Jianliang Huang

Tilt of mean sea level along the Pacific coasts of North America and Japan

The tilt of coastal mean sea level with respect to an equipotential surface is estimated using two fundamentally different approaches. The geodetic approach is based on tide gauge and GPS observations, and a model of the geoid. The ocean approach uses a high-resolution, dynamically based ocean model to estimate mean dynamic topography. Along the Pacific coast of North America the two approaches give similar large-scale profiles with a minimum at about 40°N and a maximum in the northern part of the Gulf of Alaska. Along the Pacific coast of Japan the geodetically determined coastal sea levels indicate an eastward drop of about 20 cm along the south coast and a further northward drop across Tsugaru Strait. Both of these features are reproduced by the ocean models. An analysis of the alongshore momentum balance suggests that alongshore wind stress acting over the inner shelf is the primary driver of the mean sea level profile along the coast of North America. Several large-scale features are explained using arrested topographic wave theory. A similar momentum analysis, and an additional study of time variability of sea level and circulation, suggests that the Kuroshio is the main driver of the mean sea level tilt along the south coast of Japan. Discrepancies in the alongshore tilt of sea level estimated by the geodetic and ocean approaches along both coasts are discussed in terms of errors in the ocean and geoid models.

A Stokesian Approach for the Comparative Analysis of Satellite Gravity Models and Terrestrial Gravity Data

A Stokesian approach is formulated to update the geoid model for a specific spherical harmonic band by spectrally combining a GOCE-based satellite global geopotential model with terrestrial gravity data. A simulation test shows that the GOCE-based model can be combined into a geoid solution with an accuracy better than 3 mm for the band between degrees 90 and 180. A comparison of the GOCE-based model GOCO03S and the Canadian terrestrial gravity data for the spherical harmonic band between degrees 90 and 180 shows that the geoid update by GOCO03S reaches 1.6 cm in RMS in the Yukon Territory, 1.8 cm in northern British Columbia, and 1.6 cm in the Maritimes. This may suggest a slight improvement of the GOCE model over the Canadian gravity data considering the standard deviation of 1.0 cm given by GOCO03S. However the analysis indicates comparable accuracy between the terrestrial gravity data and GOCE models for the rest of Canada where topography is relatively flat. The comparisons at the GPS-levelling points suggest that GOCE has improved our existing knowledge of the Earth’s gravity field for wavelength components longer than 200 km over the Yukon Territory, northern British Columbia, the Maritimes, and Newfoundland.

Truncation of Poisson’s Integral in Upward and Downward Continuations of the Earth’s Gravity

In this contribution, first the efficiency of the kernel modification techniques in the Poisson upward and downward continuation of gravity is investigated in light of reducing the far zone contribution. Second, the methods of determining the critical radius of the near zone cap are reviewed and discussed in terms of the convergence and the accuracy of the estimate for the far zone contribution.