Upgraded gravity anomaly base of the United States

Abstract

A concerted effort to compile an upgraded digital gravity anomaly database, grid, and map for the United States by the end of 2002 is under way. This joint effort by the geophysics groups at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (with support from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency [NIMA]), is an outgrowth of the new geoscientific community initiative called Geoinformatics (www.geoinformaticsnetwork.org). This dominantly geospatial initiative reflects the realization by Earth scientists that existing information systems and techniques are inadequate to address the complex scientific and societal issues that we must confront. Currently, the lack of standardization and chaotic distribution of available geoscience data, a lack of documentation about them, and the lack of easy-to-use access tools and computer codes for their analysis are major obstacles for scientists, government agencies, and educators alike. ...