Molodensky Theory

Molodensky theory is a fundamental approach in physical geodesy that determines the relationship between the Earth’s gravity field and surface geometry directly from gravity observations, without requiring knowledge of the internal mass distribution. It provides a framework for computing height anomalies and geodetic coordinates on the physical Earth’s surface relative to a reference ellipsoid.

In geodesy, Molodensky theory forms the theoretical basis for modern height systems and quasigeoid determination. It is particularly important for transforming between ellipsoidal heights (from GNSS) and physical heights, linking geometric positioning with gravity field information. The theory enables consistent integration of gravity measurements and satellite observations in the realization of regional and global geodetic reference systems.