Only use ship-track gravity data with caution: a case-study around Australia

Abstract

Much of the ship-track marine gravity data in the Australian national gravity database must not be relied upon because several large (>900 mGal) biases exist in them. These biases were detected and cross-validated through comparisons with marine gravity anomalies derived from re-tracked multi-mission satellite altimetry and a recent satellite-only global geopotential model derived from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE). This shows the need to carefully screen ship-track gravity data to ensure that they have been crossover-adjusted before they are relied upon in any Earth-science study.