Review of the Research Progress on Static Earth Gravity Field and Vertical Datum in China during 2019—2023

The contribution presents the representative research progress on global static gravity field modeling,regional geoid/quasigeoid determination,vertical datum study,as well as the theory,algorithm and software for gravity field study in China from 2019 to 2023,which are the highlights of the chapter 6“Progress in Earth Gravity Model and Vertical Datum”in the“2019—2023 China National Report on Geodesy”that submitted to the International Association of Geodesy(IAG).In addition,suggestions are proposed to promote the research in the fields of earth gravity field,geoid/quasigeoid and vertical datumin China according to trends of international geodesy and related disciplines.

Earth Gravity Field Recovered from CHAMP Science Orbit and Accelerometer Data

The earth gravity field model CDS01S of degree and order 36 has been recovered from the post processed Science Orbits and on-board accelerometer data of GFZ’s CHAMP satellite. The model resolves the geoid with an accuracy of better than 4 cm at a resolution of 700 km half-wavelength. By using the degree difference variances of geopotential coefficients to compare the model CDS01S with EIGEN3P, EIGEN1S and EGM96, the result indicates that the coefficients of CDS01S are most close to those of EIGEN3P. The result of the comparison between the accuracies of geopotential coefficients in the above models, indicates that the accuracy of coefficients in CDS01S is higher than that in EGM96.The geoid undulations of CDS01S and GGM01C up to 30 degrees are calculated and the standard deviation is 4.7 cm between them.

Spectral Representation and Analysis of the KBR Precision Based on the Earth Gravity Spectrum

Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking in low-low model （SST-Ⅱ） is a new technique to resolve the series of problems met in the determination of the earth＇s gravity field. As the key technique of SST-Ⅱ, KBR can get SST-Ⅱ measurements directly. So the KBR performance analysis is the first step in SST-Ⅱ design. In this paper, assuming that the satellite pairs of SST-Ⅱ are in near circle polar orbits, the spectrum relationship between the earth gravity field and KBR is established using analytic method. And then some examples are analyzed, the suggestions and conclusions are drawn from these examples. The research results could be taken as a reference for future satellite gravity project of China.

A GOCE only gravity model GOSG01S and the validation of GOCE related satellite gravity models

We compile the GOCE-only satellite model GOSG01S complete to spherical harmonic degree of 220 using Satellite Gravity Gradiometry （SGG） data and the Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking （SST） observations along the GOCE orbit based on applying a least-squares analysis. The diagonal components （Vxx, Vyy, Vzz） of the gravitational gradient tensor are used to form the system of observation equations with the band-pass ARMA filter. The point-wise acceleration observations （ax, ay, az） along the orbit are used to form the system of observation equations up to the maximum spherical harmonic degree/order 130. The analysis of spectral accuracy characteristics of the newly derived gravitational model GOSG01S and the existing models GOTIM04S, GODIR04S, GOSPW04S and JYY_GOCE02S based on their comparison with the ultrahigh degree model EIGEN-6C2 reveals a significant consistency at the spectral window approximately between 80 and 190 due to the same period SGG data used to compile these models. The GOCE related satellite gravity models GOSG01S, GOTIM05S, GODIR05S, GOTIM04S, GODIR04S, GOSPW04S, JYY_- GOCE02S, EIGEN-6C2 and EGM2008 are also validated by using GPS-leveling data in China and USA. According to the truncation at degree 200, the statistic results show that all GGMs have very similar differences at GPS-leveling points in USA, and all GOCE related gravity models have better performance than EGM2008 in China. This suggests that all these models provide much more information on the gravity field than EGM2008 in areas with low terrestrial gravity coverage. And STDs of height anomaly differences in China for the selected truncation degrees show that GOCE has improved the accuracy of the global models beyond degree 90 and the accuracies of the models improve from 24 cm to 16 cm. STDs of geoid height differences in USA show that GOSG01S model has best consistency comparing with GPSleveling data for the frequency band of the degree between 20 and 160.

Gravity gradient distribution in China's Mainland from GOCE satellite gravity gradiometry data

At present, gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer（GOCE） gravity data are always used to compute regional gravity anomaly and geoid height. In this study, the latest GOCE gravity field model data（from Oct. 2009 to Jul. 2010） are used to compute the gravity gradient of China's Mainland according to a rigorous recursion formula（in all the six directions）. The results show that the numerical values of the gravity gradients are larger in the T rr direction than those in the other directions. They reflect the terrain characteristics in detail and correlate with the regional tectonics; however, in the T ql and T r l directions,the numerical values are relatively smaller and the gravity gradients in the T r l direction do not reflect the terrain characteristics in detail.

Chinese Gravimetry Augment and Mass Change Exploring Mission Status and Future

The satellite gravimetry technology effectively recovers the global Earth’s gravity field.Since 2000s,HL-SST satellite CHAMP,LL-SST satellite GRACE,Gravity Gradient Measurement(GGM)satellite GOCE have been launched successfully,producing some Earth’s gravity models solely from satellites data.However,the space and time resolution of the Earth’s gravity fields do not adequately satisfy scientific objectives.The main reason is that the gravimetry satellites are not enough and observation data insufficient.The paper outlines the current and future status of Chinese gravity satellite missions.The Chinese gravimetry satellite system,named Chinese Gravimetry augment and Mass change exploring mission(ChiGaM),successfully launched in Dec.2021 after four years of production and over a year of calibration and valiation.The accelerometer,K-band ranging system and the three stellar sensors,among others,were precisely calibrated and trimmed.The satellite mass center was determined and coordinated with the proof center of accelerometer with an accuracy 100μm.The inter-satellite ranging system and BDS/GPS receiver operate together seamlessly.The range and range rate noise is less than 3μm/Hz^(1/2) and 1μm/s/Hz^(1/2),respectively,in band of 0.025~0.1 Hz.The electrostatic suspension accelerometer is working well.Its high-sensitive axis noise level is 3×10^(-10) m/s^(2)/Hz^(1/2)near the frequency 0.1 Hz,and 1×10^(-9) m/s^(2)/Hz^(1/2) for the less-sensitive axis.Meanwhile the BDS/GPS receiver is used to achieve data for precise orbit determination,yielding an orbit result with accuracy better than 2 cm.When compared with KBR observations,the RMS of the bias is less than 1 mm.Besides above mission,next gravimetric satellite is being developed now.TQ-2 mission is designed as a totally experimental satellite for gravitational wave detection at low Earth orbit,which can detect the Earth’s gravity field simultaneously.The Bender-type mission is considered the most promising configuration for TQ-2 and consists of two polar satellites and two inclined satellites.Due to the extra observations at the east-west direction derived from the inclined satellite pair,significant improvements has been made in detecting temporal signals with higher accuracy and spatial-temporal resolution.To achieve the scientific goal,the ACC MBW can shift from 0.001~0.1 Hz to 0.004~0.1 Hz for ACC,and the LRI MBW can shift from 0.01~1 Hz to 0.1~1 Hz.For future research,a gravimetric potential survey using cold-atomic-clock based on the general relativity theory,cold atom gradiometer should be pursued.Gravimetric technologies should be mined and researched,and the gravimetry satellite constellation should be developed,so as to improve the time resolution and space resolution for meeting the requirements of geophysics,geodesy,earthquake,water resources environment,oceanography,etc.

Modeling of Earth’s Gravity Fields Visualization Based on Quad Tree

The problems of the earth's gravity fields' visualization are both focus and puzzle currently. Aiming at multiresolution rendering, modeling of the Earth's gravity fields' data is discussed in the paper by using LOD algorithm based on Quad Tree. First, this paper employed the method of LOD based on Quad Tree to divide up the regional gravity anomaly data, introduced the combined node evaluation system that was composed of viewpoint related and roughness related systems, and then eliminated the T-cracks that appeared among the gravity anomaly data grids with different resolutions. The test results demonstrated that the gravity anomaly data grids' rendering effects were living, and the computational power was low. Therefore, the proposed algorithm was a suitable method for modeling the gravity anomaly data and has potential applications in visualization of the earth's gravity fields.

A rapid compensation method for launch data of long-range rockets under influence of the Earth＇s disturbing gravity field

Regarding the rapid compensation of the influence of the Earth＇ s disturbing gravity field upon trajectory calculation,the key point lies in how to derive the analytical solutions to the partial derivatives of the state of burnout point with respect to the launch data.In view of this,this paper mainly expounds on two issues：one is based on the approximate analytical solution to the motion equation for the vacuum flight section of a long-range rocket,deriving the analytical solutions to the partial derivatives of the state of burnout point with respect to the changing rate of the finalstage pitch program;the other is based on the initial positioning and orientation error propagation mechanism,proposing the analytical calculation formula for the partial derivatives of the state of burnout point with respect to the launch azimuth.The calculation results of correction data are simulated and verified under different circumstances.The simulation results are as follows：（1） the accuracy of approximation between the analytical solutions and the results attained via the difference method is higher than 90%,and the ratio of calculation time between them is lower than 0.2%,thus demonstrating the accuracy of calculation of data corrections and advantages in calculation speed;（2） after the analytical solutions are compensated,the longitudinal landing deviation of the rocket is less than 20 m and the lateral landing deviation of the rocket is less than 10 m,demonstrating that the corrected data can meet the requirements for the hit accuracy of a long-range rocket.

GOCE kinematic orbit adjustment for EGM validation and accelerometer calibration

The main principle and mathematical model of GOCE kinematic orbit adjustment for Earth gravity field model （EGM） validation and accelerometer calibration are presented. Based on 60 days GOCE kinematic orbits with 1-2 cm accuracy and accelerometer data from 2009-11-02 to 2009-12-31, the RMS-of-fit （ROF） of them using EGM2008, EIGEN-SC, ITG- GRACE2010S and GOCO01S up to 120, 150 and 180 degree and order （d/o） are evaluated and compared. The scale factors and biases of GOCE accelerometer data are calibrated and the energy balance method （EBM） is performed to test the accuracy of accelerometer calibration. The results show that GOCE orbits are also sensitive to EGM from 120 to 150 d/o. The ROFs of EGMs with 150 and 180 d/o are obviously better than those of EGMs with 120 d/o. The ROFs of GOCO01S and ITG-GRACE2010S are almost the same up to 120 and 150 d/o, which are about 3.3 cm and 1.8 cm, respectively. They are far better than those of EGM2008 and EIGEN-SC with the same d/o. The ROF of GOCO01S with 180 d/o is about 1.6 em, which is the best one among those EGMs. The accelerometer calibration accuracies （ACAs） of ITG-GRACE2010S and GOCO01S are obviously higher that those of EGM2008 and EIGEN-SC. The ACA of GOCO01S with 180 d/o is far higher than that of EGMs with 120 d/o, and a little higher than that of ITG-GRACE2010S with 150 d/o. I t is suggested that the newest released EGM such as GOCO01S or GOCO02S till at least 150 d/o should be chosen in GOCE precise orbit determination （POD） and accelerometer calibration.

Development of a software package for determination of geodynamic parameters from combined processing of SLR data from LAGEOS and LEO

In this study, a method for determination of stations coordinates, Earth rotation parameters and gravity field coefficients in one solution from SLR data from LAGEOS and LEO is presented. A new software package based on the presented method has been developed. All recommendations from IERS Con- ventions 2010 have been included. In addition, some other perturbations and loading effects are taken into account： atmospheric tides, non-tidal atmosphere and ocean variability, albedo and non-tidal at- mospheric pressure loading. Results of different solutions with the use of only LAGEOS data or LAGEOS plus LEO satellites data are presented. Pole coordinates obtained from both solutions show comparable accuracy relative to IERS 08 C04 solution. As for UT1 corrections in terms of Length-of-Day an additional improvement in accuracy is found： 1.0 ms for LAGEOS and 0.2 ms for the combined LAGEOS ＋ LEO solution. Time series of the estimated degree-2 gravity field coefficients show a very good agreement with results of the Center of Space Research （Austin/USA）. As a final remark, some future mandatory steps are outlined.

Establishment and Analysis of the Spectral Relationship Between Range-Rate and Gravity Potential Based on Energy Conservation

The spectral relationship between range-rate measurements and the gravity potential for low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking mission was established based on the energy conservation theory. Then the performances of satellite separation, the orbital altitude, and the accuracy of range-rate measurements in recovering the earth＇s gravity field were simulated and analyzed by this method. Finally, the cumulative geoid errors of the reference mode were obtained by using the configuration parameters of the GRACE mission. By comparing the cumulative geoid errors of the reference mode and GGMO2S and EIGEN-GRACEO2S models, it basically reflected the performance of GRACE and proved the feasibility of this method.