© TheNounProjectGravity Field
The Earth’s gravity field describes the spatial distribution of gravitational acceleration together with the centrifugal acceleration caused by Earth’s rotation. It reflects how mass is distributed within the Earth system, including the solid Earth, oceans, atmosphere, ice sheets, and continental water storage. Precise knowledge of the gravity field is fundamental in geodesy for determining the Earth’s shape and the geoid, which serves as the reference surface for the determination of physical heights and for the realization of global height reference systems.
Gravity field information is obtained from terrestrial, airborne, marine, and satellite observations. Dedicated satellite missions such as CHAMP, GRACE, GRACE Follow-On, and GOCE have significantly improved our ability to model the global gravity field and its temporal variations. These observations reveal changes in mass distribution related to processes such as ice sheet melting, continental hydrology, ocean circulation, and mantle dynamics. As a result, gravity field models are essential not only for geodesy but also for many Earth science disciplines, including geophysics, oceanography, hydrology, glaciology, and climate research.
More Info:
