New algorithms for spherical harmonic analysis of area mean values over blocks delineated by equiangular and Gaussian grids

Abstract

Spherical harmonic analysis is widely used in all aspects of geoscience. Exact quadrature methods are available for the spherical harmonic analysis of band-limited point values at the grid points of equiangular and Gaussian grids. However, no similarly exact quadrature methods are available for the spherical harmonic analysis of area mean values over the blocks delineated by these grids. In this study, new algorithms appropriate for the exact spherical harmonic analysis of the band-limited area mean values over the blocks delineated by equiangular and Gaussian grids are proposed. For band-limited data, precision that is between that of the least-squares estimation method and of the approximate quadrature methods can be achieved by using the new algorithms. Regarding the computational complexity, fewer operations are needed by the new methods as compared to those needed by the least-squares estimation method and the approximate quadrature methods in the preparation stage when the maximum degree of the spherical harmonic analysis is very large. Simulation experiments are performed to compare the ability to recover the spherical harmonic coefficients by using the least-squares estimation method, the approximate quadrature methods and these new algorithms from aliased data with aliasing components of realistic magnitudes. The results suggest that these new algorithms, with time complexity one order less than that of the least-squares estimation method in the solving stage, perform roughly the same as the least-squares estimation method in recovering spherical harmonic coefficients from the aliased data.