Olivier Francis

Accuracy assessment of recent ocean tide models

Over 20 global ocean tide models have been developed since 1994, primarily as a consequence of analysis of the precise altimetric measurements from TOPEX/POSEIDON and as a result of parallel developments in numerical tidal modeling and data assimilation. This paper provides an accuracy assessment of 10 such tide models and discusses their benefits in many fields including geodesy, oceanography, and geophysics. A variety of tests indicate that all these tide models agree within 2-3 cm in the deep ocean, and they represent a significant improvement over the classical Schwiderski 1980 model by approximately 5 cm rms. As a result, two tide models were selected for the reprocessing of TOPEX/POSEIDON Geophysical Data Records in late 1995. Current ocean tide models allow an improved observation of deep ocean surface dynamic topography using satellite altimetry. Other significant contributions include theft applications in an improved orbit computation for TOPEX/POSEIDON and other geodetic satellites, to yield accurate predictions of Earth rotation excitations and improved estimates of ocean loading corrections for geodetic observatories, and to allow better separation of astronomical tides from phenomena with meteorological and geophysical origins. The largest differences between these tide models occur in shallow waters, indicating that the current models are still problematic in these areas. Future improvement of global tide models is anticipated with additional high-quality altimeter data and with advances in numerical techniques to assimilate data into high-resolution hydrodynamic models.

Bedrock displacements in Greenland manifest ice mass variations, climate cycles and climate change

The Greenland GPS Network (GNET) uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to measure the displacement of bedrock exposed near the margins of the Greenland ice sheet. The entire network is uplifting in response to past and present-day changes in ice mass. Crustal displacement is largely accounted for by an annual oscillation superimposed on a sustained trend. The oscillation is driven by earth’s elastic response to seasonal variations in ice mass and air mass (i.e., atmospheric pressure). Observed vertical velocities are higher and often much higher than predicted rates of postglacial rebound (PGR), implying that uplift is usually dominated by the solid earth’s instantaneous elastic response to contemporary losses in ice mass rather than PGR. Superimposed on longer-term trends, an anomalous ‘pulse’ of uplift accumulated at many GNET stations during an approximate six-month period in 2010. This anomalous uplift is spatially correlated with the 2010 melting day anomaly.

Geodetic measurements in Greenland and their implications

We describe results from an ongoing experiment in Greenland, in which we are using absolute gravity and continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements to study vertical crustal motion at two locations along the edge of the ice sheet: Kellyville, located about one third of the way up the western ice margin, and Kulusuk, located along the eastern ice margin at about the same latitude as Kellyville. The GPS measurements suggest average crustal uplift rates of −5.8±1.0 mm/yr at Kellyville and −2.1±1.5 mm/yr at Kulusuk. There have not yet been enough absolute gravity occupations to permit useful secular gravity solutions at either location. The negative uplift rate at Kellyville is consistent with independent archeological and historical evidence that the southwestern edge of the continent has been subsiding over the last 3000 years, but it is inconsistent with estimates of the Earths continuing viscoelastic response to melting ice during the early Holocene, which predict that Kellyville is likely to be uplifting, rather than subsiding, by 2.0±3.5 mm/yr. The resulting −7.8±3.6 mm/yr discrepancy between the observed and predicted uplift rates is too large to be caused by loading from present-day changes in nearby ice. However, it is consistent with independent suggestions that the western ice sheet margin in this region may have advanced by ≈50 km during the past 3000–4000 years. If this advance did occur and if the crustal subsidence it induces is not removed from altimeter measurements of Greenland ice sheet elevations, then the altimeter solutions could underestimate the true snow/ice thickness change by 5–10 mm/yr along portions of the western margin of the ice sheet.

Calibration of a superconducting gravimeter by comparison with an absolute gravimeter FG5 in Boulder

This paper reports the results of a calibration of a superconducting gravimeter using simultaneous measurements of Earth tides with an absolute gravimeter. Nine consecutive days of observations were made with both the C024 superconducting gravimeter and the FG5-202 absolute gravimeter at the NOAA Table Mountain Gravity Observatory near Boulder, Colorado. The precision of the calibration factor is better than 0.1%. The calibration factor obtained in this fashion agrees well with that obtained from a moving platform. This experiment provides a noise estimate for both the superconducting and absolute gravimeter. In addition, the local air pressure admittances of both instruments compare well with a value close to −0.35 µGal/mbar.

Accurate transfer function determination for superconducting gravimeters

The transfer function for the cryogenic gravimeter GWR-C021 operating at Membach (Belgium) has been experimentally determined by injecting known voltages into the control electronics of the system. The output of the gravimeter to the injected sine waves and step functions has been observed. This give a precise knowledge of the transfer function of the gravimeter. It allows one to reach a precision of better than 0.01 second in the phase response of the instrument, in agreement with the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) requirements.

The 8th International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters 2009: the first Key Comparison (CCM.G-K1) in the field of absolute gravimetry

The 8th International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters (ICAG2009) took place at the headquarters of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) from September to October 2009. It was the first ICAG organized as a key comparison in the framework of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM MRA) (CIPM 1999). ICAG2009 was composed of a Key Comparison (KC) as defined by the CIPM MRA, organized by the Consultative Committee for Mass and Related Quantities (CCM) and designated as CCM.G-K1. Participating gravimeters and their operators came from national metrology institutes (NMIs) or their designated institutes (DIs) as defined by the CIPM MRA. A Pilot Study (PS) was run in parallel in order to include gravimeters and their operators from other institutes which, while not signatories of the CIPM MRA, nevertheless play important roles in international gravimetry measurements. The aim of the CIPM MRA is to have international acceptance of the measurement capabilities of the participating institutes in various fields of metrology. The results of CCM.G-K1 thus constitute an accurate and consistent gravity reference traceable to the SI (International System of Units), which can be used as the global basis for geodetic, geophysical and metrological observations of gravity. The measurements performed afterwards by the KC participants can be referred to the international metrological reference, i.e. they are SI-traceable.The ICAG2009 was complemented by a number of associated measurements: the Relative Gravity Campaign (RGC2009), high-precision levelling and an accurate gravity survey in support of the BIPM watt balance project. The major measurements took place at the BIPM between July and October 2009. Altogether 24 institutes with 22 absolute gravimeters (one of the 22 AGs was ultimately withdrawn) and nine relative gravimeters participated in the ICAG/RGC campaign.This paper is focused on the absolute gravity campaign. We review the history of the ICAGs and present the organization, data processing and the final results of the ICAG2009.After almost thirty years of hosting eight successive ICAGs, the CIPM decided to transfer the responsibility for piloting the future ICAGs to NMIs, although maintaining a supervisory role through its Consultative Committee for Mass and Related Quantities.

Stability comparison of two absolute gravimeters: optical versus atomic interferometers

We report the direct comparison between the stabilities of two mobile absolute gravimeters of different technology: the LNE-SYRTE Cold Atom Gravimeter and FG5X#216 of the Universite du Luxembourg. These instruments rely on two different principles of operation: atomic and optical interferometry. The comparison took place in the Walferdange Underground Laboratory for Geodynamics in Luxembourg, at the beginning of the last International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters, ICAG-2013. We analyse a 2h10 duration common measurement, and find that the CAG shows better immunity with respect to changes in the level of vibration noise, as well as a slightly better short term stability.

Comparison of recent ocean tide models using ground‐based tidal gravity measurements

Not less than 10 new ocean tide models have been produced in 1994–1995. We compare the periodic gravitational attraction and elastic loading effects calculated with these different models to the corresponding effects measured at 289 ground‐based tidal gravity stations distributed on all continents and several islands. This may be considered as a test of validity for the ocean tide models, as we show that these ground‐based data clearly detect serious imperfections such as the absence of the Arctic Ocean and of the Weddell and Ross Seas. We show, however, that such comparisons have their limitations: noise level in tidal gravity observations, distance of the observing stations from the ocean basins, mass conservation, and resolution of the ocean tide models. We find that the improvements with respect to the Schwiderski maps are real in some areas, but no model is systematically best for all regions. New observations of gravity tides should be made in the proximity (50 km) of seas with strong tides but of s...

Results of the Sixth International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters, ICAG-2001

Like all the previous International Comparisons of Absolute Gravimeters (ICAGs) the sixth, ICAG-2001, was held at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). Major improvements in the 2001 campaign were a new measurement strategy using the absolute gravimeters to measure the ties of the gravity network, new sites constructed at the BIPM, improved relative measurements of the ties and gravity gradients, and combined adjustment of the absolute and relative data, realized using new software with a novel data weighting and rejection scheme. The g-values at four sites of the BIPM were measured with an uncertainty of 6 μGal. Good agreement was obtained between the results of the absolute and relative measurements of the ties of the gravity network. The final mean gvalue obtained at the reference site A was 7 μGal less than that obtained in the previous comparison, ICAG-97.

Two years of continuous measurements of tidal and nontidal variations of gravity in Boulder, Colorado

We report here on the results of an analysis of 2 years of data from NOAAs superconducting gravimeter located at the Table Mountain Gravity Observatory in Boulder, Colorado. Observed tidal parameters, corrected for ocean loading effects, are compared with theoretical tidal parameters predicted for a non-hydrostatic inelastic Earth model and demonstrate excellent agreement. Tidal residuals, corrected for polar motion and a linear instrument drift are highly correlated with gravity changes measured by two absolute gravimeters over the same time period. The admittance to local pressure is found to be −0.356 µGal/mbar. However, this admittance factor is found to be seasonally and frequency dependent. Correlations between rainfall events and gravity changes are observed. Attempts to model these gravity changes as exponential functions of time were unsuccessful.