Development of a gravimetric geoid model and a comparative study

Abstract

Site specific geoid model is prerequisite for accurate determination of orthometric heights. No geoid model has been developed so far for India or any of its part. So, development of a geoid model for India or its part is of utmost need to make use of GNSS data towards determination of orthometric heights. In this research work, an attempt has been made to develop geoid undulation models by gravimetric method using Molodensky’s concept. Component parameters in line with the Remove – Compute – Restore (RCR) technique have been used recursively. Models have been developed for two study areas: one of these lies in and around Dehradun (30° 19′ N, 75° 04′E) in Uttarakhand state, India in lower Himalayan region having highly undulating topography and the other near Hyderabad (17° 30′N, 78°30′E) in Telengana state of India having gentle topography. The model has been tested for 7 stations in the first study area and accuracy has been found to be 17.5 cm; whereas, for the second area accuracy has been found to be 7.0 cm for 24 test stations. Further, the performances of the developed models have been evaluated with those from three global geoid models namely EIGEN6C4, EIGEN6C3stat and EGM2008; and have been found to be similar or better in case of first study and for second study area far more superior. Thus, local/regional geoid undulation model requiring accuracy better than 20 cm for any study area may be developed adopting the method. However, the optimality in the number and density of gravity stations may be considered as a future scope of work.

Keyword : orthometric height, free air anomaly, height anomaly, geodetic latitude, geodetic longitude, digital terrain model, quasi-geoid