Thin-plate spline quadrature of geodetic integrals

Abstract

Thin-plate spline functions (known for their flexibility and fidelity in representing experimental data) are especially well-suited for the numerical integration of geodetic integrals in the area where the integration is most sensitive to the data, i.e., in the immediate vicinity of the evaluation point. Spline quadrature rules are derived for the contribution of a circular innermost zone to Stoke's formula, to the formulae of Vening Meinesz, and to the recursively evaluated operator L(n) in the analytical continuation solution of Molodensky's problem. These rules are exact for interpolating thin-plate splines. In cases where the integration data are distributed irregularly, a system of linear equations needs to be solved for the quadrature coefficients. Formulae are given for the terms appearing in these equations. In case the data are regularly distributed, the coefficients may be determined once-and-for-all. Examples are given of some fixed-point rules. With such rules successive evaluation, within a circular disk, of the terms in Molodensky's series becomes relatively easy. The spline quadrature technique presented complements other techniques such as ring integration for intermediate integration zones.