Recovery of the gravity field from GOCE data by using the invariants of gradient tensor

Abstract

The gravity field models GUCAS_EGM and GUCAS_EGM_DL are established from GOCE data (GOCE Level 2 Products from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2009) based on the method of the invariants of the gravity gradient tensor, where GUCAS_EGM is derived after GOCE gravity gradient data are filtered with FIR, and GUCAS_EGM_DL is computed with an additional Durbin-Levison arithmetic apart from FIR. Since this method, different from current programs dealing with GOCE data, is introduced for the first time, some new problems are required to be discussed in advance; for example, how to filter GOCE gravity gradient data, how to compute the invariants of the gradient tensor, and how to deal with the pole gap and so on. In addition, by comparing our models with ones recommended by ESA, it can be seen that the variations of GUCAS_EGM and the models recommended by ESA to EGM08 are almost equivalent, and the variation of GUCAS_EGM_DL to EGM08 is obviously less than ones of the recommended models.