Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling

Several previous Synthetic Earth Gravity Model (SEGM) simulations are based on existing information about the Earth’s internal mass distribution. However, currently available information is insufficient to model the Earth’s anomalous gravity field on a global scale. The low-frequency information is...

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Main Authors: Fellner, J., Kuhn, Michael, Featherstone, Will
Format: Journal Article
Published: Terra Scientific Publishing 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42778
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author Fellner, J.
Kuhn, Michael
Featherstone, Will
author_facet Fellner, J.
Kuhn, Michael
Featherstone, Will
author_sort Fellner, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Several previous Synthetic Earth Gravity Model (SEGM) simulations are based on existing information about the Earth’s internal mass distribution. However, currently available information is insufficient to model the Earth’s anomalous gravity field on a global scale. The low-frequency information is missing when modelling only topography, bathymetry and crust (including the Mohorovičić discontinuity), but the inclusion of information on the mantle and core does not seem to significantly improve this situation. This paper presents a method to determine a more realistic SEGM by considering simulated 3D mass distributions within the upper mantle as a proxy for all unmodelled masses within the Earth.The aim is to improve an initial SEGM based on forward gravity modelling of the topography, bathymetry and crust such that the missing low-frequency information is now included. The simulated 3D mass distribution has been derived through an interactive and iterative mass model optimisation algorithm, which minimises geoid height differences with respect to a degree-360 spherical harmonic expansion of the EGM2008 global external gravity field model. We present the developed optimisation algorithm by applying it to the development of a global SEGM that gives a reasonably close fit to EGM2008, and certainly closer than a SEGM based only on the topography, bathymetry and crust.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-427782017-09-13T15:51:40Z Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling Fellner, J. Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will forward gravity modelling global source model 3D mass optimisation Synthetic Earth Gravity Model (SEGM) Several previous Synthetic Earth Gravity Model (SEGM) simulations are based on existing information about the Earth’s internal mass distribution. However, currently available information is insufficient to model the Earth’s anomalous gravity field on a global scale. The low-frequency information is missing when modelling only topography, bathymetry and crust (including the Mohorovičić discontinuity), but the inclusion of information on the mantle and core does not seem to significantly improve this situation. This paper presents a method to determine a more realistic SEGM by considering simulated 3D mass distributions within the upper mantle as a proxy for all unmodelled masses within the Earth.The aim is to improve an initial SEGM based on forward gravity modelling of the topography, bathymetry and crust such that the missing low-frequency information is now included. The simulated 3D mass distribution has been derived through an interactive and iterative mass model optimisation algorithm, which minimises geoid height differences with respect to a degree-360 spherical harmonic expansion of the EGM2008 global external gravity field model. We present the developed optimisation algorithm by applying it to the development of a global SEGM that gives a reasonably close fit to EGM2008, and certainly closer than a SEGM based only on the topography, bathymetry and crust. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42778 10.5047/eps.2011.07.012 Terra Scientific Publishing fulltext
spellingShingle forward gravity modelling
global source model
3D mass optimisation
Synthetic Earth Gravity Model (SEGM)
Fellner, J.
Kuhn, Michael
Featherstone, Will
Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling
title Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling
title_full Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling
title_fullStr Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling
title_full_unstemmed Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling
title_short Development of a Synthetic Earth Gravity Model by 3D mass optimisation based on forward modelling
title_sort development of a synthetic earth gravity model by 3d mass optimisation based on forward modelling
topic forward gravity modelling
global source model
3D mass optimisation
Synthetic Earth Gravity Model (SEGM)
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42778