GRAVIMETRIC GEOID DETERMINATION BY USING TERRESTRIAL AND SATELLITE-DERIVED DATA Engr. Serafin Farley M.

Meneses III, MSc1 and Prof. Enrico C. Paringit, PhD Applied Geodesy and Satellite Technology Laboratory Geodetic Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, smmeneses@up.edu.ph1 KEY WORDS: geoid, GRACE, CHAMP, SRTM, Manila INTRODUCTION Geoid models, normally used as vertical reference frames, find many applications in plane and geodetic engineering surveys. In fact, one of the reasons that some geoid models were developed was to respond to global positioning system (GPS) users who demand accurate geoid models (Featherstone et. al., 2001). The role of geoid models in leveling is basically defined by the equation (Heiskanen and Moritz, 1967; Torge, 1980) H=hN which relates the ellipsoidal height, h, determined from GPS surveys, orthometric heights, H, determined from spirit leveling surveys, and the geoidal undulation, N. The linear relationship amongst H, h, and N promises a cheaper and faster means of determining orthometric heights from GPS surveying and geoid modeling. Being a fundamental vertical reference surface, the use of the geoid is not limited to geodesy/geodetic applications. It is also used, but not limited to, in geophysics (i.e. interpretation of the Earths internal structure, solid earth science), geology (i.e. subsurface delineation), oceanography, and mapping/geographic information systems (GIS)/national spatial development infrastructure (NSDI) (i.e. for positioning needs) (Vanek and Krakiwsky, 1986). The knowledge of the geoid may also be used in important sociopolitical and environmental issues like sea level change, urban and rural planning, ground subsidence, and climate change (Vergos, 2008). SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE The utmost aim of this research is the utilization of remotely-sensed data for gravimetric geoid determination in Metro Manila. Basically, satellite-derived data were used to derive short and long wavelength gravity information (Kiamehr, 2006). These two components, along with the medium wavelength gravity information, are important elements of the solution of the geodetic boundary value problem/Stokes integral for the determination of geoidal undulations. Also, it shown in this research that remotely-sensed data serve as invaluable sources of supplemental information here in the Philippines since there is limited or lacking publicly available gravity-related information here. However, it is not the intention of this research to provide geophysical interpretations of the results. As such, interpretations lean towards geodetic engineering or towards the geometric characteristics of the results.

The determination of the geoid for Metro Manila is important since, as has been mentioned above, it serves as a fundamental vertical reference frame for many scientific and engineering applications. Even scientific issues which are socio-economically and politically related, like climate change, sea level rise, ground subsidence, urban planning, and disaster risk management are related to the geoid. A good geoid model provides a vertical reference frame wherein researchers and decision makers may use to analyze and monitor the aforementioned critical environmental phenomena. This is especially true for since Metro Manila since the region is deemed to be susceptible to various environmental disasters (Perez, et. al., 1996). METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS In order to solve Stokes integral and be able to derive the gravimetric geoid for Metro Manila, the remove-compute-restore/Stokes-Helmert gravity reduction scheme was used in this research. Since the procedure for geoid determination is already somewhat standardized, no major innovation in the procedure was introduced in this research except for the fact that all satellite-derived data used to supplement the limited available terrestrial gravity information were validated against locally available data and that the resulting preliminary geoid was compared and fitted against GPS/leveling stations within the study area. In this research, the long wavelength information of the Earths gravity field needed for gravimetric geoid determination were derived from satellite-only and combined global geopotential models (GGM). Namely, these are Challenging Minisatellite Payload for Geophysical Research and Application (CHAMP), Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), Earth Gravity Model of 1996 (EGM 96), and EIGEN-GL04C. Padded GRACE and CHAMP GGMs were also used. Padding was done by extending their degrees up to 360 by using EGM96 coefficients. By comparing the derived undulation from these GGMs against the geometric undulation derived from locally-available GPS/leveling information, it was found out in this research that the EIGEN-GL04C GGM represents the long wavelength component of Earths gravity field locally in Metro Manila. Table below shows the statistics of this comparison. All values are in meters. Manila Max Min Mean St. dev.
Ngeom - Ngrace Ngeom - Nchamp Ngeom - Negm96 Ngeom - Neigen Ngeom - Ngrace2 Ngeom- Nchamp2

2.04722 -0.60605 1.10128

0.745073387

3.94020 1.47093 2.96558

0.695014143

2.57258 -0.07042 1.88495

0.728079003

1.14913 -1.14633 0.33461

0.665711045

3.06750 0.10102 2.32612

0.808909358

2.33447 -0.28847 1.69129

0.727806427

Table 1. Comparison of various GGM-derived undulation against local GPS/leveling Data. As can be seen, EIGEN-GL04C GGM gives the best standard deviation value followed by CHAMP, padded CHAMP, EGM96, GRACE, and padded GRACE. This indicates that EIGEN-GL04C gives the best fit to local geometric undulations and thus is the most suitable GGM for all subsequent gravimetric geoid calculations. The GGM-derived geoid across Metro Manila was fairly smooth. This was expected since information from GGMs only provide long wavelength information of Earths gravity field. The average value of the GGM-derived undulation is approximately 45.07 m with standard deviation on 0.31 m while maximum is about 45.70 m and minimum is 44.34 m. Gravity reduction of the gravity measurements sourced from the International Gravimetric Bureau (BGI) was done by accounting for the gravity anomalies from the main

GGM used in this research (which is EIGEN-GL04C). Other corrections/adjustment parameters were also included like the Bouguer plate reduction, free-air correction, atmospheric correction, and terrain correction. Most of the gravity observations, referred to the IGSN71 net, were located near the Manila Bay area. Also, only 29 unique gravity stations were available and thus a poor distribution of the gravity measurements within the study area is observed. Simple and refined Bouguer anomalies for the Metro Manila area derived for this research have very similar values. Also as expected, the plots of the same are relatively smooth, which makes them suitable for gridding and interpolation (Kamguia, 2007), except at certain points where there are spikes and wells. However no effort has been made by the researcher to remove these irregularities since these points may indicate subsurface geologic structure or signify errors in gravity observations. Simple Kriging was used during interpolation and gridding. The plots of the simple and refined Bouguer anomalies may serve as guides or references for future gravity surveys and even for geophysical interpretations. Faye anomalies were also solved for the study area since they are more suitable to be used in the Stokes integral. Table below shows some statistics of the Bouguer and Faye anomalies solved for the area of Metro Manila. All values are in mgals. Max SimpleBouguer 92.7400 RefinedBouguer 92.7400 Faye 93.1800 Min 19.5730 19.5730 19.8320 Mean 50.7826 50.7826 53.2471 St. dev. 19.2241 19.2241 19.8785

Table 2. Statistics of the gridded Bouguer and Faye anomalies. As can be seen above, the simple and refined Bouguer anomalies have similar values. Maximum is 92.74 mgals, minimum is 19.57 mgals, average is 50.78 mgals, and standard deviation is only 19.22 mgals. Derived Faye anomalies for the study area, which appears to be rougher than the Bouguer anomaly (which was expected), have a maximum value of 93.18 mgals, minimum of 19.83 mgals, average of 53. 25 mgals, and standard deviation of 19. 88 mgals. Also, there is no doubt that the locations and quality of the available terrestrial gravity data have an effect on the nature of resulting Bouguer and Faye anomalies. Statistics of the undulation derived by using Faye anomalies and the Stokes integral are shown at the table below. Again all values are in meters. Maximum Minimum Mean Standard deviation NSTOKES 32.2643964957000e-003 6.89273780589000e-003 18.4408725351042e-003 6.88352347502525e-003

Table 3. Statistics of the NSTOKES. As can be seen from above, values of the derived undulation by using Stokes formula and Faye anomalies are only in centimeters in magnitude. Maximum value is only about 0.032 m, minimum is 0.006 m, mean is only 0.018 m, and standard deviation is 0.006 m. Like Faye anomalies, the derived undulations by using Stokes integral and Faye anomalies have peaks and troughs which roughly correspond positively to the topography of the study area.

The SRTM-derived DEM around Metro Manila was used for the computation of the indirect effect on the geoid of Metro Manila due to the reduction of gravity and terrain corrections (TC). The SRTM DEM derived was validated against leveling heights available within the study area and the comparison gave a coefficient of correlation of 0.99278. Terrain corrections are needed so that simple Bouguer anomalies may be transformed to refined Bouguer anomalies and also so that the behavior of the actual topography is roughly accounted for during gravity reduction. As expected, the solved terrain corrections correspond positively with the topography of the study area. Peaks in TC were located at places where there are relatively rough topography. The indirect effects solved for Metro Manila are only about millimeters in magnitude. Maximum value is approximately -0.0034 m and the minimum value is only about -6.73e-12 m. The final geoid model of Metro Manila was computed by adding the GGM-derived geoid, geoidal undulations derived by using Faye anomalies and Stokes integral, and the indirect effect. Due to the relative magnitudes of each of the components, it is obvious that the GGM-derived geoidal undulations would dominate the values of the final geoidal undulations. As expected, statistics of the final geoidal undulation is similar to that of the GGM-derived geoidal undulation: maximum values is about 45.70 m, minimum is 44.34 m, mean is 45.07 m, and standard deviation is only 0.31 m. In order to fit the derived equipotential surface to existing GPS/leveling net within the study area, a four parameter Helmert transformation was done (Kiamehr, 2006). As expected the fitted geoid gives the best residuals with respect to Metro Manila GPS/leveling stations. The statistics are shown at the Table 2. All values are in meters. Maximum Minimum Average Standard deviation R2 Ngeom - NGGM Ngeom Nfinal Fitted residuals 1.14176 1.11251 1.132101 -0.50327 -0.51347 -0.20805 0.482357 0.46518 0.498161 0.469495 0.464263 0.44093 0.817203 0.822886 0.973813

Table 4. Statistic of the residuals of the various undulations. As can be seen above, the GGM-derived geoidal undulations (NGGM) gave the worst fit, followed by the unadjusted final geoidal undulations (Nfinal). As anticipated, the fitted geoid gave the residuals with maximum of only 1.13 m, minimum of around 0.2 m, standard deviation of 0.44 m and correlation coefficient of 0.97381. Due to the limitations of the available data, not much difference is seen in the results. However, it is expected that when more terrestrial gravity data become available, greater differences in values amongst NGGM, Nfinal, and the fitted geoid would be seen and thus a more accurate and precise geoid model for Metro Manila would be achieved. Nevertheless, the importance of utilizing satellite-derived data in gravimetric geoid determination, especially for the case of Metro Manila where data unavailability and scarcity is prevalent, was demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS As shown above, satellite-derived data are invaluable sources of information needed to determine a local/regional gravimetric geoid model. Dedicated satellite gravity missions serve as sources of an up-to-date and accurate global geopotential models. The topography of the study area was also accounted for by using the digital elevation model extracted from the SRTM

database. It cannot be overemphasized that these remotely-sensed or satellite-derived GGM and topographic information are needed for the solution of the geodetic boundary value problem/Stokes integral (Kiamehr, 2006; Vergos 2005). Based on the results presented above, it is recommended that more accurate and precise terrestrial gravity measurements suitable for geoid determination be made. Other sources of information may also be used in future geoid researches like bathymetry and altimetry data. More detailed topography information may also be investigated (i.e. improvement of the estimate of the crustal density, creation of a higher resolution DEM, etc.) In addition, other methods of gravimetric geoid determination solution should also be tested so that an optimal geoid model for Metro Manila may be achieved. The products of this research, namely geoidal undulation maps, terrain correction values, and various gravity anomaly maps, are anticipated to be of help to geodetic engineering and geophysical researches and applications for the area of Metro Manila in the near future. Also, it is expected that other nationwide geodetic and gravimetric measurements would be soon available so that an accurate and precise national geoid model which can be used for various engineering and scientific applications here in the Philippines will soon be made. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The primary author would like to thank the Engineering Research and Development for Technology for funding this research and to the AGST Research Group for their invaluable inputs in this endeavor. REFERENCES: Featherstone, W. E., J. F. Kirby, A. H. W. Kearsley, J. R. Gilliland, G. M. Johnston, J. Steed, R. Forsberg, and M. G. Sideris, 2001. The AUSGeoid98 Geoid Model of Australia: Data Treatment, Computations, and Comparisons with GPS-Leveling Data. Journal of Geodesy, 75, pp. 313-330. Heiskanen, W. A. and H. Moritz, 1967. Physical Geodesy. San Francisco, Freeman, pp. 178-188. Kamguia, J., C. T. Tabod, J. M. Tadjou, E. Manguelle-Dicoum, R. Nounayou, and L. H. Kande, 2007. Accurate Gravity Anomaly Interpolation: A Case-study in Cameroon, Central Africa. Earth Sci. Res. Journal, 11 (2), pp. 108-116. Kiamehr, Ramin, 2006. Precise Gravimetric Geoid Model for Iran based on GRACE and SRTM Data and the Least-Squares Modification of Stokes Formula with some Geodynamic Interpretations. Diss. Royal Institute of Technology. Perez, R.T., R.B. Feir, E. Carandang, and E.B. Gonzalez, 1996. Potential Imapacts of Sea Level Rise on the Coastal Resources of Manila Bay: A Preliminary Vulnerability Assestment. Water, Air, and Pollution, 92, pp. 137-147 Torge, Wolfgang, 1980. Geodesy: An Introduction. New York, de Gruyter, pp 134-144. Vanek, Petr and Edward J. Krakiwsky, 1986. Geodesy: The Concepts. 2nd Ed. Netherlands, Elsevier, pp. 19-23.

Vergos, G.S., Grigoriadis, V.N., Kalampoukas, G., Tziavos, I.N., 2005. Accuracy assessment of the SRTM 90m DTM over Greece and its implications to geoid modeling. Presented at the 2005 Joint Scientific Assembly of IAG, IAPSO and IABO, Dynamic Planet 2005 - Monitoring and Understanding a Dynamic Planet with Geodetic and Oceanographic Tools, August 22-26, Cairns, Australia. Vergos, G.S. and Tziavos, I.N., 2008. Monitoring System Earth with the Recent and Forthcoming Gravity-Field Dedicated Satellite Missions. Presented at the Studying, Modeling and Sense Making of Planet Earth 2008 International Conference, June 1-6, Mytilene, Greece.