bathymetry and continental ice sheets. CRUST2.0 data are then applied for the numerical evaluation of gravitational gradients generated by mass density contrasts within soft and hard sediments, upper, middle and lower crust layers. Combined gravitational gradients are compared to disturbing gravitational gradients derived from a global gravitational model and an idealised Earth''s model represented by the geocentric homogeneous biaxial ellipsoid GRS80. The methodology could be used for improved modelling of the Earth''s inner structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We derive expressions for computing the gravitational field (potential and its radial derivative) generated by an arbitrary homogeneous or laterally varying density contrast layer with a variable depth and thickness based on methods for a spherical harmonic analysis and synthesis of gravity field. The newly derived expressions are utilised in the gravimetric forward modelling of major known density structures within the Earth's crust (excluding the ocean density contrast) beneath the geoid surface. The gravitational field quantities due to the sediments and crust components density contrasts, shown in numerical examples, are computed using the 2 × 2 arc-deg discrete data from the global crustal model CRUST2.0. These density contrasts are defined relative to the adopted value of the reference crustal density of 2670 kgm. All computations are realised globally on a 1 × 1 arc-deg geographical grid at the Earth's surface. The maxima of the gravitational signal due to the sediments density contrast are mainly along continental shelf regions with the largest sedimentary deposits. The corresponding maxima due to the consolidated crust components density contrast are over areas of the largest continental crustal thickness with variable geological structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In geophysical studies investigating the lithosphere structure, the gravitational field generated by the ocean density contrast (i.e., bathymetry-generated gravitational field) represents a significant amount of the signal to be modelled and subsequently removed from the Earth's gravity field. The ocean density contrast is typically calculated as the difference between the mean density values of the Earth's crust and seawater. The approximation of the actual seawater density distribution by its mean value yields relative errors up to about 2% in computed quantities of the gravitational field. To reduce these errors, a more realistic model of the seawater density distribution is utilized based on the analysis of existing oceanographic data of salinity, temperature, and pressure (depth). We study the accuracy of the bathymetry-generated gravitational field quantities formulated for a depth-dependent model of the seawater density distribution. This density distribution approximates the seawater density variations due to an increasing pressure with depth, whereas smaller lateral density variations caused by salinity, temperature, and other oceanographic factors are not taken into consideration. The error analysis reveals that the approximation of the seawater density by the depth-dependent density model reduces the maximum errors to less than 0.6%. The corresponding depth-averaged errors are below 0.1%. The depth-dependent seawater density model is further facilitated in expressions for computing the bathymetry-generated gravitational field quantities by means of the spherical bathymetric (ocean bottom depth) functions. The numerical realization reveals large differences in the results obtained with and without consideration of the depth-dependent seawater density distribution. The maxima of absolute differences reach 201 m/s and 16.5 mGal in computed values of the potential and attraction, respectively. The application of the depth-dependent seawater density model thus significantly improves the accuracy in the forward modelling of the bathymetric gravitational field quantities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local gravity field modelling demands high-quality gravity data as well as an appropriate mathematical model. Particularly in coastal areas, there may be different types of gravity observations available, for instance, terrestrial, aerial, marine gravity, and satellite altimetry data. Thus, it is important to develop a proper tool to merge the different data types for local gravity field modelling and determination of the geoid. In this study, radial basis functions, as a commonly useful tool for gravity data integration, are employed to model the gravity potential field of the southern part of Iran using terrestrial gravity anomalies, gravity anomalies derived from re-tracked satellite altimetry, marine gravity anomalies, and gravity anomalies synthesized from an Earth gravity model. Reference GNSS/levelling (geometric) geoidal heights are used to evaluate the accuracy of the estimated local gravity field model. The gravimetric geoidal heights are in acceptable agreement with the geometric ones in terms of the standard deviation and the mean value which are 4.1 and 12 cm, respectively. Besides, the reference benchmark of the national first-order levelling network of Iran is located in the study area. The derived gravity model was used to compute the gravity potential difference at this point and then transformed into a height difference which results in the value of the shift of this benchmark with respect to the geoid. The estimated shift shows a good agreement with previously published studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we discuss a regional recovery of gravity disturbances at the mean geocentric sphere approximating the Earth over the area of Central Europe from satellite gravitational gradients. For this purpose, we derive integral formulas which allow converting the gravity disturbances onto the disturbing gravitational gradients in the local north-oriented frame (LNOF). The derived formulas are free of singularities in case of r ≠ R . We then investigate three numerical approaches for solving their inverses. In the initial approach, the integral formulas are firstly modified for solving individually the near- and distant-zone contributions. While the effect of the near-zone gravitational gradients is solved as an inverse problem, the effect of the distant-zone gravitational gradients is computed by numerical integration from the global gravitational model (GGM) TIM-r4. In the second approach, we further elaborate the first scenario by reducing measured gravitational gradients for gravitational effects of topographic masses. In the third approach, we apply additional modification by reducing gravitational gradients for the reference GGM. In all approaches we determine the gravity disturbances from each of the four accurately measured gravitational gradients separately as well as from their combination. Our regional gravitational field solutions are based on the GOCE EGG_TRF_2 gravitational gradients collected within the period from November 1 2009 until January 11 2010. Obtained results are compared with EGM2008, DIR-r1, TIM-r1 and SPW-r1. The best fit, in terms of RMS (2.9 mGal), is achieved for EGM2008 while using the third approach which combine all four well-measured gravitational gradients. This is explained by the fact that a-priori information about the Earth’s gravitational field up to the degree and order 180 was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third-order gradients of the gravitational potential (gravitational curvatures) have already found some applications in geosciences. Observability of these parameters, describing the Earth's gravitational field in a more complex way than any other currently available gravitational parameter, such as gravitational acceleration (first-order gradient) or gravitational (second-order) gradient, is currently discussed by physicists. Moreover, first designs of observational devices (sensors) have already been proposed. The spherical harmonic analysis and synthesis are the common tools used by geoscientists to study spectral properties of various functionals of the Earth's gravitational potential. However, the conventional spherical harmonic expansions of the gravitational curvatures in the local north-oriented reference frame have rather complicated forms that depend on the first-, second- and third-order derivatives of the associated Legendre functions. Moreover, some of these expansions also contain singular terms at the poles. In this paper, the conventional series are transformed to new simpler and non-singular forms based on relations between the associated Legendre functions and their derivatives. Numerical experiments demonstrate the applicability and correctness of the new expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global crustal model CRUST1.0 (refined using additional global datasets of the solid topography, polar ice sheets and geoid) is used in this study to estimate the average densities of major crustal structures. We further use this refined model to compile the gravity field quantities generated by the Earth's crustal structures and to investigate their spatial and spectral characteristics and their correlation with the crustal geometry in context of the gravimetric Moho determination. The analysis shows that the average crustal density is 2,830 kg/m, while it decreases to 2,490 kg/m when including the seawater. The average density of the oceanic crust (without the seawater) is 2,860 kg/m, and the average continental crustal density (including the continental shelves) is 2,790 kg/m. The correlation analysis reveals that the gravity field corrected for major known anomalous crustal density structures has a maximum (absolute) correlation with the Moho geometry. The Moho signature in these gravity data is seen mainly at the long-to-medium wavelengths. At higher frequencies, the Moho signature is weakening due to a noise in gravity data, which is mainly attributed to crustal model uncertainties. The Moho determination thus requires a combination of gravity and seismic data. In global studies, gravimetric methods can help improving seismic results, because (1) large parts of the world are not yet sufficiently covered by seismic surveys and (2) global gravity models have a relatively high accuracy and resolution. In regional and local studies, the gravimetric Moho determination requires either a detailed crustal density model or seismic data (for a combined gravity and seismic data inversion). We also demonstrate that the Earth's long-wavelength gravity spectrum comprises not only the gravitational signal of deep mantle heterogeneities (including the core-mantle boundary zone), but also shallow crustal structures. Consequently, the application of spectral filtering in the gravimetric Moho determination will remove not only the gravitational signal of (unknown) mantle heterogeneities, but also the Moho signature at the long-wavelength gravity spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]