摘要:

This study concerns the determination of a regional geoid model in the North Atlantic area surrounding the Azores islands by combining multi-mission altimetry from the ERS (European Remote Sensing) satellites and surface gravity data. A high resolution mean sea surface, named AZOMSS99, has been derived using altimeter data from ERS-1 and ERS-2 35-day cycles, spanning a period of about four years, and from ERS-1 geodetic mission. Special attention has been paid to data processing of points around the islands due to land contamination on some of the geophysical corrections. A gravimetric geoid has been computed from all available surface gravity, including land and sea observations acquired during an observation campaign that took place in the Azores in October 1997 in the scope of a European and a Portuguese project. Free air gravity anomalies were derived by altimetric inversion of the mean sea surface heights. These were used to fill the large gaps in the surface gravity and combined solutions were computed using both types of data. The gravimetric and combined solutions have been compared with the mean sea surface and GPS (Global Positioning System)-levelling derived geoid undulations in five islands. It is shown that the inclusion of altimeter data improves geoid accuracy by about one order of magnitude. Combined geoid solutions have been obtained with an accuracy of better than one decimetre.

ISSN:0149-0419    

DOI:10.1080/014904100273315

出版商:Informa UK Ltd    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Tidal levels and currents in the Tongan region of the Pacific were simulated using a two-dimensional frequency-domain finite element model. The eight major diurnal and semidiurnal tidal constituents were modeled successfully, using open boundary conditions taken from a global tidal model based on the Topex/Poseidon satellite altimeter. Comparison of model results with observations from the single tide gauge site in the area were later used to adjust the boundary conditions. The validity of omitting horizontal eddy viscosity from the finite element model was checked by running an equivalent finite difference model. The results show that although the submarine Tongan ridge does not appear to trap tidal energy, there are residual tidal currents and possible recirculations which are capable of influencing biological productivity around Tonga. The model results are reduced to a simple method for predicting tidal heights in outlying areas, based only on the tidal calendar for the capital, Nuku'alofa.

ISSN:0149-0419    

DOI:10.1080/014904100273324

出版商:Informa UK Ltd    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

A method which utilizes the lateral offset information obtained by comparing swath bathymetric data at track crossover points as a further constraint on the navigation is presented. The method, based on generalized least squares inversion theory, derives a new navigational solution that minimizes the overall misfit between the pairs of topography at crossovers while trying to remain smooth and close to the starting model. To achieve a high numerical efficiency during inversions of large matrices, we employed sparse matrix algorithms. The inversion scheme was applied to a set of Sea Beam data collected over the East Pacific Rise near 9° 30' N in early 1988 at the time when the Global Positioning System had limited coverage. The starting model was constructed by taking evenly spaced samples of positions along the tracklines. For each one of the 361 crossovers, we gridded the bathymetric data around the crossover point compared the gridded maps, and calculated the offset and uncertainty associated with this estimation. A suite of inversion solutions were obtained depending on the choice of three free parameters (that is, the a priori model variance, the correlation interval of a priori model, and the trade-off coefficient between fitting the data and remaining close to the a priori model). The best solution was chosen as one that minimizes both the Sea Beam topography and free-air gravity anomaly differences at crossovers. The improvement was significant; the initial rms mismatch between the tracks and free-air gravity anomalies at crossovers was reduced from 610m to 75m and from 2.5mGal to 1.9mGal, respectively.

ISSN:0149-0419    

DOI:10.1080/014904100273333

出版商:Informa UK Ltd    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Specific properties of the interannual sea level variations and annual tides in the Northwestern Pacific were studied. Several tide stations were monitored. The monthly mean sea level for the year of 1995 was analyzed at each tide station. A seismic event in 1995, some tectonic activity around the subject area, and the Kuroshio (the oceanic western boundary current) may possibly contaminate results which would have occurred from the astronomical annual tide alone.

ISSN:0149-0419    

DOI:10.1080/014904100273342

出版商:Informa UK Ltd    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor