High-resolution gravity and geoid models in Tahiti obtained from new airborne and land gravity observations: data fusion by spectral combination

Hsuan-Chang Shih,Maxime Mouyen,Jean-Pierre Barriot,Pascal Corréia,Lydie Sichoix,Cheinway Hwang,Didier Lequeux

doi:10.1186/s40623-015-0297-9

Abstract

Abstract For the first time, we carry out an airborne gravity survey and we collect new land gravity data over the islands of Tahiti and Moorea in French Polynesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The new land gravity data are registered with GPS-derived coordinates, network-adjusted and outlier-edited, resulting in a mean standard error of 17 μGal. A crossover analysis of the airborne gravity data indicates a mean gravity accuracy of 1.7 mGal. New marine gravity around the two islands is derived from Geosat/GM, ERS-1/GM, Jason-1/GM, and Cryosat-2 altimeter data. A new 1-s digital topography model is constructed and is used to compute the topographic gravitational effects. To use EGM08 over Tahiti and Moorea, the optimal degree of spherical harmonic expansion is 1500. The fusion of the gravity datasets is made by the band-limited least-squares collocation, which best integrates datasets of different accuracies and spatial resolutions. The new high-resolution gravity and geoid grids are constructed on a 9-s grid. Assessments of the grids by measurements of ground gravity and geometric geoidal height result in RMS differences of 0.9 mGal and 0.4 cm, respectively. The geoid model allows 1-cm orthometric height determination by GPS and Lidar and yields a consistent height datum for Tahiti and Moorea. The new Bouguer anomalies show gravity highs and lows in the centers and land-sea zones of the two islands, allowing further studies of the density structure and volcanism in the region.

Highlights

The islands of Tahiti and Moorea were formed by volcanism in response to motion of the Pacific plate over a fixed hot-spot fed by mantle upwelling (Devey et al 2003; McNutt 1998)
We describe how the new gravity anomaly and geoid models of Tahiti are constructed by the remove-computerestore (RCR) procedure, in which the high-frequency components were computed by a new 1′′ × 1′′ digital topography model (DTM, covering both land and sea) of Tahiti
In this study, we have updated the gravity field of Tahiti by adding datasets from a new airborne mission, a land survey campaign and a new result of altimeter data processing

Summary

Introduction

The islands of Tahiti and Moorea were formed by volcanism in response to motion of the Pacific plate over a fixed hot-spot fed by mantle upwelling (Devey et al 2003; McNutt 1998). They are among the 118 islands and atolls in French Polynesia over an area of active volcanism between 5°–30° S and 130°–160° W, populated with 268,270 people. Leroy (1994) investigated the volcanic structure of Tahiti using gravity data collected at 40 sites in Tahiti (Fig. 1a). While the land gravity data from Leroy (1994) are

Methods

Results

Conclusion