Determination of the local geoid model in Duhok Region, University of Duhok Campus as a Case study

Abstract

The height obtained through the GNSS method is the ellipsoidal height and to have an efficient application in surveying it has to be converted into orthometric height. This paper aims to determine a local geoid model for a part of Duhok region based on the known orthometric height using GPS/levelling and assessing the precision performance of the two Earth gravitational models (EGM1996 and EGM2008) in the study area. The EGMs were adjusted based on root mean square errors, calculated from the differences between two geoid heights, GPS/levelling and EGMs. The Kriging interpolation method was used for creating a local geoid model based on GPS/levelling. The result from the adjusted geoid models to the survey data at 54 points revealed that the mean accuracy of geoidal heights at 0.08 m level is attainable. The precision performance of EGM96 is more precise than EGM08 by 14 mm in the area of interest.