Michael Kühn

Research Field

Abstract We provide an unprecedented ultrahigh resolution picture of Earth's gravity over all continents and numerous islands within ±60° latitude. This is achieved through augmentation of new satellite and terrestrial gravity with topography data and use of massive parallel computation techniques, delivering local detail at ~200 m spatial resolution. As such, our work is the first‐of‐its‐kind to model gravity at unprecedented fine scales yet with near‐global coverage. The new picture of Earth's gravity encompasses a suite of gridded estimates of gravity accelerations, radial and horizontal field components, and quasi‐geoid heights at over 3 billion points covering 80% of Earth's land masses. We identify new candidate locations of extreme gravity signals, suggesting that the Committee on Data for Science and Technology standard for peak‐to‐peak variations in free‐fall gravity is too low by about 40%. The new models are beneficial for a wide range of scientific and engineering applications and freely available to the public.

Gravity of Earth

10.1002/grl.50838

Cite

Citations (241)

The influence of different crust models on the gravity field of the Earth

Michael Kühn

By describing the geoid in relation to a reference ellipsoid as a particular equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field, we end up with the well-known problem that the density distribution of the Earth is not exactly known. The Earth's crust, in particular, is of major interest because it produces the medium and short wavelength constituents in the variation of the geoid. To model the crust, we can use the three famous isostatic models of Pratt-Hayford, Airy-Heiskanen and Vening Meinesz, or, additional information about the density distribution and the depth of the Mohorovicic discontinuity. The influence of different crust models on the gravity field of the Earth, especially on the geoid, can reach several centimeters. This will be illustrated with the isostatic models of Pratt-Hayford and Airy-Heiskanen for the area of Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany.

Equipotential surface

Isostasy

Source

Cite

Citations (0)

Application of The Unb Technique To Determination of The Australian Geoid and The Inclusion of Wiener-type Filters In The Reference Field Contribution

EGS General Assembly Conference Abstracts (2002)

W. E. Featherstone S. A. Holmes Michael Kühn J. F. Kirby

Wiener filter

Source

Cite

Citations (1)