Practical aspects of upward/downward

continuation of gravity gradients

Gyula (1)
Tóth , Lóránt (1)
Földváry , Ilias N. Tziavos(2)
Email: gtoth@sci.fgt.bme.hu

(1) Physical Geodesy and Geodynamics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
University of Technology and Economics, P.O.Box 91., H-1521 Budapest, Hungary
(2) Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Univ. Box 440, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Objectives Using D2 = (∂ψψ – cot ψ ∂ψ), D1 = – ∂ψ , D0 = 1 the Downward continuation with band
The practical use of upward/downward continuation 9 band-limited kernels: pass filtered kernels
formulas for gravity field determination makes it ∞ ℓ+3 10 6
r * ( ℓ − i )!
necessary to evaluate the applied kernel functions in
a band-limited setup. The integration radius of gravity
K ((i j)) (r, r *) = ∑ 
ℓ =2 

r 
w ℓ ( 2 ℓ + 1)
( ℓ + j )!
D i D j Pℓ (rˆ ⋅ rˆ *) 10 5
10 4
gradient data depends on the particular data ℓ 10 3
where w are spectral weights.

σzz in E
combination, band-pass filter and altitude. The MSB 250 km
10 2
The derivatives of Legendre polynomials can be Wiener
upward/downward continuation problem can be 10 1
extended to other gravity field functionals. For most computed according to Table 1. 10 0 w n=0
applications a proper linking of the terrestrial and 10 -1 n >400
satellite data consists of 10 -2
10 -3 200 km
• exact transformation of the coordinate systems (e.g.
local topocentric and gradiometer-fixed (GRF)
Omission error of band limited 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
systems), kernels Capsize in deg
• an appropriate spectral filtering of these data, and Vertical gravity gradient omission error for various capsizes. Band pass MSB
Omission error variances of Vzz upward continued and Wiener filters and two different downward continuation heights. The
• an upward or a downward continuation of the from R to rG omission errors are greatly reduced by setting Wiener filter weights above
2 ∞  R ℓ+3 
terrestrial or the satellite data, respectively.  Γ0   degree 400 to zero.

Especially we are interested in band limited transfer

σ zz
2
= 
 2


∑ 
 r
ℓ = 2  G



Λ ℓ Q ℓzz ( rG , R ,ψ 0 ) σ ℓ2
 10 3

of gravity gradients from one level to the other and Λℓ 10 2
is the normal gravity gradient value (= GM /R3), Wiener
the integration capsize necessary to achieve a good 0
ℓ ℓ ℓ
solution in terms of omission error. the spectral coefficient ( +1)( +2) , degree 10 1
250 km
variances of the geopotential and Q ℓzz ( rG , R ,ψ 0 )
10 0

m
denote the truncation coefficients of Vzz.
MSB
10 -1
For downward continuation it is similar: the powers of 200 km
Band-limited kernels (R/rG) should be replaced with 1 and inside the 10 -2
truncation coefficients (rG/R) with (R/rG) 10 -3
The need of a band limited transfer of gravity 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
gradients is a consequence of the spectral Capsize in deg
characteristics of the GOCE-observed gravity Geoid height omission error for various capsizes in degrees for different
gradients: the useful information is in the so-called
Upward continuation filters and different downward continuation heights.

measurement bandwidth (MBW) between 5 and 100 10 6

• EGM96 geopotential model variances up to 360 10 5 250 km altitude
mHz.
10 4
A modified spherical low pass Butterworth filter • Without any filter / with MSB and Wiener filters Vz
10 3
(MSB) [1] and the Wiener filter [2] were applied.
σzz in E

10 2 V zz
10 1
Spectral weights of the filters are 250 km altitude, no filter 10 1
1
− ℓ
V 10 0
  ℓ 
2k  2 S n (f ) 10 0 10 -1
w ℓ = 1 +    W (f ) =
S s (f ) + S n (f )
σzz in E

  ℓb   10 -2
   (V xz, V yz ) combination
10 -1 10 -3
Vz V zz
MSB Wiener 10 -4
10 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
(V xz , V yz ) combination
where Sn (f ) and Ss (f ) are noise/signal spectra Capsize in deg
10 4 10 -3 Omission error for various capsizes for different gravity field functionals in
V zz signal 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 downward continuation
3
10
Capsize in deg
PSD mE/Hz1/2

10 2
Vertical gravity gradient omission error. Upward continuation for different data Conclusions
10 1 V zz noise combinations for various capsizes. No filter was applied in the kernel.
Adequate integration capsize is generally above 8° .
10 0 101
-1
filter weights 250 km altitude MSB filter Omission errors strongly depend on the particular data
10
100 V combination
10 -2
10-1 Vz
Combination of terrestrial and satellite data at satellite
σzz in E

-3
10
10 -6 10 -5 10 -4 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1 10 0 altitude can be achieved by upward continuing the full
10-2
frequency in Hz V zz tensor and by rotating it into the GRF (gradiometer-fixed
Analytical signal and noise spectra and the resulting Wiener filter 10-3
(V xz, Vyz ) combination frame)
weights (dimensionless), cf. [2].
10-4
1,0
10-5
0,8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 References
0,6 MSB Capsize in deg 1. Haagmans R, Prijatna K, Omang O, An Alternative Concept for Validation of
l1 = 180 GOCE Gradiometry Results Based on Regional Gravity, In: Gravity and Geoid
l2 = 880 Wiener Vertical gravity gradient omission error. Upward continuation for different data 2002. 3rd Meeting of the IGGC. Tziavos (ed.), Gravity and Geoid 2002, pp 281-
0,4 286, Ziti Editions, 2003.
k=1 combinations for various capsizes. No filter was applied in the kernel.
2. Reguzzoni M: From the time-wise to space-wise GOCE observables. Advances
0,2
in Geosciences, Vol. 1, 137-142, 2003.

0,0
‘Ripples’ indicate improved convergence of omission
0 100 200 300 400 error series where the kernel function is zero.
Degree n
Omission errors reach the level of 1 mE for cap sizes of
Acknowledgements
Spectral weights of MSB and Wiener band pass filters. The above investigations were partly funded by the OTKA Project No. 046718 and
about 10-11 degrees, except for the geopotential. Bolyai scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Upward/downward continuation formula of the Eötvös
tensor (i, j ∈{0,1,2})
Table 1. Derivatives of Legendre polynomials expressed by Legendre functions in summation terms for upward/downward continuation of the full gravity gradient
1  cos iα *  ( j )  cos jα  tensor by specific combinations of the tensor elements.
∇ j V (r ) = ∫ ∇ i V (r *) ⋅  sin iα *  K ( i ) (r,r *) sin jα  d Ω *
4π →
Ω
↓ evaluation data vector (j)
Vzz
(Vyz , Vxz) (Vyy-xx, 2Vxy)
∞ ℓ+3
source data combination (i) (cos α, sin α) (cos 2α, sin 2α)
r * ( ℓ − i )!
K ((i j)) (r , r *) = ∂ j ∑   ( 2 ℓ + 1) Pℓ i (rˆ ⋅ rˆ *)
ℓ=2 r  ( ℓ + j )! Vzz Pℓ 0 ( x ) Pℓ1 ( x ) Pℓ 2 ( x )

x 2x 1
Vyz cos α* + Vxz sin α* Pℓ1 ( x ) Pℓ 2 ( x ) − Pℓ1 ( x ) Pℓ 3 ( x ) − Pℓ 2 ( x ) − Pℓ1 ( x )
∇2 = (∂NN - ∂EE , 2∂NE)T, ∇1 = (∂ND , ∂ED)T, ∇0 = ∂DD 1− x 2
1− x 2
1− x 2

2x 2x
Vyy-xx cos 2α* + 2Vxy sin 2α* Pℓ 2 ( x ) Pℓ 3 ( x ) − Pℓ 2 ( x ) Pℓ 3 ( x ) − Pℓ 2 ( x )
1− x 2
1− x 2