JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 102, NO.

B5, PAGES 10,039-10,054, MAY 10, 1997

Marine gravity anomalyfrom Geosatand ERS 1 satellitealtimetry

David T. Sandwell
Institute Geophysics Planetary of and Physics, Scripps Institution Oceanography, of University California, Jolla of La

Walter H. F. Smith
Geosciences Laboratory, NOAA, SilverSpring,Maryland

Abstract.Closelyspaced satellite altimeter profiles collected during Geosat the Geodetic Mission(-6 km) andthe ERS 1 Geodetic Phase km) areeasilyconverted gridsof verticalgravitygradient (8 to and gravity anomaly.The long-wavelength radialorbiterroris suppressed belowthenoise levelof the altimeter takingthe along-track by derivative eachprofile. Ascending descending of and slopeprofiles aretheninterpolated ontoseparate uniformgrids. These four gridsarecombined formcomparable to grids eastandnorthvertical of deflection using iteration an scheme interpolates gaps that data with minimumcurvature.The verticalgravitygradient calculated is directlyfrom the derivatives the of verticaldeflection grids,while Fourieranalysis required construct is to gravityanomalies from thetwo verticaldeflection grids. Thesetechniques applied a combination high-density from the are to of data dense mapping phases Geosat ERS 1 alongwith lower-density higher-accuracy of and but profiles from theirrepeat orbitphases. comparison shipboard A with gravitydatashows accuracy the satellitethe of derived gravityanomaly about mGalfor random is 4-7 shiptracks.The accuracy improves 3 mGal to whentheshiptrackfollowsa Geosat ExactRepeat Missiontrackline. These dataprovide firstview the of the ocean floor structures manyremoteareas theEarth. Someapplications in of includeinertial navigation, prediction seafloor of depth, planning shipboard surveys, platetectonics, isostasy of volcanoes spreading and ridges,andpetroleum exploration.
Introduction

previous work [Heiskanen and Moritz, 1967; Briggs, 1974; Haxby et al., 1983; Sandwell, 1984; Freedmanand Parsons,

duringthe Seasat altimeter mission gavemarinegeodesists and geophysicists a hopeof uncovering details thegravity the in field

1986; Haxby and Weissel,1986; Roest,1987; Smithand Wessel, 1990; Rumreeland Haagmans,1990;Haxby and Hayes, 1991; Sandwell,1992;Laxonand McAdoo,1994;Hwang and Parsons, over all the oceanbasins[Haxby et al., 1983]. However,because 1996]. We thenassess qualityof the griddeddataandsuggest the of insufficienttrack density,it has taken 16 years for the full possible waysto improvethe resolution the gravityfield along of potentialof the satellitealtimetermethodto be realized. The stacked profiles. Finally, we providea tour of the gravityfield of high-density coverage obtained ERS 1 duringits geodetic the oceans pointout a few of thenew andinteresting by and features. mapping phase(April 1994 to March 1995) prompted U.S. We do not attemptto review othermethods recoveryof shortthe for Navy to declassify of the Geosataltimeterdataon June22, wavelength gravity information from satellite altimetry [e.g., all 1995. We are grateful to the European Space Agency for Wakker et al., 1993; Cazenave et al., 1995; Andersen et al., 1995;

Radar altimeter measurements the marine geoid collected of

extending ERS 1 mapping the phase thatan equatorial so ground Hwang and Parsons, 1995] but instead focus on our recipe, trackspacing 8 km couldbe completed.The combination of of discuss how it wasdeveloped, andexplainwhy certainprocesses these two high-density datasetsprovided first detailedview are used. Over the next months and years our recipe may the of all the ocean basinsat a 10-km resolution. Consideringthe undergo revisions, perhaps and others will devisebetterrecipes. sparse shipboard coverage manyoceanareas[Smith,1993], of This research two main components. has The first component, thesenew altimeterdata are arguablythe most importantmarine presented this manuscript, a traditionaljournal article with in is geology geophysics setcollected and data overthepast decade. appendices.Appendix A coversthe relationship betweengeoid The focusof this paperis on the efficientrecoveryof marine height,verticaldeflection,gravity gradient,and gravity anomaly. gravity anomalies other and derivatives thepotential of using data Appendix B coversthe statisticalmethodto estimatenorth and from satellitealtimetershaving different orbital inclinationsand eastverticaldeflections from along-track slopes.AppendixC has differentnoisecharacteristics; attemptis madeto recoversea the derivationof analytic formulae to calculatethe approximate no surface topography(i.e., geoid height plus ocean dynamic satellitepositionand velocity as a functionof time sinceequator topography).After an introduction radar altimetryand its crossingand latitude. The secondpart of our research more to is
inherentlimitations, we discussdata availability and our recipe for constructing gridded gravity anomalies from altimeter

profiles.The method (recipe) presented is based here largelyon

Copyfight1997by theAmerican Geophysical Union.
Papernumber96JB03223.
0148-0227/97/96JB-03223 $09.00

suitable electronic for mediaandwill be submitted publication for to Earth Interactions. It containsmany color images of the marine gravity field (http://topex.ucsd.edu); the images are layered so the reader can zoom in on features of interest. In addition, the companion electronic article contains all of the computer codeusedto construct resultsshownin both papers the as well as links to files of gridded gravity anomaly, vertical gravity gradient, and high-quality postscriptplots of gravity

10,039

10,040

SANDWELL AND SMITH: MARINE GRAVITY

wavelength gravitysignals (equation (A9)). Consider anomaly an on the ocean floor with a 16-km wavelength and a 15-mGal amplitude(i.e., a typical value for oceans).On the oceansurface this anomaly will be reduced to 3.1 mGal by upward
continuation. The second limitation is due to the short-

Geosat

ORBIT

wavelengthnoise from oceansurfacewaves (typically > 1 m). The radarpulsereflectsfrom an areaof oceansurface (footprint) that grows with increasing sea state [Stewart, 1985]. The superposition thereflections of fromthisareastabilizes shape the of the echo,but it alsosmooths echoso that the timing of its the leadingedgeis moreuncertain.By averaging manyechoes (1000 Hz) over multiple repeatcycles,one can achievea 10 to 20-mm rangeprecision [Noreus 1995; Yaleet al., 1995]. Over a distance of 4 km (i.e., 1/4 wavelength)this corresponds a sea surface to slope error of 4 grad and a gravity error of about 4 mGal (AppendixA). The combination thesetwo limitations of makesit difficult to improvethe resolution.Considertrying to improve the resolution a factorof 2, upwardcontinuation by will attenuate

thesignal an additional by factor e2 = 7.4, soassuming of a

Gaussian error distribution, the number of measurementsmust be

increased a factor e4 = 55. At longer by of wavelengths orin

shallower water the situation is not as bad, but nevertheless the

Figure 1. A pulse-limited radaraltimeterorbitsat an altitudeof

about 800 km and measures the distance to the closest ocean

surface recording traveltime of a pulse. A globaltracking by the networkalongwith precise orbitcalculations based theJGM-3 on gravity model[Neremet al., 1994] is usedto establish height the of the satelliteabovethe reference ellipsoid(dashed curve). We assume sea surfaceheightabovethe ellipsoidis equal to the the geoid height so permanentsea surfaceslopesassociated with currents will appear falseanomalies our gravitysolution. as in

roughness the oceansurfacelimits the accuracy the shortof of wavelength slopeestimate. We showthat oceantides,which can also have a short-wavelengthcomponentespecially on the continental shelves,are a third limiting factor in the recoveryof the gravity field. It is surprising that otherfactorssuchas basinscaledynamicoceantopography not important;in this case are the slopeof this erroris usuallylow (e.g., 1 m over say 3000 km which translates into 0.33 mGal). Sharperoceanographic steps associated with westernboundarycurrentscan be a significant
error source[Gille, 1994].

anomaly at the General BathymetricChart of the Oceansmap scale. The companionelectronicpaper also containslinks to scripts illustrating useof the gravityanomalygridswith GMT the software[Wesseland Smith, 1995].

Satellite Altimetry

The repeatperiodof the satelliteorbit governsthe spacing of the altimetertrackson the oceansurface(Figure 2). Very long repeatcyclessuchas 168-dayERS 1 geodeticphaseor the nonrepeat (drifting) orbit of the Geosat/Geodetic Mission (Geosat/GM) provide the high-density coverage needed for complete resolutionof the gravity field. The shorter repeat periodsof 10 daysfor TOPEX, 17 daysfor Geosat,and 35 days for ERS 1 do not provide densetrack coverage. However, the repeated profilescan be averaged improvethe signal-to-noise to ratio as well as to assess noise propertiesof the altimeter the
measurements. Here we do not use the TOPEX or POSEIDON

A satellitealtimeterusesa pulse-limitedradar to measure the altimetermeasurements because wide track spacing the provides little new information. altitude of the satelliteabove the closestsea surfacepoint to a very high precision (Figure 1). Global precise trackingcoupled with orbit dynamic calculations provide an independent Along-Track Preprocessing measurement the height of the satellite above the ellipsoid. of The differencebetweenthesetwo measurements equal to the is The startingpoint for the Geosatdata are geophysical data instantaneous sea surface height minus any delays in the records (GDR) from National OceanographicData Center propagation of the radar echo due to the ionosphere and [Cheney et al., 1991] where the orbital information for the troposphere.There are many errorsin thesemeasurements that GeodeticMissiondatawasupgraded the JointGravity Model 3 to are discussed and evaluatedin a number of excellent papers (JGM-3) orbits[Neremet al., 1994]. The ERS 1 oceanproduct [Neremet al., 1994; Tapleyet al., 1994;Ma et al., 1994; Visseret (OPR) data [Dumontet al., 1995] were usedwith their original al., 1993]. Most of these errors occur over length scales of orbits as were the GeosatExact RepeatMission (Geosat/ERM) greaterthan a few hundredkilometers. They are importantfor data. The along-trackprocessing the raw geophysical of data precise oceanographic studies studies or wherethe geoidheightis recordsconsists a numberof steps: edit, apply corrections, of needed. However,because are only interested the gradient divide into passes, low-pass filter, resample at 5 Hz, and we in of the seasurface,the short-wavelength altimeternoisedominates differentiate.The editingcriteriawere established examining by the error budget. raw altimeterdatafrom a varietyof satellites undera variety and There are at least two factors that impose limits on the of conditions. Care is taken to remove outliers in areas of ice or accuracyand resolutionof gravity field recoveryfrom satellite land prior to any filtering. In the openoceanwe try to retain all altimetry. First the oceandepth (-4 km) attenuates short- pointsexceptwhen the shapeof the returnpulsesuggests the the that

SANDWELL

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10,041

250N

(a)

20'N

15'N

1650W

160'W

155'W

150'W

Figure 2. (a) Tracks of stackedGeosat/ERM (17-day repeat cycle) (22.5o-25 N), Geosat/GM (20o-22.5 N), ERS 1 ' Geodetic Phase (168-dayrepeat cycle)(17.5-20 N), andstacked ERS 1 (35-dayrepeat cycle)(15-17.5N). Thesetracks showdata remainingafter editing and filtering. (b) Vertical gravity gradient(i.e., curvatureof oceansurface)around Hawaii derived from all four data sets. Contoursat 50 and 100 Eotvosunits are shownto highlight seamount/island signatures.

significantwave height (SWH) is high; thesedata are usually noisy [Yale et al., 1995]. Unfortunately, much of our
documentation on the choice of edit thresholds is located in a

varietyof old notebooks tapesandthuscannot completely and be justified.

in relation to the best fit straightline throughthe 10 pointsas described Cheneyet al. [1991]. If the rms aboutthe line is by greaterthan0.15 m for Geosat (0.25 m for ERS 1) or the SWH exceeds8 m for Geosat (6 m for ERS 1), then all 10 points are edited. In addition,a new 2-min griddedland/watermask was developedusing the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software package [Wessel Smith,1995] to eliminate and framesnearland where stray echos can contaminate the ocean data, especially when low-pass filters are applied. Finally, each 10-Hz point was

comparedwith the bestfit line. If its deviationfrom the line was more than 5 times the rms about the line, then the point was eliminated, new bestfit line was computed, the pointswere a and testedagainuntil they all passed until only six pointsremained. or

Our primaryfocusis on the recovery the short-wavelength of Our editing approach examines individual the 10-Hz samples gravity field information,and thusnot all corrections relevant are
or evenuseful. For example,corrections basedon globalmodels (i.e., wet troposphere, troposphere, dry ionosphere, and inverted barometer) typicallydo not have wavelength components shorter than 1000 km, and if their amplitudevariations lessthan 1 m are they do not contributemore than 1 grad to the noise. Some correctionssuch as the electromagnetic bias can actually add noise[Gille, 1994]. We have found that the most important correction to the sea surface slope is the ocean tide and have

determined theCenter Space that for Research (CSR) composite

10,042

SANDWELL AND SMITH: MARINE GRAVITY

Figure 3. Absolutevalue of tide model slope[Eanesand Bettadpur,1995]. Contoursare at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 grad. One grad of tidal slopeerror will map into -1 mGal of gravity anomalyerror. Tide modelsare mostimportanton some shallow continentalmargins.

oceantide modelV3.0 [Bettadpurand Eanes,1994; Eanesand Bettadpur,1995] is superior the tidessupplied to with eitherthe GeosatGDRs or the ERS 10PR. Figure 3 showsthe rms of the slopeof theCSR V3.0 tide correction a 35-dayrepeatcycleof for ERS 1. Tidal slopecorrections usuallysmall over the deep are ocean but can be up to 6 grad over some of the shallow continental margins.Previous versions the globalgravitygrid of did not incorporate tide modelcorrection this and sufferedfrom track line noiseon the shallowareassurrounding Great Britain as
well as on the Falkland Plateau;the CSR V3.0 tide model vastly

After editing and application of corrections, the data are brokeninto passes whenevera time gap exceeds s (-14 km) or 2 there is a changein pass orientation (e.g., from ascendingto descending). The passes are low-pass filtered to suppress altimeternoisehaving wavelengthsshorterthan 5 km for Geosat and 10 km for ERS 1 as shownin Figure 4 (solid curves)and the filtered heights are subsampledat 5 Hz. Note that the 1-Hz boxcarfilter (dashed-dot curves)followedby a 1-Hz decimation (i.e., the normal 1-Hz data suppliedon both the GDR and OPR)
will cause the sinc function sidelobes to fold from wavenumbers

improves gravityfield recovery these otherareas. the in and

I
i i

,' gl
i

',
i i

-30

-20

- 10

10

20

30

Lag (km)

greater that 0.075 (13.4 km wavelength) to much longer wavelengthsso that there is more than 20% aliasing at 20 km wavelength; thus a boxcar filter should not be used and the sampling rate shouldbe greaterthan2 Hz andpreferably Hz to 5 retainall signals with wavelengths greater than20 km. The final andperhaps mostimportant stepin the preprocessing is to differentiatecontinuous profilesalongtrack with respectto time. As shownin previousstudies [e.g., Sandwelland Zhang, 1989], this suppresses long-wavelengtherrors and reference frame shiftsso data adjustments unnecessary. simplicity, are For and to retain the ability to integratethe profiles,a first difference is used for the slope estimates. For example,the difference in heightbetweenpoints1 and 2 is dividedby their time difference and the slopeis storedin location 1. This introduces 1/2 phase a shift (670 m) that is removed later with a secondalong-track
filter.

............... ....... .......... ..... ..............

A study of the along-track resolutioncapabilitiesof stacked Geosat, ERS 1, andTOPEX altimeters wasrecentlypublished by Yale et al. [1995] using the coherencemethod developed by Figure 4. Prestackfilters usedon ERS 1 and Geosataltimeter Brammer[ 1979] andMarks and Sailor [1986]. Exampleprofiles data (solid). The poststack filter (dashed) appliedto all stacked are shownin Figure 5 and an overview of the resultsis given in is and nonstacked profilesprior to griddingandhasa 0.5 gain at a Table 1. All available data were loaded into three-dimensional wavelength 18 km. The 1-Hz boxcarfilter (dashed-dot) not of is suitable for resolving wavelengths shorter than about 30 km files where repeat profiles were aligned along track. Outliers were detected by a comparison with the median of available because of the large-amplitude sidelobes and slow roll-off. Filters were designed using the Remez routine in MatlabTM cycles, and then the stack was computedas the average of the software. The routine is based on the Parks-McClellan finite survivors. To determinethe resolutionimprovementgained by stacking,the first half of available repeatprofiles was averaged impulseresponse filter design.
0 0.05 O. 1 O. 15 0.2 0.25

/ 0/

:", i

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.4 ......

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...... i i _

.i

Stacking
, "

Wavenumber(1/kin)

SANDWELL AND SMITH' MARINE GRAVITY

1600 1400

10,043

1200 .1000
800
600
400
200

stac (8ccl s)
i i i

.....
i i ! i

0 8

-8

-8

-8

Latitude(degrees)

Latitude (degrees)

Latitude (degrees)

Figure Individual stacked 5. and vertical deflection profiles a track for crossing Mid-Atlantic (left) the Ridge: Geosat, (middle) 1,(right) ERS TOPEX. eight the Only of available are cycles shown each for satellite Yale al.,1995]. [from et
Interpolation, independently the second prior to the coherence Gridding: Accumulation, from half analysis. Two areaswere initially selected coherence and Gravity Conversion for analysis: equatorial the Atlantic (Area inTable aregion 1 1), with for of gravity anomalies from high tectonic signal lowoceanographic and South Ourrecipe construction gridded and noise; the profiles works bestwhen trackspacing lessthan the is Pacific (Area2 in Table1), a region withlow tectonic signal and altimeter resolution thealtimeter of data.Themethod was high oceanographic variability. In all cases, along-track thealong-track large radial orbit error, longresolution betterin the equatorial is Atlanticthanin the South designedto accommodate

tide in associated Pacific;Geosatand TOPEX dataresolveshorter wavelengths wavelength modelerror,andshifts reference than ERS 1. Global maps of along-track resolutionshow with different tracking networks. In addition, it can data resolution, and pass considerable geographic variation.On average globally, the accomrnodate with differing accuracy, orientation (Appendix andFigure Finally,thealgorithm B 6). is along-track resolution coherence) Geosat TOPEX (0.5 of and so word canbegridded a workstation on in stacks approximately same km),whiletheresolution fastenough theentire are the (24 time (-2 days)(206 million observations 68 and of ERS 1 stacks slightlyworse(30 km). However,when a reasonable are milliongridcells).We start withalong-track estimates slope that equal numbers repeat of cycles stacked, three are all altimeters and as above.Thegoalis to have aboutthe sameresolutionlimit of 28-30 km. The resolution werepreprocessed stacked described north east and vertical deflection grids areconsistent that estimates show that the shortest wavelength recoverable the produce in observationswithintheirassigned to noise level gravity fieldfromsatellite altimetry about km. Later, is 20 we withtheoriginal
cells apply along-track toallofthe an filter profile witha 0.5gain and whereunconstrained reflect nearbyvalues. The basic data are at a wavelength 18km (Figure dashed of 4, curves). Thenafter steps (Figure7) thefollowing.

the northand eastverticaldeflection gridsare created, they are

at 19 km.

1. Edit nonstacked by comparing heightvalue(i.e., data the

slope) with a Gaussian-filtered prediction fromthe low-pass filtered two-dimensions afilter in with having0.5gain integrated a

surrounding points (0.5 gainat 36 km). If the suspect height

Table 1. Summaryof Along-TrackResolution Estimates

Area 1

Area 2

Global Average
Stack 31
27
_

Cycle
Geosat

Stack 8
26 26
24

Stack 31
20 19

Cycle
52 50
43

Stack 8
38
33

Cycle
38 43
37

Stack 8
29 30 28

Stack 31
24
_

33 38
34

ERS 1 TOPEX

31

23

22

Units in kilometers

10,044
i I

SANDIVELL
i

AND SMITH:
i I

MARINE
i

GRAVITY
i

3.5

_
2.5

east slope

1.5

0.5

0 I

-80

-60

-40

-20

20

40

60

80

Latitude(deg)

0
ERS 1

71

ERS 1

Geosat
73
.,* ERS 1

'*i:p Geosat
81

X
during iteration the (Figure and filtering 7) the following iteration the (Figure 8).

,ERS 1

Figure Propagation 6. of along-track vertical deflection from errors dense Geosat ERS1 profiles north east and into and componentsvertical of deflection. theequator, At satellite tracks mainly sotheE-W component vertical run N-S of deflection ismore poorly determined the component. covariance than N-S This information inboth blending isused the

estimate differed morethan0.3 m fromtheprediction that by then pointwasedited theslope and profilewasrecomputed. 2. Filter all of the along-track datawith the samefilter (0.5 gain at 18 km wavelength, Figure 4, dashed curves)to ensurea commonbandwidth. The cutoff wavelengthis basedon the
coherenceanalysisof Yale et al. [1995] which showsthat the shortest possible wavelength resolvable about20 km. These is two editing/filteringstepswere not executedin the version6.2

3. Remove fromtheprofiles reference a geoid model based on JGM-3 [Neremet al., 1994]to degree wherecoefficients 70 are
cosinetaperedbetweendegrees50 and 70. This samefield is
restored later on; the reference field is removed so the vertical

deflection gravityanomaly to conversion be accurately can

performed with a flat-Earth approximation.

4. Bin dataon an equidimensional Mercator grid withcell

dimensions 2 min in longitude cos(O) 2 min in latitude. of and x Theworldis divided 54 overlapping into areas are1440cells that

gravityfield whichresulted a verynoisygravitymodel. in

SANDWELL AND SMITH'

MARINE GRAVITY

10,045

I IAscending I IDescending I IDescending I I Ascending

Geosat I (hit) I IGesat I I(hit) I I ERS'I I (hit) I I
ERS1 I

wherez0,0is the interpolated valuebased the surrounding on

values Steps through are zi,j. (6) (8) repeated (Figure untilthe 7)
valuesof unconstrained grid cells converge and the interpolated grids vary smoothlyto zero in continentalareas. Exit from the iterationafter step(6). 9. The final stepis to apply an isotropic, low-pass,convolution

(hit)

filter IAscending I I Ascending I I IDescending I IDescending [kei(x/2r/a)]to theanorthandeastgridsof vertical deflection. The filter width is proportional the fourthroot of to

Reset

ERS I 1

the relative error shownin Figure 6 in an attemptto equalizethe noise level between the north and east slope grids. The exponential upwardcontinuation modelpredictsthat halving the

error increases resolution x/2.Anadditional resolution the by x/2

is gainedby averagingtwice the amountof data. This is an armwaving argument usingthe fourthroot of the relativeerror as for the filter radius. In practice,the fourth-rootmodel was found to work best. The wavelength whichthe isotropic at filter attenuates the signal by 0.5 is shown in Figure 8. For example, at the equator the ERS 1 and Geosat tracks provide relatively poor controlon the east component the 0.5-gain wavelengthis 26 so km while the 0.5 gain for the northcomponent 20 km. is After generatinggrids of north and east vertical deflection, various other derivatives of the gravitational potential can be computed. In all cases one should restore the appropriate derivativesof the sphericalharmonicreferencemodel that was removedin step3. For example,the vertical gravity gradientis
the sum of the x derivative of the east vertical deflection

Figure 7. Flow diagramfor constructing northandeastgridsof vertical deflectionfrom ascending and descending along-track slope profiles. Iteration providesa communication amongthe
diverse data sets[Menke, 1991].

wide (48)and 1296 cellstall, sothereis about400 km of overlap on the perimeters. The areasarelargeenough thatthe longest so wavelength signal remaining the residual in profiles(-800 km) is
less than the area dimension (> 2000 km). Data with common

component and the y derivative of the north component(equation (A6)) (Figure 2). The gravity anomaly is computed using (A10). The accuracyof this flat-Earth approximationis relatedto the cutoff wavelengthof the spherical harmonicmodel removed (800 km for complete removal at degree 50). This requiresFourier transformation each vertical deflectiongrid, of
combination in the wavenumber domain, and inverse Fourier

transformation the sum. If the grid pixelsare equidimensional, of thenthe transformation from verticaldeflection gravitylargely to passorientation binnedinto thesegrid cells;unconstrained avoids latitude-dependent are length-scaleproblems [Haxby and cells are left with an empty flag. Binning is done using the Hayes, 1991]. For example,the operator the Fouriertransform on medianvalue within the bin, and stacked profiles are counted5 of the eastcomponent verticaldeflection kx/Ikl,sothe length of is timessothey will dominate median. the scale largely cancels. Maximum error introduced by this 5. Fill emptycellswith reasonable values thefirstiteration approximation correspond the change lengthscalethat for will to in using a weighted averageof surrounding data based on an

(a + r)-3weight function where sets width thekernel a the of and

r is distance.

6. Blendpass-oriented gridsusingequation (B8) to form grids of north and eastvertical deflection. Note that eachdata type is

28

assigned different weight according expectednoiselevel a to

(ERS 1 noise= 1.41 x Geosatnoise). Also note that the blending operation accounts the pass for orientation illustrated Figure as in
6.
v

26

east slope

24
._c

22

7. Decompose northand eastgridsinto the originalpassthe oriented gridsusingequations 1) and(B2). (B 8. Resetbins constrained along-trackslopeobservations by to theiroriginalvalues unless theydeviate from prediction more by thana threshold grad,Geosat;21 grad, ERS 1) in whichcase, (15 edit the bin. Use biharmonic operator[Briggs, 1974;Smithand Wessel, 1990]to interpolate emptycellsandgo to step6:

;2o
18
16

14
12

2 ) ZO,O (z],0 z0,] z-i,0 z0,-] = - + + +

10 20

10

1 (Zl,1 Zl,-1 Z-l,1 Z-l,-1 -t- -t- -t- )

1 (z0,2z2,0z-2,0z-0,-2 + + + )

(1)

Latitude(deg)

Figure 8. Cutoff wavelength (0.5 gain) of isotropic filter used kei to equalizethe noiselevel in the north andeastverticaldeflection grids.

10,046

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occursover a latitude range corresponding about 400 km of to distance. At the equatorthis changeis less than 0.2%, while at 70N this changeis 6%. We expectthat the actualerrorsare smallerthan this because mostof the contribution the gravity to anomaly will be nearby. The error due to this "flat Earth" approximation reducedas the spherical is harmonic degreeof the referencemodel is increased long as there are no errorsin the as referencemodel [Haxby and Hayes, 1991]. Also note that to safelyavoid edgeeffectsthe dimensions the verticaldeflection of grids must be severaltimes larger than the longestwavelength remaining in the residual data. The final step in the gravity computation to restorethe gravity anomalycorresponding is to the spherical harmonic modelremoved step3. in

rmsdifferences 3-6 mGaldepending proximity a stacked of on to altimeter profile. The first two examples from shipprofiles are that follow the track line of two Geosat/ERM profilesin the SouthAtlantic [Jungand Vogt, 1992]. Along the Conrad2802 profile,the shiptrackdeviates from the Geosattrackline at-20.5
latitude to avoid a small island. The mean difference between the

Geosat-derived gravityandthe shipboard gravityis -0.57 mGal,

and the rms difference is 2.76 mGal when the island/seamount

data are omitted(Figure 9a). The differenceat the crestof the seamount about 50 mGal, which is probablydue to lack of is short-wavelength components the satellite-derived in gravity field. The second example(easternSouthAtlantic) crosses the

Accuracy and Resolution

The accuracy andresolution gravitygridsconstructed of using a similar approach were recently established through a comparison with accurate shipboard gravity measurements [Neumannet al., 1993]. For a small region along the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge where there is a denseshipboard surveyand large gravity anomalies (140 mGal total variation), the rms difference is 7-8 mGal when only Geosat/GM data are used. Marks [1996] has recently compared seven well-navigated shipboard profileswith thislatestversionof our grid aswell as a Geosat-only grid [Marks et al., 1993] to assess resolution the of the satellite-derived gravity and improvementgainedby adding ERS 1 altimeterdata. She found agreement (0.5 coherence) to wavelengths 23-30 km for this Geosat/ERS1 grid and 26-30 of km for the Geosat-only grid; rms differences rangedfrom 3 to 9 mGal. This resolution analysis compareswell with estimates derivedfrom repeattrack analysis[Yale et al., 1995] and further justifiesthe use of along-track and two-dimensional filters to cut (0.5 gain) wavelengths shorter than20 km. We alsocompareshipboard gravity profileswith the satellitederivedgravity grid and find that individualship profilesshow

Walvisridgeandhasa similar rmsmisfit(3.03mGal)buta large mean difference(16.82 mGal) (Figure 9b). This large mean difference probably reflects an error in the ship gravity measurement the tie point, or perhaps tie pointcorrection at no wasmade.It should notedthata 3-mGalerrorcorresponds be to
a relativeheightaccuracy only 15 mm over a distance 5 km of of

(i.e., 1/4 of theresolution wavelength). Considering typical that

surface wave heights a meteror moretall, thisis a remarkable are achievement.When repeatingprofiles are stacked,the vertical deflectionerror decreases the squareroot of the numberof as profilesusedin the stack[ Yale et al., 1995].

To establish accuracy the satellite-derived in areas the of grid

away from repeat altimeterprofiles, we selecteddata from two well-navigated Conrad cruises on the western flank of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Figure 10a). Note thisis the same ship, gravimeter,and navigationsystemthat was usedfor the South Atlanticcomparison (Figure9); thusdifferences reflect will proximity to a stackedGeosat/ERM profile. All three cruises stopin the Azoreswherewe assume tie pointcorrection the was established.Three segments were tested,c2912 outbound from Spainto the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Figure 10b, mean 13.01 mGal, rms 5.80 mGal), c2912 from Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Azores (Figure 9c, mean 13.92 mGal, rms 5.84 mGal), and c3001 from the Azoresto the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Figure9c, mean 12.43

150

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-1

'

-10

'

Latitude(deg)
Figure 9a. Comparison between shipboard a gravityprofileConrad 2802in thewestern South Atlantic(solid[see Jung and Vogt,1992])withgravity profilealong trackcorrespondinga 62-foldstack Geosat a to of altimeter profiles (dashed). Thedifference notcomputed -21.5S was at latitude where shiptrack the deviates fromthesatellite track avoid island. to an

SANDWELL AND SMITH: MARINE GRAVITY

100 ' '
i

10,047

\1

\X,..I \ "'1 \// I -16 -14

! i

-22

mean ='16.82 mGal

lO
o

rms3.03 = mGal

,. t.

.-. ..', ., .q,s..,: '" ,,. '

, ..

,',

,.'.

-lO

-32

-14
Latitude(deg)

-22

Figure 9b. Similar comparison Conrad2711 alongGeosat/ERMsuborbital for trackin the eastern SouthAtlantic.

mGal, rms 6.70 mGal). Note that for a short distancethe ship of 13 mGal betweenthe cruises c2912 and c3001 suggests that tracksare nearly coincident and thereis a goodmatchamongall thereis a 13-mGalerrorin a common point. The implication tie gravity six profiles(Figure 10c). From thesecomparisons conclude is that one could correctthe DC level of all shipboard we with the gravity grid [Wesseland the following: (1) Away from a stacked Geosat/ERM profilethe profilesthroughcomparison accuracyof the satellite-derived gravity field degrades 4-7 Watts, 1988; Smith and Sandwell, 1995]. Moreover, instrument to mGal. Given a typicalcombined Geosat/ERS track spacing 1 of drift and other more subtle errors such as navigation-induced about2.5 km and a 1/2 wavelength resolution 10 km thereis a error could be corrected. of redundancy aboutfour tracksovermostof the grid. This can of Based on these ground truth analyses,one could expect be compared a typical redundancy 40 along the stacked perhaps factorof 2 improvement the accuracy the satelliteto of a in of Geosat/ERM profile [Yale et al., 1995]. Thus a 3.2 times derivedgravityfield by collectingat least4 timesmoredata. The improvementin accuracy near the stackedprofile is to be Geosat/GMandERS 1/GM missions reflect2.5 yearsof data,so expected only a 2 timesimprovement observed; course a 10-year dedicatedmappingmissionwould be needed. In the but is of oceandepthand typical seastateare othermajor considerations. deepoceans upwardcontinuation the causes amplitudes the the of (2) The goodmatchbetweenthe satellite-derived gravityandthe anomalies decrease to exponentially with decreasing wavelength, in would only yield a 1.4 shipboardgravity over the sharp 350-mGal anomaly at a so a factorof 2 improvement accuracy longitude 344 (Figure 10b) demonstrates of thereare no major increase in resolution to about 18 km. Such a resolution increase significant,especiallyfor hydrocarbon problems with either the dynamicrangeof the altimeteror the would be geophysically wherethe currentsatellite-derived gravity fields are dataprocessing. The systematic (3) disagreement meanlevel exploration in

35N

30N

40W

35W

30W

25W

20W

15W

10W

5W

Figure 10a. Comparison betweensatellite-derived gravityandgravityalongrandomshiptracks. (a) Locationof Conrad 2912 Spainto Azoresto Mid-AtlanticRidgeandrepeating trackbackto Azores. Locationof Conrad3001 from Azoresto Mid-AtlanticRidgealongsame trackline.

10,048
4OO 300

SANDWELL

AND SMITH:

MARINE

GRAVITY

E200
100
0

320

325

330

335

340

345

35O

355

20

mean mGal rms mGal = =13.01 =5.84 1

II .

'

-i

-20 I I I

:!

i I

320

325

330

335

340

345

350

355

Longitude(deg)
Figure10b.Comparison along outbound track C2912,outbound. of

marginally useful.Perhaps newtechnology asa scanning determine position a function time. (Of course, a such your as of your laseraltimeter a multibeam or radaraltimeter couldprovidethis starting positionand velocitymustalso be known.) If the enhanced gravityfield in a shorter timeperiod. windowsof your vehicleare closed,a true acceleration cannot be

distinguished a variation thepull of gravity.Thusthe from in

Applications
Navigation

gravity data are needed for correction of inertial navi-

gation/guidance systems. The militaryapplications obvious are

and providedthe rationalefor the $80 million costof the Geosat

TheGeosat werecollected theU.S.Navyto fulfill their during the cold war when nuclearsubmarines data by were more active navigational mapping and requirements. Consider measuring than theyaretoday.On thecommercial Honeywell is side, Inc. accelerationsin a moving submarineor aircraft in order to using these toupdate inertial data their navigation systems aboard

mission well astheclassificationthese as of data, especially

200
150

50
0
I I I I I I
I I

318

320

322

324

326

328

330

332

334

20
0

meanmGal = 13.92I

rms mGal = 4.20

-20
i i

318

320

322

324 326 328 Longitude(deg)

330

332

334

Figure10c.Comparison where three tracks nearly ship are coincident c3001' (top, middle, c2912 outbound; bottom, c2912
inbound).

SANDWELL

AND SMITH:

MARINE

GRAVITY

10,049

aircraft. In particular, whenthiscorrection not applied, is they havefoundlargenavigational errorsalongPacificOceanflight pathswhichfollow the majorocean trenches Vanderwerf, (K. Honeywell Inc., Coon Rapids, Minnesota, personal
communication, 1995).

chainswhich are believedto be formed as the plate movesover a stationary mantleplume. The hot plumeheadmeltsthe mantle rocks which erupt on the surfaceas a hot spot. Becauseall of thesemajorfeatures evidentin the gravitymaps,the geologic are history of the oceanbasinscan now be established greater in
detail.

Prediction of Seafloor Depth

Undersea Volcanoes

We are usingthesedense satellite altimeter measurements in combinationwith sparsemeasurements seafloor depth to of constructa uniform resolutionmap of the seafloortopography [Smithand Sandwell,1994]. Thesemapsdo not have sufficient accuracy resolution beused assess and to to navigational hazards, but they are usefulfor suchdiverse applications locating as the obstructions/constrictions majorocean to the currents locating and

The global gravity grids reveal all volcanoes the seafloor on greaterthan about1000 m tall. Approximately 30-50% of these volcanoes were not charted previously. One of the more importantaspects thesenew data will be to locateall of these of volcanoes and identify spatialpatternsthat may help determine how they formed. Many volcanoesappear in chains, perhaps with mantleplumes,but there are many more that do shallowseamounts wherefish and lobstermay be abundant.An associated intermediate in the depthprediction step process determines the not fit this simple model. Moreover, numerous undersea are ratiosof 20 or more. correlation betweengravity and depthand a numberinversely volcanoes long linear ridgeswith aspect These featuressuggestthat the plates are not exactly rigid as proportional the seafloor to density contrast; theseparameters predicted the simpleplate tectonictheory. Using thesedata, by maybe usedasproxies sediment for thickness. On a broadscale topography the ocean the of floor reflects the we are exploring the internal deformations of the plates, outboard trenches of wherethe forcesgenerated the by cooling subsidence theplates theymoveawayfromthe especially and of as slab-pull forceof the subducted platesare greatest. spreading center.While thisprocess fairly well understood, is

there interruptionsthisnormal are in subsidence caused mantle by Petroleum Exploration plumes other and types solid-state of convection themantle in of
the Earth.

Planning Shipboard Surveys

The satellite-derivedgravity grids reveal all of the major structures the oceanfloor havingwidthsgreater of than 10-15 km. This resolution matches total swathwidth of the muchhigher the resolution(100 m) multibeammappingsystemon a ship so the

All of the majorpetroleumexploration companies satellite use altimetergravity data from Geosatand ERS 1 to locateoffshore sedimentary basins in remote areas. This information is combined with other reconnaissancesurvey information to determine where to collect or purchasemultichannel seismic surveydata. Currently,the regionsof most intenseexploration
interest are the continental shelves of Australia and the former

SovietUnion; recently,companies have expressed interestin the gravitymaps theperfect are reconnaissance for planning tool the CaspianSea. Developments offshoredrilling technology in now more detailed shipboard surveys. Scientists aboardresearch make it economical recoveroil from continental to slopeareasin vessels the gravitygridsalongwith othermeasurements wateroncethought use to prohibitivelydeep. optimize theirsurvey strategy; manycases is donein real in this While we are not directly involved in this activity, we fill data time. The costto operate research a vessel typically $20,000 is requests from many large exploration companies including

perday,sothese gravity datahave become essential an item.

Unocal, Amoco, Exxon, Arco, Mobil, Texaco, Shell, Conoco, and

Plate Tectonics

British Petroleum, as well as many smaller exploration companies. Lithospheric Structure There are numerous otherscientificapplications cannotbe that

These satellite altimeter data provide an important and definitiveconfirmation the theoryof plate tectonics. Indeed, of almost everythingapparentin the marine gravity field was

created the formation by and motionof the plates. Spreading described a shortreport. One of the traditionalusesof marine in ridgesare characterized an orthogonal by pattern ridgesand gravitymeasurements to estimatethe thickness the elastic of is of
transform faults. The scarproduced the activetransform in valley is carriedby seafloor spreading ontoolderseafloor, out leaving portion of the tectonicplates [Watts, 1979]. When a volcano formson the oceanfloor it impartsa large downward load on the plate causingit to deform. This deformationappearsin the gravity field as a donut-shapedgravity low surroundingthe gravityhigh associated with the volcanoitself. By measuring the amplitudeand width of the gravity low and relating this to the size of the volcanoas measured a shipwith an echosounder, by one can establish thickness the and strengthof the elasticplate. The new satellite-derived gravity data enable researchersto perform this type of analysiseverywherein the oceans. Thus scientistscan now probe the outermostpart of the Earth using
these and other methods.

evidence the pastplate motions. The Indian Oceantriple of junction (27S latitude, 70E longitude) a textbook is example of seafloor spreading. satellite-derived The gravity field shows the intersection the threespreading of ridgesas described plate by tectonic theory. The theory predictsthat the ridges would intersectat 120 anglesif the three ridgeswere spreading at exactly the same rate. In this case, one can measurethe
intersection anglesand infer the relativespreading ratesof each
ridge. Plates are created at spreading ridges and destroyed (subducted) the deepoceantrenches. All of the major ocean at trenchesare evidentin the gravity map as linear troughs. The

deepoceanbasins away from the trenches characterized are by fracturezone gravity signatures inheritedat the spreading ridge axis. This patternis sometimes overprinted linear volcanic by

A griddedfile of gravity anomalies (version7.2) is available by anonymous (baltica.ucsd.edu). large-format, ftp A laminated posteris availablefrom the Scripps Institutionof Oceanography Geological Data Center. Also visit our web site http://tpex'ucsd'edu/mar-grav'html'

10,050

SANDWELL AND SMITH: MARINE GRAVITY

AppendixA' GeoidHeight, Vertical Deflection, Gravity Gradient,and Gravity Anomaly

computationwhich does not involve sphericalharmonicsor Fourier transforms. Indeed, given two orthogonal satellite altimeter profiles,theverticalgravitygradient theirintersection at The geoidheight N(x) andothermeasurable quantities such as point is the sum of the curvaturesof each profile times the gravity anomalyzig(x) are relatedto the gravitational potential average acceleration gravity. The simplicityof this calculation of V(x,z) [Heiskanen Moritz, 1967]. We assume all of these is particularlydesirable computing gravity gradientnear and that for the quantitiesare deviations from a spherical harmonicreference coastlines where the altimeterprofilesterminate; the calculation Earth model so a flat-Earth approximationcan be used for the of the vertical gravity gradientfrom (A6) has no edge effect, gravitycomputation (A10). In the followingequations boldx while the Fourier computationof the gravity field can have a the denotes coordinate similarly denotes ky)wherex significantedgeeffect. the (x,y); k (kx, k = 1/&,where ,xis wavelength. To a first approximation, the In contrastto the simple formulationof the gravity gradient, geoid heightis relatedto the gravitational potentialby Brun's computation the gravity anomalyis much more difficult and of formula, error prone. Following Haxby et al. [1983], the differential equation(A5) is reducedto an algebraicequationby Fourier
transformation. The forward and inverse Fourier transforms are

N(x)_= 3-V(x,0)
go

(A)

defined as
7oo

where the goiS average acceleration ofgravity ms-2). (9.81 The

gravityanomaly theverticalderivative thepotential is of

F(k) l_ool_f(x)e-i2k'x)d2x = (A7)

zig(x) = -

aV(x,0)

(A2)

The Fourier transformof (A6) is

zig(k,z)

theeastcomponent verticaldeflection the slope thegeoid of is of

in the x direction

= -i2rgo [kxr/(k)+ 1. ky(k)

(A8)

r/(x) N_ -1V -3x go 3x

(A3)

From the solution to Laplace's equation in the wavenumber domain the upward continuation formula relates the gravity anomaly at the surface of the Earth to the gravity anomaly at
some elevation z.

andthe northcomponent verticaldeflectionis the slopeof the of geoidin the y direction.

Ag(k,z) Ag(k,0)exp = (-2{klz)

(A9)

(x) 3N -13V -- _
_ .

3y

go y

where = 1/x y2. Ikl 2+ the of(A9) respect with (A4)to z andevaluatingtheTaking=derivative at an algebraic resultat z 0, one arrives
formula relatingthe Fourier transform the gravity anomalyto of the sum of the Fourier transformsof the two componentsof
vertical deflection:

These quantitiesare relatedto one anotherthroughLaplace's

equation

Ag(k,0)igo = [kxr/(k) 1. +ky(k)

+ +

(AlO)

= 0.

(AS)

x 2

y 2

3z2

To compute gravity anomalies from a dense network of satellitealtimeterprofilesof geoidheight,oneconstructs grid of a

Substitution (A2), (A3), and(A4) into Laplace's of equation (A5)

eastr/and north verticaldeflection (Appendix B). The grids

are then Fourier transformed using a discreteapproximationto (A7). Finally, one performsthe multiplicationsgiven in (A10) and inverse Fourier transforms the result to obtain gravity anomaly. At thispointonecouldalsoaddthe spherical harmonic gravity model back to the gridded gravity values in order to recoverthe long wavelengthgravity field.

yieldsa relationship between vertical the gravitygradient the and sum of the x and y derivativesof the east and north vertical
deflection

go

(A6)

This expression used to computevertical gravity gradient is (Figure 2) from grids of east and north vertical deflection [Rummel and Haagmans, 1990]. Note that this is a local

Appendix B: Vertical DeflectionsFrom Along-Track Slopes

To avoidany adjustment the data,ascending descending of and satellitealtimeterprofilesare first differentiated the along-track in

SANDWELL AND SMITH: MARINE GRAVITY

direction resulting in geoid slopes or along-track vertical deflections. These along-track vertical deflections are then

10,051

nearly perpendicularso that the east and north componentsof geoidslopehavethe samesignal-to-noise ratio.
When two or more satellites with different orbital inclinations

combined produce r/and north components vertical to east of

deflection [Sandwell, 1984]. Finally, the east and north vertical deflections usedto compute are bothgravityanomalyandvertical

are available,the situationis slightlymorecomplexbut alsomore stable. Consider the intersection of four passesas shown in
below.

gravitygradient (AppendixA). The algorithm usedfor gridding the altimeterprofilesis an iterationscheme that relieson rapid transformation from ascending/descending geoid slopes to
north/east vertical deflection and vice versa. Consider for the

momentthe intersection point of an ascending a descending and satellitealtimeterprofile. The derivativeof the geoid heightN with respect time t alongthe ascending to profileis

3a= _ aNOa ;a aNa + aN

at 30 3q)
andalongthe descending profile is

(B 1)

aN;d

(B2)

The along-track derivativeof eachpasscanbe computed from the geoid gradientat the crossover point

where 0 geodetic is latitude islongitude. functions and The andarethelatitudinal longitudinal and components of the
satellitegroundtrackvelocity(AppendixC). It is assumed that
the satellitealtimeterhas a nearly circularorbit so that its velocity

PI

3N

depends mainlyon latitude;at the crossover pointthe following relationships accurate betterthan0.1%. are to

'

(B6)

P4
or in matrix notation

Oa =-Od

q)a q)d. =

(B3)

(Analytic expressionsfor satellite velocities are given in AppendixC usingorbit parameters Table C1.) The geoid in gradient obtained solving 1) and(B2) using(B3). is by (B

lq= VN.

(B7)

Sincethisis an overdetermined system, four along-track the slope

measurements cannot be matched exactly unless the measurements error free. In addition,an a priori estimateof are the errorin the along-track slopety measurements be usedto i can weight each equation in (B6) (i.eo, divide each of the four equations tYi). The leastsquares by solution (B7) is to

3N

I (/a +

(B4)

_ 1 (/a-/d).

(BS)

ao
It is evident from this formulation that there are latitudes where

vm ((t )-lot = ( 1

(U8)

where t and -1 are the transpose and inverse operations, respectively. In this casea 2 by 4 systemmustbe solvedat each crossoverpoint, althoughthe methodis easily extendedto three or more satellites. Later we will assumethat every grid cell goes zero thus becomes to and (B5) singular. the In absence corresponds a crossover of to point of all the satellites considered, so noisethisis not a problembecause ascending descending this small systemmustbe solvedmany times. the and profilesare nearlyparallelsothat theirdifference goesto zero at In additionto the estimatesof geoid gradient,the covariances the samerate that the latitudinalvelocity goesto zero. Of course, of these estimates are also obtained: in practice,altimeter profiles containnoise, so that the north component geoid slopewill have a signal-to-noise of ratio that (B9) decreases near+72latitude. Similarly, for an altimeterin a near either the eastor north component geoidslopemay be poorly of determined.For example,at +72latitudethe Seasat andGeosat altimeters reachtheir turningpointswherethe latitudinalvelocity

polar orbit the ascending and descending profiles are nearly antiparallelat the low latitudes; the east component geoid of slope is poorly determinedand the north component well is
determined. The optimal situationoccurswhen the tracks are

We use the covariance estimates to low-pass filter the north componentof geoid slope differently from the east component

10,052

SANDWELL AND SMITH:

MARINE GRAVITY

depending latitude.An example covariance on of estimates a for combination Geosat ERS 1 is shown Figure6 where of and in the
standard deviation of ERS 1 was set to 1.4 times the standard

and latitudinal velocity. Assuming Earth anoblate the is ellipse withflattening theconversion geocentric to geodetic f, from 0c
latitude 0 is

deviation Geosat. of Since Geosat ERS1 arehigh-inclination and satellites, estimated the uncertainty theeast of component about is 3 times greaterthan the estimated uncertainty the north of
component the equator. At higherlatitudesof 600-700where at

tan = (l-f)-2 tan 0 Oc.

(C1)

Moritz, 1967]by

and the are but thetracks nearly are perpendicular, north east the and componentsAt theequator at thepoles, twolatitudes equal, at latitudes (e.g.,450 theydifferby up to 0.20 The ) . are equally well determined. At 72N where the Geosat tracks intermediate of to the to runin a westerly direction, uncertainty theeast the of component derivative (C1) withrespect timeprovides correction velocitywhenconverting from the geocentric is low and the higher-inclination ERS 1 trackspreventthe the latitudinal system the geodeticsystem. to estimate thenorth of component becoming from singular 720 at . Finally, the east r/ and north components vertical of deflectionare relatedto the two geoidslopes[Heiskanen and 0 = (1_f)-2 cos20
(C2)

Oc

cs20c

r/-

1 aN
a cos0 ap

(B10)

Equations the relative positionof the satelliteversustime for

werederived following Kaula[1966]. Thebasic problem to is

map the positionof a satellitein a circularorbit aboutthe Earth

= 1aN
a 30
where a is the mean radius of the Earth.

(Bll)

intoanEarth-fixed coordinate system.Let t = 0 be thetime when

the satelliteorbit crosses Earth's the equatorial planeon an ascending at a longitude Po.To develop pass of formulas, one
first representsthe position of the satellite in a Cartesian

coordinate system where qxaxis thelineconnecting q the is the

center theEarth theascending of and equator crossing. qz The

Appendix C: Approximate SatellitePosition and Velocity
positions cos(cost are ), sin(cost), 0, respectively. and Next the satellite frame rotated is about qxaxis theinclination the the by of The exact satellitegroundtrack velocitycouldbe calculated to equatorial planeI. A third directlyfrom theground trackprofiles supplied with the satellite orbitplanerelative theEarth's rotation about Earth's axis the spin maps satellite the plane an into altimeter data records. However, later on we will need to

axis perpendicular orbit is to the plane theqy axis and is orthogonal qx qzaxes. this tothe and In frame qx, and the qy qz

evaluate (B1), (B2), and (B6) at grid cells that were not Earth-fixedsystem. This final rotationinvolvesthe rotationrate Earth relative theprecessing plane to orbit roe'= e- con. ro necessarily intersected a satelliteprofile. Thusit is desirable of the by

coordinates spherical into coordinates, obtains one In addition, accumulation the along-track the of repeat profiles fromCartesian expressions the latitudeand longitude for versus time. The into the stackfiles requirean approximate trajectoryfor the satellite.Thuswe deriveexpressions boththe approximate geocentriclatitude is for
position and velocity of a satellite in a circular orbit about an

the rotations transforming results and the tohave accurate formulae computing versus for 0 and latitude. Afterperforming three

Oc(t) sift [sin sin ]. = 1 cost I (C3) ellipsoidal Earth. The important parameters are the orbit frequency s, theEarthrotation ro, theprecession of the co rate e rate orbit planeaboutthe Earth's spinaxis con, inclination the the of latitude converted geodetic is to latitude using satellite orbit/, theflattening theEarth thestarting of f, longitude Thisgeocentric equation (C1). In addition, canbeinverted yieldthetime (C3) to of the satelliteC)o, geocentric the latitude0c,and the geodetic since equator the crossing latitude Numerical 0. values theconstant of parameters given are
in Table C1.

To attainthedesired levelof approximation,is necessary it to account the flattening the Earthwhencomputing for of latitude
Table C1. Orbit Geometric Parameters
r

t(Oc)= [sin0c col ]. sin-1

L sin I

(C4)

Description

GEOS 3

Seasat

Geosat

TOPEX

ERS 1

ms orbit frequency, s -1 On precess frequency, s -1

I inclination

1.042010 x -3 -4.143 10 x -7
114.980

1.0407 10-3 x -6.743 10 x -5

108.0584

1.0407 10 x -3
(ro - co) 17/244 e s
108.0584

9.3143 10 x -4
(ro - co) 10/127 e s
66.010

1.0379 10 x -3
(roe- Cs) 35/501
98.5557

roe Earth rotation frequency, 7.29212 -5 s -1 x 10

f
a

flattening
earth radius, rn

1/298.25
6371000

go

acceleration ofgravity, s 9.81 rn -2

SANDWELL AND SMITH: MARINE GRAVITY

The cosineand sineof the longitude(relativeto Po) somelater at time are given by
References

10,053

cosq(t)COst COst =cos + COe't [ cot sin cos cos sin I

(C5) cos Oc(t)
and

Andersen, B., P. Knudsen,and C. C. Tscherning, O. Investigation of methodsfor global gravity field recovery from the denseERS-1 GeodeticMission altimetry,paperpresented IUGG XXI General at Assembly, Union of Geol. and (3eophys., Int. Boulder,Colo., July,
1995.

sint) =

-sin cos + cos sinCOst I COt COst COe't cos

cos Oc(t)

(C6)

Bettadpur, V., and R. J. Eanes,Geographical S. representation radial of orbit perturbations due to oceantides: Implicationsfor satelliye altimetry, Geophys. J. Res.,99, 24883-24898,1994. Brainmet, F., Estimation theocean R. of geoidneartheBlakeEscarpment using(3eos-3 satellite altimetrydata,J. Geophys. Res.,84, 3843-3860,
1979.

By combiningthesetwo expressions, longitudeat a later time the

is

Briggs, C., Machine I. contouring using minimum curvature, Geophysics,

39, 39-48, 1974.

Cazenave,A., B. Parsons, and P. Calcagno,Geoid lineationsof 1000 km wavelength overthe CentralPacific,Geophys. Res.Lett., 22, 97-100,
1995.

q(t) cot+cos cosl) =tan-l[-sinsin I+po(C7 cos coe't cost cost

cos cos +sinCOe'tCOst I COt COst sin cos
Given theseequations positionversustime, one can derive for expressions the latitudinalandlongitudinal for components the of satellite velocity versus latitude. The latitudinal velocity is obtainedby differentiating(C3) with respectto time and using (C4) to relatevelocityto latitudeinstead time. The resultis of

Cheney, E., N. S. Doyle, B.C. Douglas, W. Agreen,L. L. Miller, E. R. R. L. Timmerman,and D.C. McAdoo, The Complete GeosatAltimeter GDR Handbook,Natl. (3eod.Surv./Natl. Oceanicand Atmos.Admin., Silver Spring,Md., 1991. Dumont, J.P., F. Ogor, and J. Stum, Quality Assessment Cersat of

Altimeter OPRProducts: 168-Day Repeat Period, French Processing

andArchiveFacility, Toulouse, France,1995. Eanes,R. andS. Bettadpur, CSR 3.0 globalocean The tide model,Center for SpaceResearch, TechnicalMemorandum, CSR-TM-95-06, 1995. Freedman,A. P., and B. Parsons,Seasat-derived gravity over the Musicianseamounts, Geophys. J. Res.,91, 8325-8340,1986.

Oc(Oc)=COs 1/2. 1 cos2i

cos20c

height circumpolar current (C8) Gille,S. T., Meanseasurface of theAntarctic

from (3eosat data: Methodand application, Geophys. J. Res., 99,
18255-18273, 1994.

Of course,the sign of the velocity will dependon whether the satellite profile is ascending(+) or descending (-). To convert from geocentric velocityto geodeticvelocity,(C2) is used. The longitudinalvelocityof the satelliteis mosteasilydetermined by usingthe fact thatthe total angular velocityof the satellite(in the satellite frame)is constant (COs). Thenthelongitudinal velocityof
the satellite relative to the Earth is

Haxby,W. F., andD. E. Hayes,Free-airgravityof the Southern Ocean

derived from Seasat and Geosat altimeter data: Circum-Antarctic to

30S. Antarct. Res.Ser.,volo MarineGeological Geophysical 54, and Atlasof theCircum-Antarctic to30S, edited D. E. Haynes, 11by pp.
19 A(3U, Washington, D.C., 1991.

Haxby,W. F., (3. D. Karner, L. LaBrecque, J. K. Weissel, J. and Digital

imagesof combined oceanicand continental data setsand their usein tectonicstudies, Eos Trans.AGU, 64 (52), 995-1004, 1983. Haxby, W. F., and J. K. Weissel, Evidence for small-scaleconvection

COs I cos
cos20c

o.

(C9)

fromSeasat altimeter data,J. Geophys. Res.,91, 3507-3520,1986. Heiskanen, A., andH. Moritz, PhysicalGeodesy, H. Freeman, W. W.
New York, 1967.

To establish the accuracy of these approximate satellite velocities,(C8) and (C9) were compared with the trajectoryof a GeosatExact RepeatMissionprofile [Cheneyet al., 1991]. The model velocities lie within 1 grad/s of the actual velocites [Sandwell,1992]. The greatesterror in total velocity occursat
72 latitude where the difference is 7 rn/s or 0.1%. Other

Hwang,C., andB. Parsons, optimalprocedure derivingmarine An for gravityfrom multi-satellite altimetry, Geophys. J. Int., 125, 705-718,
1996.

numerical tests show that the position estimatesfrom (C3) and andshipborne profiles the South in AtlanticOcean, Tectonophysics, (C7) are accurateto better than 1 km as long as the predicted 210, 235-253, 1992. position lessthat 1/4 an orbit from theknownequator is crossing Kaula, W. K., Theoryof SatelliteGeodesy, Blaidsel,Waltham, Mass., 1966. position. Laxon,S., andD. McAdoo,ArcticOcean gravity fieldderived fromERSAcknowledgments. We thank Bruce Douglas,Bob Cheney,Laury Miller, and Russ Agreen for their safe storageand distributionof the Geosat GM GDRs; no byteswerelost. ERS 1 datawereprovided ESA by through FrenchProcessing ArchiveFacility. Mara Yale supplied the and stacked profilesof Geosat ERM and ERS 1 data. RichardEanesandC. K. Shumprovidedthe softwareneeded compute tide corrections. to the SteveNeremprovided JGM-3 gravityfield coefficients wereused the that as a referencemodel. Dick Rapp suppliedsoftwareto construct the referencegravity model. Countless engineers and scientists worked to make both the (3eosatand ERS 1 missions great successes. This paper benefited from the reviews of Steve Nerem and Anny Cazenave. This researchwas supportedby the NASA (31obal(3eophysicsProgram
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D. T. Sandwell,ScrippsInstitutionof Oceanography, IGPP-0225, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225. (e-mail: sandwell@radar.ucsd.edu) W. H. F. Smith, Geosciences Laboratory,NOAA, NOES-12, Silver Spring,MD 20910-3281. (e-mail:walter@amos.grdl.noaa. gov)
(Received June3, 1996; revised October 11, 1996;

Smith, W. H. F., and P. Wessel, Gridding with continuous curvature splines tension, in Geophysics, 293-305, 1990. 55,

accepted October15, 1996.)