Abstract
This paper reviews the development and estimation of geopotential models over the past 96 years, starting from simple ellipsoidal normal gravity models to complex high degree (360/500) spherical harmonic expansions. The paper is written to show the evolutionary changes that have taken place in the mathematical models and data used. The discussion considers geopotential models from surface gravity data, satellite tracking data, and combination solutions that incorporate numerous data types including satellite altimeter data. A number of questions are posed that relate to future modeling efforts.
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Rapp, R.H. (1998). Past and Future Developments in Geopotential Modeling. In: Forsberg, R., Feissel, M., Dietrich, R. (eds) Geodesy on the Move. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 119. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-72245-5_9
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