Gravity Summary

In first approximation we can chose for the shape of the Earth an ellipsoid of rotation defined essentially by the degree n=2 m=0 of the potential field plus the centrifugal potential. This is known as ellipsoid of reference.

In general all the measure of gravity acceleration and geoid are referenced to this surface. The gravity acceleration change with the latitutde essentially for 2 reasons: the distance from the rotation axis and the flattening of the planet.

The reference gravity is in general expressed by

g() = ge (1 + sin2 +sin4 )

and are experimental constants

= 5.27 10-3 =2.34 10-5 ge=9.78 m s-2

From Fowler

Gravity Summary

A better approximation of

the shape of the Earth is

given by the GEOID.

The GEOID is an

equipotential surface

corresponding to the

average sea level surface

From Fowler

H elevation over Geoidh elevation over ellipsoid

N=h-HLocal Geoid anomaly

Geoid Anomaly

gΔh=-ΔV

Geoid Anomaly

gΔh=-ΔV

Dynamic Geoid

Geoid Anomaly

Example of Gravity anomaly A buried sphere:

gz= 4G π b3 h --------------- 3(x2 + h2)3/2

From Fowler

Gravity Correction: Latitude

The reference gravity is in general expressed by

g() = ge (1 + sin2 +sin4 )

and are experimental constants

= 5.27 10-3 =2.34 10-5 ge=9.78 m s-2

The changes are related to flattening and centrifugal force.From Fowler

Change of Gravity with elevationg(h) = GM/(R+h)2 = GM/R2 ( R / (R+h))2 = g0 ( R / (R+h))2

But R >> h => ( R / (R+h))2 ≈ (1 - 2h/R)This means that we can writeg(h) ≈ g0 (1 - 2h/R) The gravity decrease with the elevation above the reference Aproximately in a linear way, 0.3 mgal per metre of elevation

The correction gFA= 2h/R g0 is known as Free air correction(a more precise formula can be obtain using a spheroid instead of a sphere but this formula is the most commonly used)

The residual of observed gravity- latitude correction + FA correctionIs known as FREE AIR GRAVITY ANOMALYgF = gobs - g () + gFA

Change of Gravity for presence of mass (Mountain)

The previous correction is working if undernit us there is only air if there is a mountain we must do another correction. A typical one is the Bouguer correction assuming the presence of an infinite slab of thickness h and density

gB = 2 π G h

The residual anomaly after we appy this correction is called BOUGUER GRAVITY ANOMALY

gB = gobs - g () + gFA - gB + gT

Where I added also the terrain correction to account for the complex shape of the mountain below (but this correction can not be do analytically!)

Example of Gravity anomaly A buried sphere:

gz= 4G π b3 h --------------- 3(x2 + h2)3/2

From Fowler

Example of Gravity anomaly

Example of Gravity anomaly

Example of Gravity anomaly

Isostasy

In reality a mountain is not giving the full gravity anomaly!

Airy Pratt

From Fowler

Isostasy and Gravity Anomalies

From Fowler