Investigation into the Effects of Different Parameters on Geoid Modeling Accuracy
Publication: Journal of Surveying Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 2
Abstract
Inconsistent geoid heights may introduce uncertainties that limit its use in applications. Consequently, the scientific community has been collaborating to determine more rigorous geoid models in order to improve the accuracy of orthometric heights estimated with height transformation from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning techniques. In this regard, this study evaluated the influence of different parameters (such as mass density, topographic models, geopotential models, and Stokes kernel modifications) used in the determination of a gravimetric geoid model through the remove-compute-restore (RCR) technique to contribute to these efforts. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that the Stokes kernel modification type and the global geopotential model selection significantly influence the improvement of geoid models in the study area (state of São Paulo, Brazil). However, the resolution of digital terrain models and the values of the lateral topographic density have less of an impact on the model’s accuracy when determining the geoid. In order to acquire findings that are consistent with geoid heights estimated by each determination technique, it is necessary to conduct a rigorous study of the employed data and computation parameters as a preliminary process.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models and code used during the study were provided by a third party and direct requests for those materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments. Some of those materials are available in online repositories, such as: terrestrial gravity data (https://www.ibge.gov.br/); global geopotential models (http://icgem.gfz-potsdam.de/); topographic models (https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/); lateral topographic density model for Brazil (https://zenodo.org/record/5601931); and marine gravity data (https://www.space.dtu.dk/). The GRAVTool package used during the study might be available, with restrictions, by the corresponding author.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the National Institute of Science and Technology for Tectonic Studies - INCTET (465613/2014-4), Foundation for Research Support of the Federal District, Brazil - FAPDF (00193.00001526/2021-93), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - CAPES (Finance Code 001), for the technical and financial support for carrying out the research. G.S.M. would like to thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq (PQ-2, 308270/2022-3) for financial support. The authors thank IBGE and ANP, ICGEM, USGS, and DTU for providing, respectively, the terrestrial gravity data, the global geopotential models, the topographic models and the marine gravity data used in this research. The authors thank Medeiros et al. (2021) for providing the lateral topographic density model for Brazil, and Featherstone (2003) for providing the MODKERN.f code.
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Published In
Journal of Surveying Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 2 • May 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 13, 2023
Accepted: Nov 9, 2023
Published online: Jan 19, 2024
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 19, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Continuum mechanics
- Developing countries
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Geography
- Geomatics
- Global navigation satellite systems
- Mathematics
- Model accuracy
- Models (by type)
- Motion (dynamics)
- Parameters (statistics)
- Practice and Profession
- Solid mechanics
- Statistics
- Surveying methods
- Terrain
- Terrain models
- Topography
- Uncertainty principles
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