Geodesy

Wolfgang Torge

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9783110879957
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geology & Earth Sciences

The third edition of this well-known textbook, first published in 1980, has been completely revised in order to adequately reflect the drastic changes which occured in the field of geodesy in the last twenty years. Reference systems are now well established by space techniques, which dominate positioning and gravity field determination. Terrestrial techniques still play an important role at local and regional applications, whereby remarkable progress has been made with respect to automatic data aquisition. Evaluation methods are now three-dimensional in principle, and have to take the gravity field into account. Geodetic control networks follow these developments, with far-reaching consequences for geodetic practice. Finally, the increased accuracy of geodetic products and high data rates have significantly increased the contributions of geodesy to geodynamics research, thus strengthening the role of geodesy within the geosciences. The present state of geodesy is illustrated by recent examples of instruments and results. An extensive reference list supports further studies.

Table of contents

• 1 Introduction
• 1.1 Definition of Geodesy
• 1.2 The Problem of Geodesy
• 1.3 Historical Development of Geodesy
• 1.4 Organization of Geodesy, Literature
• 2 Reference Systems
• 2.1 Basic Units and Fundamental Constants
• 2.2 Time Systems
• 2.3 International Earth Rotation Service
• 2.4 Celestial Reference System
• 2.5 Terrestrial Reference System
• 2.6 Gravity Field Related Reference Systems
• 3 The Gravity Field of the Earth
• 3.1 Fundamentals of Gravity Field Theory
• 3.2 Geometry of the Gravity Field
• 3.3 Spherical Harmonic Expansion of the Gravitational Potential
• 3.4 The Geoid
• 3.5 Temporal Gravity Variations
• 4 The Geodetic Earth Model
• 4.1 The Rotational Ellipsoid
• 4.2 The Normal Gravity Field
• 4.3 Geodetic Reference Systems
• 5 Methods of Measurement
• 5.1 Atmospheric Refraction
• 5.2 Satellite Observations
• 5.3 Geodetic Astronomy
• 5.4 Gravimetry
• 5.5 Terrestrial Geodetic Measurements
• 6 Methods of Evaluation
• 6.1 Residual Gravity Field
• 6.2 Three-dimensional Positioning
• 6.3 Horizontal Positioning
• 6.4 Height Determination
• 6.5 Fundamentals of Gravity Field Modeling
• 6.6 Global Gravity Field Modeling
• 6.7 Local Gravity Field Modeling
• 6.8 Combined Methods for Positioning and Gravity Field Determination
• 7 Geodetic and Gravimetric Networks
• 7.1 Horizontal Control Networks
• 7.2 Vertical Control Networks
• 7.3 Three-dimensional Networks
• 7.4 Gravity Networks
• 8 Structure and Dynamics of the Earth
• 8.1 The Geophysical Earth Model
• 8.2 The Upper Layers of the Earth
• 8.3 Geodesy and Geodynamics
• References
• Index