A comparison of geoid undulations for west central Greenland

The accuracy of a new local gravity field model, GEOID94A, is examined at a site on the western Greenland ice sheet. The model, developed by the Danish National Survey and Cadastre, incorporates several new gravity data sets including an extensive amount of airborne gravity data. Model-derived geoid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Main Authors: Roman, D.R., Csatho, B., Jezek, K.C., Thomas, R.H., Krabill, W.B., vonFrese, R.R.B., Forsberg, René
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 1997
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Online Access:https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/486a8e53-8485-4c04-81d4-bc04ec522846
https://doi.org/10.1029/96jb02697
Description
Summary:The accuracy of a new local gravity field model, GEOID94A, is examined at a site on the western Greenland ice sheet. The model, developed by the Danish National Survey and Cadastre, incorporates several new gravity data sets including an extensive amount of airborne gravity data. Model-derived geoid undulations were compared to independently determined undulations found by differencing the elevations from Global Positioning System controlled airborne laser altimetry and optical levelling surveys. Differences between the two sets of undulations were less than +/-6 cm RMS. The comparison improved (+/-5 cm RMS) when GEOID94A undulations were adjusted by local gravity observations also acquired at the site. Our comparisons demonstrate that GEOID94A adequately models the long to intermediate wavelengths of the gravity field. We conclude that GEOID94A constitutes a reliable reference model for studies of Greenland's gravity field.