12 research outputs found
Combined Effects of Terrain Corrections and Deterministic Modifiers on the Stokes-Helmert Geoid Over Sophisticated Topography
This study focuses on analysing the impact of deterministic modifications of the Stokes kernel and terrain correction methods for precise geoid determination using the Stokes-Helmert method over a sophisticated topography. Three deterministic modification methods of Stokes's kernel (Wong-Gore, Van ; iacuteccaron;ek-Kleusberg, and Featherstone-Evans-Olliver) are tried to minimize the truncation error emanating from the non-availability of gravity data all over the Earth by utilizing two independent satellite only global geopotential models. In parallel to the modified Stokes kernel functions, two terrain correction techniques, i.e., spatial-spectral combined method with mass-prisms and spatial method with mass-cylinders, have also been examined to assess their combined effects on geoid heights over the Konya Closed Basin in T ; uuml;rkiye. The developed geoid models are validated with GNSS-levelling data and inter-compared pixel-wise. The numerical results show that although the overall statistical values depict consistent precision for various combinations of TCs, Stokes kernel modifiers, and GGMs, a holistic validation-comparison analysis reveals significant variations in view of the cm-precise geoid.This research is supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under grant number 120Y246. Ropesh Goyal is supported by the National Centre for Geodesy at IIT Kanpur established with the support of Dept. of Science ; Technology, Govt. of India for his travel to the Konya Technical University, Konya, Turkiye.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [120Y246]; National Centre for Geodesy at IIT Kanpu
A User-Friendly Software Package for Modelling Gravimetric Geoid by the Classical Stokes-Helmert Method
With the progress in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) technology, accurate geoid modelling has started to play an essential role in geodetic applications such as establishing height datum as a continuous surface model and related vertical control for infrastructure projects. Thus, numerous geoid modelling methods have been offered since 1990's, each of them has its own algorithm and approximation theories. Classical Stokes-Helmert is one of the most well-known methods all over the world by geodetic communities. However, a user-friendly software package of the method is not publicly accessible on the Internet. Therefore, a compact and user-friendly software package CSHSOFT is developed and presented for scholars in this field. A fractionated programming strategy has been treated to build individual components striving high accuracy and computational efficiency for geoid heights. Subsequently, the CSHSOFT is simply tested to construct a geoid model in the mountainous area in Auvergne test-bed where several geoid modelling techniques are implemented. Afterward, the new geoid model of the region is externally evaluated by GNSS-levelling data in terms of rigorous orthometric heights. The fitting statistics of 2.75 cm and 0.36 ppm in absolute and relative height differences fairly indicate that the CSHSOFT is a vigorous tool for gravimetric geoid modelling, and can be comfortably employed for geoscientific and technical studies.Konya Technical UniversityThe authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the creators of the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software package, P. Wessel and S. Smith. The GMT software has played a significant role in generating the majority of the figures presented in the current paper. The authors also express their gratitude to Dr. Ismael Foroughi from York University in Canada for providing orthometric heights of GNSS-levelling benchmarks
Efficient spatial-spectral computation of local planar gravimetric terrain corrections from high-resolution digital elevation models
Computation of gravimetric terrain corrections (TCs) is a numerical challenge, especially when using very high-resolution (say, ∼30 m or less) digital elevation models (DEMs). TC computations can use spatial or/and spectral techniques: Spatial domain methods are more exact but can be very time-consuming; the discrete/fast Fourier transform (D/FFT) implementation of a binomial expansion is efficient, but fails to achieve a convergent solution for terrain slopes >45°. We show that this condition must be satisfied for each and every computation-roving point pair in the whole integration domain, not just at or near the computation points. A combination of spatial and spectral methods has been advocated by some through dividing the integration domain into inner and outer zones, where the TC is computed from the superposition of analytical mass-prism integration and the D/FFT. However, there remain two unresolved issues with this combined approach: (1) deciding upon a radius that best separates the inner and outer zones and (2) analytical mass-prism integration in the inner zone remains time-consuming, particularly for high-resolution DEMs. This paper provides a solution by proposing: (1) three methods to define the radius separating the inner and outer zones and (2) a numerical solution for near-zone TC computations based on the trapezoidal and Simpson's rules that is sufficiently accurate w.r.t. the exact analytical solution, but which can reduce the computation time by almost 50 per cent
An experimental Indian gravimetric geoid model using Curtin University’s approach
Over the past decade, numerous advantages of a gravimetric geoid model and its possible suitability for the Indian national vertical datum have been discussed and advocated by the Indian scientific community and national geodetic agencies. However, despite several regional efforts, a state-of-the-art gravimetric geoid model for the whole of India remains elusive due to a multitude of reasons. India encompasses one of the most diverse topographies on the planet, which includes the Gangetic plains, the Himalayas, the Thar desert, and a long peninsular coastline, among other topographic features. In the present study, we have developed the first national geoid and quasigeoid models for India using Curtin University’s approach. Terrain corrections were found to reach an extreme of 187 mGal, Faye gravity anomalies 617 mGal, and the geoid-quasigeoid separation 4.002 m. We have computed both geoid and quasigeoid models to analyse their representativeness of the Indian normal-orthometric heights from the 119 GNSS-levelling points that are available to us. A geoid model for India has been computed with an overall standard deviation of ±0.396 m but varying from ±0.03 m to ±0.158 m in four test regions with GNSS-levelling data. The greatest challenge in developing a precise gravimetric geoid for the whole of India is data availability and its preparation. More densely surveyed precise gravity data and a larger number of GNSS/levelling data are required to further improve the models and their testing
Comparison and Validation of Satellite-Derived Digital Surface/Elevation Models over India
© 2020, Indian Society of Remote Sensing. India presents among the world’s most topographically complex geomorphologies, with land elevations ranging from –2 m to + 8586 m and terrain gradients sometimes exceeding 45°. Here, we present an evaluation of four freely available digital surface models (DSMs) on a model-to-model basis, as well as a validation using independent ground-truth data from levelled benchmarks in India. The DSMs tested comprise SRTM1″, SRTM3″, ASTER1″ and Cartodem1″ [an India-only model]. Along with these four DSMs, the MERIT3″ digital elevation model (DEM) is also tested with the ground-truth data. Our results for India indicate some mismatch of these DEMs/DSMs from their claimed accuracies/precisions. All DSMs/DEMs (except for ASTER) have > 90% of pixels satisfying ± 16 m at the one-sigma level, but only in the low-lying (< 500 m) parts of India, i.e. the Gangetic plains and the Thar desert
Empirical comparison between stochastic and deterministic modifiers over the French Auvergne geoid computation test-bed
© 2021 Survey Review Ltd. Since 2006, several different groups have computed geoid and/or quasigeoid (quasi/geoid) models for the Auvergne test area in central France using various approaches. In this contribution, we compute and compare quasigeoid models for Auvergne using Curtin University of Technology’s and the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology’s approaches. These approaches differ in many ways, such as their treatment of the input data, choice of type of spherical harmonic model (combined or satellite-only), form and sequence of correction terms applied, and different modified Stokes’s kernels (deterministic or stochastic). We have also compared our results with most of the previously reported studies over Auvergne in order to seek any improvements with respect to time [exceptions are when different subsets of data have been used]. All studies considered here compare the computed quasigeoid models with the same 75 GPS-levelling heights over Auvergne. The standard deviation for almost all of the computations (without any fitting) is of the order of 30–40 mm, so there is not yet any clear indication whether any approach is necessarily better than any other nor improving over time. We also recommend more standardisation on the presentation of quasi/geoid comparisons with GPS-levelling data so that results from different approaches over the same areas can be compared more objectively
