Physical geodesy Totally Explained

Everything about Physical Geodesy totally explained

Physical geodesy is the study of the physical properties of the gravity field of the Earth, the geopotential, with a view to their application in geodesy.

Measurement procedure

Traditional geodetic instruments such as theodolites rely on the gravity field for orienting their vertical axis along the local plumb line or local vertical direction with the aid of a spirit level. After that, vertical angles (zenith angles or, alternatively, elevation angles) are obtained with respect to this local vertical, and horizontal angles in the plane of the local horizon, perpendicular to the vertical. Levelling instruments again are used to obtain geopotential differences between points on the Earth's surface. These can then be expressed as "height" differences by conversion to metric units.

The geopotential

The Earth's gravity field can be described by a potential as follows: ť

mathbf

is our earlier

Delta g

, the free-air anomaly.
In case the terrain isn't a flat plate (the usual case!) we use for H the local terrain height value but apply a further correction called the terrain correction (TC).

Further Information

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