Abstract
In this study, a novel two-scale spherical radial basis function (SRBF) modeling method is proposed for regional gravity field determination. First, satellite-only global gravity field models (GGMs) are combined with airborne gravity data at medium-frequency bands, and a series of combined gravity field models based on band-limited SRBFs are established for the mountainous areas of California and Oregon. The combined gravity field models are then compared with the airborne-only gravity field models. The results show that the combined models exhibit standard deviation (STD) values of 0.106–0.120 m in terms of geoid height differences w.r.t. the global positioning system (GPS)/leveling data, while the corresponding airborne-only models yield STD values of 0.126–0.131 m. The STD values of the combined models are reduced by 0.9–2.0 cm, which implies a potential benefit for the medium-frequency gravity field modeling by combining GGM and airborne gravity data. Second, after removing the low-frequency and medium-frequency gravity field signals as well as the residual terrain model signals from gravity data, a second SRBF modeling process is implemented using multisource residual gravity data. Subsequently, a high-resolution two-scale SRBF gravity field model is constructed for the mountainous areas of California and Oregon. The results indicate that the STD of geoid height differences for the two-scale SRBF model w.r.t. the GPS/leveling data is 0.098 m, with reductions of 3.0–6.2 cm compared to the models based on the single-scale SRBF modeling method. These findings indicate the effectiveness of the two-scale SRBF modeling method for refining the regional gravity field model in complex areas.
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Data availability
The terrestrial gravity data, the airborne gravity data, and the GPS/leveling data used in this study were provided by the National Geodetic Survey. The airborne gravity data are freely available on https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/GRAV-D/data_products.shtml.
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Acknowledgements
The author sincerely appreciates the valuable comments and suggestions provided by the editors and all the anonymous reviewers. Without their invaluable assistance, this paper could not have reached its current form. Additionally, heartfelt thanks go to the US National Geodetic Survey for generously sharing terrestrial, airborne gravity, and GPS/leveling data, which significantly contributed to this research.
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National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42104087).
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Ma, Z. Gravity field modeling in mountainous areas based on band-limited SRBFs. J Geod 98, 41 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-024-01852-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-024-01852-3