Abstract
Clairaut, 1743: “Théorie de la figure de la terre tirée des Principles de l’hydrostatique”.The mathematical Figure of the Earth, a term which in modern usage is usually applied to the classical definition of the geoid, is defined as the equipotential (level) surface of the earth’s gravitational field. This surface, on average, coincides with mean sea level (MSL) in the open undisturbed ocean or its hypothetical extension under the land masses so as to encircle the earth (Bomford, 1977; Clarke, 1880; Fischer, 1845; Listing, 1873; Torge, 1991).
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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Hooijberg, M. (1997). Datums and Reference Systems. In: Practical Geodesy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60584-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60584-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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