Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 1

Updated Spring 2007

Spherical and Other Harmonic Analysis
Harmonic analysis, or the description of a function in terms of a sum of periodic terms,
plays a fundamental role in many parts of geophysics. Harmonic analysis allows us to find the
importance of specific periodic terms in a function such as a seismic trace or a magnetic profile and
thereby separate out different wavelengths or frequencies present in the signal. For our purposes
here, we want to determine the contribution of various periodic terms to functions that vary over the
surface of the Earth and possibly above and below the surface. Harmonics can also be used as a
means of finding averages and filling in gaps between scattered data points. We will be specifically
using harmonic analysis in heat flow, in studies of the gravitational and magnetic potential fields of
the Earth, for seismology, and possibly for free oscillations.
For !one-dimensional" signals such as seismic traces and magnetic profiles, which are
functions of only one variable (time and increasing distance along profile, respectively) we
commonly use Fourier analysis. For quantities that vary over the surface of a sphere, the method of
choice is often spherical harmonics, which can also describe certain functions with radial
dependence. The distribution of heat flow over the Earth#s surface can be described by spherical
harmonics, and the variation of gravity and magnetic potentials throughout space around the Earth
are most simply expressed in spherical harmonics. In the heat flow case, the spherical harmonics
serve just to describe the field numerically, while in the case of gravity and magnetics, spherical
harmonics are the solutions of the differential equations that govern the potentials and thus have a
deeper physical relationship to the fields.
The two classes of harmonic analysis$Fourier and spherical harmonic$follow a common
development. We will consider Fourier analysis first, because the treatment is easier to follow due
to its one-dimensionality, and because spherical harmonics have Fourier series embedded within
them.
Fourier Series
The Fourier series expansion for a function f(x), where x is the independent variable such as
distance or time, is given by
f (x) = (a
n
cosnx + b
n
n= 0

sinnx) (1)
where a
n
and b
n
are the coefficients of the Fourier series for f(x). These coefficients will be
different for each different f(x), and give the amplitude of the increasingly tight wiggles described
by the terms involving sine and cosine of (n x). The summation index n is often called the order
or sometimes the degree of the term in a Fourier series.
The meaning of the equals sign in the equation above needs to be qualified a bit, something
you might not be used to. In a properly run world, equals means equal, but here the sense in which
it is used is special. It doesn#t mean that if we run the sum out to n = , that the sum on the right
will be identically equal to f(x) for each and every x, but only that the area between the curves
represented by f(x) and the sum will vanish. Stated more exactly, the integral of the square of (f(x)
minus the sum) will go to zero as n approaches infinity. For most values of x, the value of f(x) and
the sum of the Fourier series will be equal, but at isolated points they may not be. This qualified
idea of equality is termed convergence. We say that the Fourier series converges to f(x) in an
integral sense as n .
In order for the Fourier series (1) to exist and have nice properties (such as convergence),
f(x) must satisfy certain conditions. Specifically:
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 2
Updated Spring 2007
1. f(x) must be a single-valued, periodic function of x, with period T = 2!, so that f(x + 2!) =
f(x).
2. f(x) must be piecewise differentiable. This means that there must be a finite number of
subintervals in each of which f(x) is finite and !f / !x exists. (It is only at the points where
f(x) is discontinuous or has a slope break that the value of f(x) and the infinite sum will not
be the same.)
These conditions are not hard to satisfy with most of the functions we will be interested in. We can
relax the first condition to f(x) being periodic with some period T not equal to 2! by rewriting the
Fourier series for f(x) as:
f (x) = a
n
cos
2"n
T
x
#
$
%
&
'
( + b
n
sin
2"n
T
x
#
$
%
&
'
(
n= 0
)
*
(2)
which gives us back our original equation (1) when T = 2!. Later we will show how Fourier
analysis can be extended to nonperiodic functions as well.
The power of Fourier analysis lies in the ability to easily determine the coefficients a
n
and b
n
giving the amplitudes of the various periods contained in f(x). This leads us to the next
topic.
Determination of Fourier Coefficient
Basic to the determination of the coefficients in Fourier analysis (and spherical harmonics) is the
concept of two functions being orthogonal over some interval. Recall that two vectors are
orthogonal if their dot product is zero. There is an analogous integral definition of orthogonality
for two functions f(x) and g(x). They are orthogonal over some interval a ! x ! b if they satisfy
f (x)g(x) dx = 0
a
b
"
(3)
The sine and cosine functions are orthogonal over ! ! x ! ! because
sinnx cosmx dx = 0
"#
#
$
(4)
for all m, n > 0. In addition, the sine and cosine have the property that:
cosnx cosmx dx
"#
#
$
= sinnx sinmx dx
"#
#
$
= #%
m
n
, m, n > 0 (5)
where "
m
n
is the Kronecker delta function defined as:
"
m
n
=
0 if m # n
1 if m = n
$
%
&
'
(
)
(6)
Equation (5) above shows that the function pairs cos nx, cos mx and sin nx, sin mx are
orthogonal on ! ! x ! ! if m " n, as well as sin nx, cos mx being orthogonal for all m, n (equation
(4)). This will enable us to find the values of the coefficients for a function that we are
approximating by Fourier series. The special case m = n will eventually be used to normalize the
coefficients, so that their sizes will relate directly to the amplitude of the frequency component that
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 3
Updated Spring 2007
they represent. The graphs on the next page illustrate orthogonality of cos 2x and cos 3x, showing
that the net area under the curve formed by their product is zero over the interval from ! to .
To use the orthogonality relationships (4) and (5) to determine coefficients a
n
and b
n
, take
the Fourier series for f(x) given by (1) and multiply both sides by cos mx:
f (x)cosmx = (a
n
cosnx cosmx + b
n
sinnx cosmx)
n= 0

(7)
Now integrate both sides over the interval ! x :
f (x)cosmx dx

= a
n
n= 0

cosnx cosmx dx

+ b
n
n= 0

sinnx cosmx dx

= a
m
, m > 0 (8)
because sin nx and cos mx are orthogonal and integrate to zero, as do cos nx and cos mx as long as
m n. We will give an example in more detail later.
If instead we had multiplied by sin mx and integrated over the same interval, we would find:
f (x)sinmx dx

= b
m
, m> 0 (9)
In general, the relationships that give us the coefficients for m greater than zero are:

a
m
=
1

f (x)cosmx dx

m> 0, and
b
m
=
1

f (x)sinmx dx

m> 0
(10)
The case for m = 0 is a bit different than the others because, multiplying both sides of (1) by cos
(0) (=1) and integrating, the nonzero terms are:

f (x)cos(0) dx

= f (x) dx

= a
0
cos
2
(0) dx

= a
0
dx

= 2 a
0
(11)
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 4
Updated Spring 2007
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
cos 2x
x
2 2
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
2
2
x
cos 3x
2 2
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
(cos 2x)(cos 3x)
x
0.5
0
1.0
2 2
x
cos (2x)
2
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 5
Updated Spring 2007
and we find that the formula for a
0
is different from higher terms:
a
0
=
1
2
f (x) dx

(12)
which is simply the average of f(x) over the interval ! x . For b, we have an even simpler case
because sin (0) = 0:
b
0
=
1

f (x)sin(0) dx

= 0 (13)
This process of decomposing a function into a sum of Fourier terms by finding the
coefficients a
n
and b
n
is what is properly called Fourier analysis or series expansion. The inverse
process of reconstituting the original f(x) by plugging the coefficients back into equation (1) is
called Fourier synthesis.
Examples of Fourier Series Expansion
1. First, consider f(x) = 2 cos (2x) as shown below:

2

2

2
2
Evaluating the various coefficients, we can tell immediately that b
m
= 0 for m 0 because f(x) is a
cosine function and can"t have any sine terms in its expansion. Further,

a
0
=
1
2
2cos(2x) dx

= 0
a
1
=
1

2cos(2x)cos(x) dx

= 0
a
2
=
1

2cos(2x)cos(2x) dx

=
2

= 2
a
m
= 0, m> 2
and so the coefficients are just what we should have expected.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 6
Updated Spring 2007
2. Second, consider the square-wave function shown below:

0
+1
1
2
2

f (x) =
~1 if ! s x < 0
+1 if 0 s x <
|
|
|
|
|
|
Then the coefficients are found to be
a
m
=
1

f (x)cosmx dx
~

j
=
1

(~1)cosmx dx
~
0
j
+
1

(+1)cosmx dx
0

j

=
1

~sinmx
m
~
0
|
|
|
|
|
| +
1

sinmx
m
0

|
|
|
|
|
| = 0
b
m
=
1

f (x)sinmx dx
~

j
=
1

(~1)sinmx dx
~
0
j
+
1

(+1)sinmx dx
0

j

=
1

cosmx
m
~
0
|
|
|
|
|
| +
1

~cosmx
m
0

|
|
|
|
|
|
=
1

1~cosm
m
|
|
|
|
|
|
+
1

1~cosm
m
|
|
|
|
|
|
=
2
m
1~cosm
( )
=
2
m
1+ ~1
( )
m+1
[ ]
=
0 for m even
4/m for m odd
|
|
|
|
|
|
and f(x) turns out to be


f (x) =
4

sinnx
n
n=1,3,5,L

=
4

sin x +
1
3
sin3x +
1
5
sin5x + L
( )
which is illustrated in the diagram on next page.
Note the curious peaks beginning to form around the discontinuities in the step function we are
analyzing. The Fourier series is preparing itself not to match values exactly at the breakpoints, as
we discussed above in connection with convergence. If we take more and more terms, the peaks
will get narrower and narrower until the area inside them vanishes, but the value of the infinite sum
still will not equal f(x) at x = !, 0, and . This is known as the Gibbs phenomenon or Gibbs
overshoot.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 7
Updated Spring 2007
x
1.0
0.5
1.0
0.5

First-order term sum

Third-order term Fifth-order term

0.5
1.0
0.5
1.0
Sum of first three terms
Sum of first twenty terms
first-order term: (4/ ) sin x = 1.27 sin x
third-order term: (4/3 ) sin 3x = 0.42 sin 3x
fifth-order term: (4/5 ) sin 5x = 0.25 sin 5x
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 8
Updated Spring 2007
Fourier Series of Nonperiodic Function
At the beginning of this discussion of Fourier series, it was noted that f(x) should be a periodic
function of x. What if a function g(x) is not periodic in x? We can still use Fourier series to
separate out various frequencies contained in g(x)
For example, let!s say we have g(x) which looks like:

L +L
g(x)
We can find a Fourier series for g(x) if we impose an artificial periodicity on g(x) by repeating it at
the endpoints L. What this amounts to is assuming that the g(x) looks like:

L
+L
We can then get an expression for f(x) which will be a very good fit except at the very ends of the
original interval "L x L. Even there, given enough terms of the expansion (the order n big
enough), the area between the original function and its Fourier series approximation will vanish,
although the value right at the endpoint will not match. This is another occurrence of the Gibbs
phenomenon.
Example of Fourier Series in Seismology
Suppose that g(t) is the seismograph trace shown below, recorded from some distant Earthquake:

T
f
/2 T
f
/2
We could take g(t) over the interval "T
f
/2 t T
f
/2, and approximate it as periodic outside those
limits with period T
f
. T
f
is then the fundamental period, and f
f
= 1/T
f
is the fundamental frequency
of the expansion. If we choose T
f
such that g(t) 0 at t = "T
f
/2, T
f
/2, we can mostly avoid the
problem of poor fit at the ends of the interval.
The Fourier series expansion for g(t) is
g(t) = a
n
cos
2
T
f
nt
[
\
|
|

)
j
j
+ b
n
sin
2
T
f
nt
[
\
|
|

)
j
j
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
n= 0

_
(14)
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 9
Updated Spring 2007
and we have
a
n
=
2
T
f
~T
f
/ 2
T
f
/ 2
j
g(t)cos
2
T
f
nt
[
\
|
|

)
j
j
dt, n > 0 (15)
b
n
=
2
T
f
~T
f
/ 2
T
f
/ 2
j
g(t)sin
2
T
f
nt
[
\
|
|

)
j
j
dt, n > 0 (16)
a
0
=
1
T
f
T
f
/ 2
T
f
/ 2

g(t) dt (17)
and we can evaluate a
n
, b
n
for various values of n.
These a
n
, b
n
are amplitudes of cosine and sine terms of frequency 2 n f
f
. Thus a
0
is seen
as the d.c. term, a
1
and b
1
are the amplitudes of the fundamental frequency cosine and sine terms,
and so on. Each higher n represents the contribution of higher frequency cosine and sine terms.
The Spectrum of a Series Expansion
In the example above, we could plot the amplitudes a
n
, b
n
for the Fourier expansion of g(t) as a
function of the order n:

1 2 3 4 n = 0
a
n
1 2 3 4 n = 0
b
n
or in terms of frequency f and period T,
f = 0 2f
f
4f
f
6f
f
8f
f
T = T
f
/2 T
f
/4 T
f
/6 T
f
/8, etc.
where the size of the frequency steps are determined by T
f
. The a
0
term in this expansion will be
very nearly zero, because the passage of a seismic wave from a distant Earthquake usually leaves no
permanent ground deformation.
As an alternative to a
n
and b
n
, we can represent the Fourier series expansion in terms of
amplitude and phase. We define the amplitude A
n
by:
A
n
= a
n
2
+ b
n
2
(18)
and the phase angle
n
is defined by:

n
= tan
!1
(b
n
/ a
n
) (19)
For a particular order n the phase angle
n
represents a shifting of the waveform between the
extremes represented by the cosine wave, which is symmetrical about the origin x = 0 and is
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 10
Updated Spring 2007
therefore an odd function with cos x = cos (!x), and the sine wave which is an even function [sin x =
!sin (!x)] that is antisymmetrical about the origin.


=

4

=

2
= 0
0 0 0
We can thus take A
n
to be the amplitude of a cosine wave of frequency 2nf
f
that is shifted by n
radians to the right of the origin (phase lead).
n
is 2 times the fraction of the period 1/(2nf
f
) that
the cosine wave is shifted from the origin. Thus
n
. Now we can plot A
n
and
n
against n
to obtain:
1 2 3 4 n = 0
A
n
which is called the amplitude spectrum, and

1 2 3 4 n = 0

2
which is the phase spectrum.
Our original signal g(t) can be reconstructed using either the a
n
and b
n
or the A
n
and n
representations. We term the original function when seen as g(t) as "in the time domain#, and the
Fourier series equivalent, expressed as either a
n
, b
n
, or A
n
,
n
as being "in the frequency domain.#
Which domain to use for a particular problem depends on convenience. We will find the frequency
domain useful in a number of cases, although it may at first be less suited to your physical intuition
than the time domain, or its equivalent, the space domain for data distributed in space rather than
time. The amplitude spectrum is most often used when working in the frequency domain, although
the phase spectrum of a signal is very useful in electromagnetic exploration. You might have heard
of power spectra in a signal-processing context before. The power spectrum is given by (A
n
)
2
,
because the power or energy in an oscillating signal is proportional to the square of the amplitude.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 11
Updated Spring 2007
It is worth noting that Fourier series analysis can be extended to functions of two variables.
It is possible to construct a two-dimensional Fourier series representation for g(x, y). This
technique is particularly useful when some function varies over a two-dimensional planar surface.
Examples include trend analyses of topography, heat flow, or gravity anomalies over some portion
of the Earth!s surface small enough to ignore the spherical nature of the surface. For example, the
Bouguer gravity map of the state of Arizona has had a two-dimensional trend surface removed from
it by Fourier analysis designed to account roughly for the isostatic effects associated with the
state!s long-wavelength (n 2) topography.
By contrast, when a function varies over a surface spherical enough that we can!t pretend
that it!s flat, we need a series representation that takes advantage of spherical coordinates.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 12
Updated Spring 2007
Surface Harmonics
Now let us worry about a function f(, ) which is distributed on the surface of a sphere of radius r
= a (spherical coordinates will be defined just below). We seek appropriate periodic functions to
represent any arbitrary f(, ). In comparison to a one-dimensional Fourier series, there are two
differences:
(a) We are working in two dimensions (, ) rather than one (x)
(b) We are working on a sphere and thus would like to use spherical coordinates (r, , ).
The spherical coordinates we will be using are:

P(, , r)

!
x

!
y

NP =
!
z
0 , = colatitude
0 2, = longitude
To get to Cartesian coordinates:
x = r sin cos
y = r sin sin
z = r cos
Note that colatitude rather than latitude is being used to describe the north-south direction. If you
ever need to convert one of the following equations to latitude , just use the conversion cos
sin and sin cos .
If we have a function f(, ), but consider for the moment only one circle of colatitude
0
,
then f(
0
, ) is a function of only, and f can be represented by an infinite sum that turns out to be
a Fourier series:
f (
0
,) = a
m
cosm + b
m
sinm
( )
m= 0

(20)
Note that we have no trouble about f(
0
, ) not being periodic, because each circle of colatitude
wraps around and connects to itself, so f cannot be anything but periodic.
Legendre Polynomials
For f(, ) along any other circle of colatitude besides
0
, we can develop another series like
(20) that would have different a
m
and b
m
. In other words, a
m
and b
m
are functions of . As a
result, f(, ) can be written:
f (,) = a
m
()cosm + b
m
()sinm
[ ]
m= 0

(21)
What we are going to do is to expand a
m
() and b
m
() as an infinite sum, using Legendre
polynomials P
n
() rather than the plain sines and cosines of the Fourier series. Basically, we have
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 13
Updated Spring 2007
to use Legendre polynomials rather than Fourier series for the latitude dependence because of the
singularities in the coordinate system at the north and south poles. The Legendre polynomials
P
n
(!) look like this:
P
n
(cos") =
1
2
n
n!
#
n
# cos$
( )
n
cos
2
$ %1
( )
n
(22)
where the notation !n / !(cos !)
n
implies a substitution of variables made clearer by equation (23)
below. The first few Legendre polynomials are:
n P
n
(cos !)

0 1
1 cos !
2
3

2
cos
2
!
1

2
3
5

2
cos
3
!
3

2
cos !

and they look like this:

1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
!
0.0
0.0
P
0
P
1
P
2
P
3
P
n
"
As you can see from the table above, one can get tired of writing cos !, so we often make the
substitution = cos ! and d = sin ! d!. Using this substitution, the P
n
(cos !) are written P
n
().
In terms of , which lies in the range 1 ! ! 1, the Legendre polynomials are:
P
n
() =
1
2
n
n!
"
n
"
n

2
#1
( )
n
(23)
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 14
Updated Spring 2007
n P
n
()

0 1
1
2
1
!
2
(3
2
! 1)
3
1
!
2
(5
3
! 3)

Like the sine and cosine, the Legendre polynomials satisfy certain orthogonality conditions:
P
n
1
P
n
2
sin0 d0
0

j
=
0, n
1
= n
2
2/(2n
1
+1), n
1
= n
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
(24)
where the integral is of the product of P
n
1
times P
n
2
over the surface of the sphere, and sin is the
integrating factor based on the area of the sphere:

r
r
0
area = (2r
0
) r d
= 2r
2
sin d
In terms of , the orthogonality relationship is:
P
n
1
()P
n
2
() d
~1
1
j
=
0, n
1
= n
2
2/(2n
1
+1), n
1
= n
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
(25)
The Legendre polynomials would seem to be a good choice for a series approximation of
a
m
() and b
m
(). However, they are not adequate for a general function on a sphere, but only for
one with axial symmetry. We will deal with that limited case first, before unleashing the full
complexity we need. Let"s say we have a function, defined on a spherical surface, which is
independent of longitude (our axial symmetry) but does change with colatitude . Then f(, ) =
f() can be represented by an infinite sum of Legendre polynomials:
f () = a
n
P
n
()
n=0

or f () = a
n
P
n
()
n=0

(26)
We determine the various coefficients a
n
in a way analogous to that we used for Fourier
series:
1. Multiply f() by a specific Legendre polynomial, say P
2
():
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 15
Updated Spring 2007

f ()P
2
() = a
n
P
n
()
n=0

P
2
() = a
0
P
0
P
2
+ a
1
P
1
P
2
+ a
2
P
2
P
2
+ a
3
P
3
P
2
+ L
2. Integrate term-by-term over the interval !1 1 and use the orthogonality of the
Legendre functions:
f ()P
2
() d
!1
1
j
= a
n
P
n
()
n= 0

_
|
|
|
|
|
|
!1
1
j
P
2
() d
= a
n
P
n
()
~1
1
j
n= 0

_
P
2
() d

f ()P
2
() d
!1
1

= a
0
P
0
()
1
1

P
2
() d + a
1
P
1
()
1
1

P
2
() d + a
2
P
2
()
1
1

P
2
() d
+ a
3
P
3
()
1
1

P
2
() d + L
All the integrals on the right are equal to zero except the integral containing (P2(m))2,
because of the orthogonality relationship (25). Therefore,
f ()P
2
() d
!1
1

= a
2
P
2
2
()
!1
1

d =
2
5
a
2
and
a
2
=
5
2
f ()P
2
() d
!1
1

In general,
a
n
=
2n +1
2
f ()P
n
() d
!1
1

(27)
Let"s try an example of a function defined on the surface of a sphere such that f(, ) is
independent of and is given by:
= 0
1
+1
= +1
= 1
f (0) = f () =
+1, 0 s s1
~1, ~1s s 0
|
|
|
|
|
|
As usual, we will represent f() as an infinite sum of Legendre polynomials:
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 16
Updated Spring 2007

f () = a
n
P
n
() = a
0
P
0
() +
n= 0

a
1
P
1
() + a
2
P
2
() + L
with
a
n
=
2n +1
2
f ()P
n
() d
-1
1

For the f() defined above, the integrals come out to be:
a
0
=
1
2
f ()P
0
() d
-1
1

=
1
2
(1)(1) d
-1
0

+ (1)(1) d
0
1

[ ]
= 0
and so on. To list a few more coefficients, a
2
= 0, a
3
= !7/8, a
4
= 0, a
5
= 66/99, , and f() ends
up as:

f () =
3
2
P
1
()
7
8
P
3
() +
66
99
P
5
() + L
=
3
2

7
8
1
2
5
3
3
( )
+
66
99
1
8
63
5
70
3
+15
( )
+ L
Graphically, this shows how the Legendre polynomial expansion of f() will more and more
closely fit f() as we add more and more terms:
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
1.5
1.0
0.5

2

0.0
f()
sum of n = 1, 3, 5 terms
n = 3
n = 5
n = 1

= 1
= 1
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 17
Updated Spring 2007
Surface Harmonic Functions
Now we are ready to define a set of functions which can be used to represent any arbitrary function
f(, ) at every point on a spherical surface, which we will take for the present as having unit radius
r. The !associated Legendre polynomials," an extension of the Legendre polynomials, prove to be
what we want. The associated Legendre polynomial P
m
n
() is defined by:
P
n
m
() = 2
(n m)!
(n + m)!






1/ 2
sin
m
()
d
m
P
n
()
d(cos)
m
(28)
where you will notice that the Legendre polynomials have gotten themselves involved in the taking
of derivatives, and we have picked up another index m which will be used to couple these
polynomials to the terms in the Fourier series we are using for longitudinal dependence. The two
indices are called:
n = order of P
m
n
()
m = degree of P
m
n
()
The factor in brackets in (28) differs somewhat from the usual form given for these
polynomials. It is a !normalization" factor designed to take care of the fact that high-degree
associated Legendre polynomials would have very large values compared with the low-degree
polynomials if we didn#t keep them under control. This particular way of fudging the polynomials
is called Gauss-Schmidt normalization and is used for geomagnetics. We will see another
normalization later.
Equation (28) looks like trouble, and in fact the associated Legendre polynomials are rather
tedious to write out, but let#s have a look at a few of their properties and try to make them less
intimidating:
(a) P
m
n
() = 0 for m > n. This is easily seen from the definition of P
m
n
() if we remember that
P
n
() contains a cos
n
() term and differentiation of cos
n
() n + 1 times yields 0.
(b) P
m
n
() has n $ m zero crossings between = 0 and = . This means that the function
divides the sphere into n $ m + 1 bands bounded by parallels of latitude.
(c) If m = 0, P
m
n
() = P
n
(). For m = 0 the associated Legendre polynomials are simply the
ordinary Legendre polynomials (that is, the Legendre polynomials are a subset of the
associated Legendre polynomials). This is appropriate, because the operation d
0
/d(cos )
0
for m = 0 in equation (28) wouldn#t do anything at all.
(d) As required, P
m
n
1
1
() is orthogonal to P
m
n
2
2
() for n
1
n
2
and m
1
m
2
.
A few examples of the low order and degree polynomials will give us their flavor. These have the
normalizing factor in brackets in equation (28) left off. There is a more detailed table on the next
page that shows these polynomials to order and degree 4 and the sizes of the various normalizing
factors.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 18
Updated Spring 2007
Polynomials for Spherical Harmonics
Legendre polynomials
P
n
(cos !)
Associated Legendre polynomials
P
n
m

(cos !)
n (m = 0) m = 1 m = 2 m = 3 m = 4
0 + 1
{1.0}
[ 1 ]
1 + cos !
{1.732}
[ 1 ]
+ sin !
{1.732}
[1.0]
2
+
1
2
(3 cos
2
! 1)
{2.236}
[ 1 ]
+3 cos ! sin !
{1.291}
[0.577]
+3 sin
2
!
{0.645}
[0.289]
3
+
1
2
(5 cos
3
! 3 cos !)
{2.646}
[ 1 ]
+
3
2
(5 cos
2
! 1) sin !)
{1.080}
[0.408]
+15 cos ! sin
2
!
{0.342}
[0.129]
+15 sin
3
!
{0.139}
[0.053]
4
+
1
8
(35cos
4
" #
30cos
2
" + 3)
{3.000}
[ 1 ]
+
5
2
(7cos
3
" # 3cos")

$ sin"
{0.949}
[0.316]
+
15
2
(7 cos
2
! 1) sin !
{0.224}
[0.075]
+105 cos ! sin
3
!
{0.060}
[0.020]
105 sin
4
!
{0.021}
[0.0070]
Numbers in [ ] are normalizing factors [(2 "
0
m
)(n m)! / (n + m)!]
1/
2
for Gauss-Schmidt coefficients used in magnetics.
Numbers in { } are normalizing factors [(2n + 1)[(2 "
0
m
)(n m)! / (n + m)!]
1/2
for fully normalized coefficients used in gravity.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 19
Updated Spring 2007
m = 0 1 2

n = 0 P
0
0
= 1
1 P
0
1
= cos ! P
1
1
= sin !
2 P
0
2
=
1

2
[3cos
2
! 1] P
1
2
= 3 cos ! sin ! P
2
2
= 3 sin
2
!

If you would prefer to see the definition of the associated Legendre polynomials in the form
of a sum rather than as derivatives, the following formula is often used to compute them:
P
n
m
(") = 2
(n # m)!
(n + m)!
$
%
&
'
(
)
1/ 2
sin
m
"
2
n
n!
(#1)
t
(2n # 2t)!
t!(n # t)!(n # m# t)!
t= 0
*
+
(cos")
n#m#2t
(29)
where " is the largest integer !
1

2
(n m).
We now can combine the associated Legendre polynomials with the Fourier series cos m#
and sin m# in an infinite series expansion to describe any arbitrary function f(!, #) on a spherical
surface of any radius. These functions are called surface harmonics and are often denoted by
S
m
n
(!, #):
S
n
m
(", #) = P
n
m
(")
cosm#
sinm#
$
%
&
'
(
)
(30)
The general surface harmonic series representation of a function is given by:
f (", #) = A
n
m
cosm# + B
n
m
sinm#
( )
m= 0
n
$
n= 0
%
$
P
n
m
(") (31)
The dependence upon # of f(!, #) is contained in the cos m# and sin m# terms, as for the Fourier
series, and the ! dependence is expressed by the P
m
n
(!) terms. The coefficients A
n
m
and B
n
m
are each
now a two-dimensional array of numbers with indices n and m.
Properties of the Surface Harmonic Series
(a) For m = 0, there is no # dependence, and the series reduces to the Legendre polynomial
series we saw in equation (26).
(b) Orthogonality: the product of any two terms S
m
n
1
1
(!, #)and S
m
n
2
2
(!, #), averaged over the
surface of the sphere, is 0 unless n
1
= n
2
and m
1
= m
2
. Remembering that an element of surface
area for a spherical surface is a
2
sin ! d! d# for radius = a, and total area for the sphere is 4$a
2
,
and then using unit radius a = 1, the orthogonality condition for Gauss-Schmidt normalization is
expressed by:
1
4"
#= 0
#= 2"
$
P
n
1
m
1
(%)
cosm
1
#
sinm
1
#
&
'
(
)
*
+
% = 0
% = "
$
P
n
2
m
2
(%)
cosm
2
#
sinm
2
#
&
'
(
)
*
+
sin% d# d%
=
0, n
1
, n
2
or m
1
, m
2
1/(2n +1), n
1
= n
2
and m
1
= m
2
&
'
(
)
*
+
(32)
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 20
Updated Spring 2007
1
4
= 0
= 2
j
P
n
1
m
1
(0)
cosm
1

sinm
1

|
|
|
|
|
|
0 = 0
0 =
j
P
n
2
m
2
(0)
cosm
2

sinm
2

|
|
|
|
|
|
sin0 d d0
=
0, n
1
= n
2
or m
1
= m
2
1/(2n +1), n
1
= n
2
and m
1
= m
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
(32)
which allows the determination of the coefficients as before:

A
n
m
B
n
m
|
|
|
|
|
|
=
2n +1
4
0
2
j
f (0, )P
n
m
(0)
cosm
sinm
|
|
|
|
|
|
0

j
sin0 d d0 (33)
A graphical display of the zero crossings of several S
n
m
(, ) should help us to visualize the
shape these functions represent and their physical significance. We can construct the drawings by
remembering several rules:
(a) S
n
m
(, ) will have n ! m zero crossings in the range 0 .
(b) There are 2m zero crossings around circles of colatitude in 0 2.
(c) The zonal harmonics (zonal means m = 0, or pure Legendre polynomial) have the value +1
at = 0, and (!1)
n
at = = .
S
7
0
(, )

+

Zonal harmonic of order 7

n ! m = 7 ! 0 = 7 zero crossings
for between 0 and
m = 0 2m = 0. No zero crossings
for circles of latitude
S
7
5
(, )

These are called tesseral harmonics
(0 < m < n)
n ! m = 7 ! 5 = 2 zero crossings in
0 < <
m = 5, 2m = 10 zero crossings
around 0 2
P
7
7
(, )

These are called sectoral harmonics
(m = n)
n ! m = 0, no crossings for 0 < <
m = 7, 2m = 14 zero crossings in the
circles 0 2.
The next page has a chart of the positive and negative regions of the first few surface
harmonics.
G
e
o
s

4
1
9
/
5
1
9

N
o
t
e
s
:


H
a
r
m
o
n
i
c

A
n
a
l
y
s
i
s
p
a
g
e

2
1
U
p
d
a
t
e
d

S
p
r
i
n
g

2
0
0
7
zonal harmonics
(m = 0)
sectorial harmonics
(m = n)
tesseral harmonics
(m = n, m = 0, n = 0)
The value of each S is zero along (n ! m) parallels of latitude and 2m meridians of longitude.
m
n
4
3
2
1
m
n
0
0 1 2 3 4
+
+

+
+

++
+

+
+

+

+

+
+
+

+
+

+
+

+
+

+
+ +

! +
+
+
! !
!
!
!
+
+
+
! +
+
+
+ !
!
!
polar view
polar view
polar view
polar view
S
n
m
= P
n
m
(cos 0)
cosm

sin m

|
|

|
S Surface Harmonics:
Showing portions of the sphere in which the functions are positive or negative. Approximate equal-area projection of one hemisphere.

+
+

Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 22

Updated Spring 2007
Completely Normalized Harmonics
The 1/(2n + 1) on the right hand side of equation (32) means that the Gauss-Schmidt normalized
surface harmonics behave very much like the Legendre polynomials. As the order n gets larger, the
average value of P
n
m
() gets smaller. Therefore to represent a phenomenon of a given amplitude,
A
n
m
or B
n
m
will have to be correspondingly larger. For many purposes, such as gravity work, we
wish to avoid this, and so use fully normalized versions of the polynomials that average to unity
over the sphere no matter what n and m are. We will denote the fully normalized polynomials and
the coefficients used with them by a bar over the symbol:

P
n
m
, A
n
m
, and B
n
m
.
The definitions for these corresponding to equation (28) for Gauss-Schmidt are:
P
n
m
(0) = (2 ~o
m
0
)(2n +1)
(n ~ m)!
(n + m)!
|
|
|
|
|
|
1/ 2
sin
m
0
d
m
P
n
(0)
d(cos0)
m
(34)
where inside the brackets we have replaced a factor of 2 with 2 minus the Kronecker delta (defined
in (6) above) to handle the m = 0 polynomials, just as we did way back up at equation (11). In fact,
we could have used the same delta notation to combine (10) and (12) into one equation as we have
done here. The (2n + 1) factor inside the brackets completes the normalization.
To find our fully normalized coefficients, the analog of (33) is:
A
n
m
B
n
m
|
|
|
|
|
|
=
1
4
0
2
j
f (0, )P
n
m
(0)
cosm
sinm
|
|
|
|
|
|
0

j
sin0 d d0 (35)
To resynthesize these fully normalized surface harmonics, we just use equation (31), replacing the
A
n
m
, B
n
m
, and P
n
m
with B
n
m
, A
n
m
, and P
n
m
.
Amplitude Spectrum for Surface Harmonics
Just as we did in a previous section for Fourier series, we can define an amplitude spectrum for
surface harmonics. Because of the complicated form of the terms with m > 0, a phase spectrum
wouldn!t be particularly meaningful. As a function of the order n, one common version of the
amplitude spectrum
n
looks like

n
=
A
n
m
( )
2
+ B
n
m
( )
2
2n +1
m= 0
n

1/ 2
(36)
The 1 / (2n + 1) factor reflects the number of coefficients of order n, so this form of the spectrum
gives the average size of the coefficients, not their total contribution to the surface harmonic
expansion.
n
is sometimes called the degree variance because of its relationship to statistical
properties of spherical harmonics.
Use of Surface Harmonics for Heat Flow
So far we have said nothing about any physics or any governing differential equations. The surface
harmonics can be used to represent any function defined on the surface of the sphere, however
messy. We can handle topography (this has been done) or human population density (hasn!t been
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 23
Updated Spring 2007
done) or practically anything. However, we pay a heavy price if we want much detail. The number
of coefficients consumed by (31) increases as the square of the maximum order n that we use, but
the resolution only gets better as 1/n. This means if we want, say, 100 km detail, we need
something like 1 resolution. To get this, 360/2n
(max)
= 1, or n
(max)
= 180, and suddenly we!re
buried by (n + 1)
2
= 32,761 coefficients.
If we are more modest, and restrict ourselves to smaller values of n, the surface harmonics
can serve as a smoothing and interpolation device for noisy data sets, and are very handy for
comparing with other things like topography, gravity, or magnetic field. A nice example of this is
the map of global heat flow produced by Chapman and Pollack (1975, Earth and Planetary Science
Letters, v. 28, p. 23"32). They used the several thousand available heat flow measurements
scattered over the globe, but this data set left blank large areas of the Earth!s surface where no heat
flow values had been measured. Spherical harmonics tend to indulge in wild swings where they are
not constrained by data, so Chapman and Pollack filled in the blank areas by using the known
tectonic ages of the regions to guess what the heat flow should be, based on observed relationships
between tectonic age and heat flow in various oceanic and continental environments. These or the
actual measurements were averaged on a 5 5 grid, and used for an harmonic analysis up to order
and degree 12 to make the map below.
5
0
40
6
0
6
0 7
0
7
0
6
0
7
0
8
0
1
1
0
7
0
60 6
0
7
0
50
5
0
6
0
5
0
4
0
9
0
6
0
7
0
6
0
5
0
5
0
6
0
6
0
5
0
40
7
0
5
0
6
0
5
0
6
0
8
0
5
0
8
0
6
0
7
0
7
0
5
0
60
7
0
6
0
5
0
6
0
7
0
Degree 12 spherical harmonic representation of global heat flow from observations supplemented
by predictor. Contours are in mW/m
2
. Areas of lowest heat flow are shaded.
Note on the map above that the regions of high heat flow, q 70 mW m
"2
, are mainly over
the midocean ridge system, while the regions of low heat flow, q 40 mW m
"2
, are concentrated on
the old continental shield regions. The heat flow values vary from 30 to 120 mW m
"2
, but the root
mean squared residual after subtracting the 12 synthetic field is only about 13 mW m
"2
. This
implies that the surface harmonic representation is an accurate description of the distribution of heat
flow values.
These are fully normalized spherical harmonic coefficients for the elevation of various Earth
surfaces relative to the geoid. They are taken from Balmino, G., Lambeck, K., and Kaula, W., 1973,
A spherical harmonic analysis of the Earth!s topography, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 78,
p. 478"481.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 24
Updated Spring 2007
Elevation of solid (rock) surface
m = 0 1 2 3 4
n = 0 !2300
0
1 639 591
0 409
2 515 336 !415
0 306 !80
3 !174 !135 !446 116
0 115 458 545
4 373 !222 !382 360 !57
0 !249 56 !118 449
Ocean!delta! function: =1 over oceans, 0 over land
m = 0 1 2 3 4
n = 0 0.697
0.000
1 !0.126 !0.108
0.000 !0.056
2 !0.060 !0.040 0.040
0.000 !0.051 0.002
3 0.045 0.044 0.070 !0.016
0.000 !0.032 !0.089 !0.089
4 !0.024 0.036 0.090 !0.053 0.014
0.000 0.030 !0.0210.005 !0.101
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 25
Updated Spring 2007
Fully normalized spherical harmonic coefficients of terrestrial heat flow in units of mW m
!2
n m Predicted Observed + Predicted n m Predicted Observed + Predicted
A
nm
B
nm
A
nm
B
nm
A
nm
B
nm
A
nm
B
nm
0
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
0
0
1
0
1
2
0
1
2
3
0
1
2
3
4
0
1
2
3
4
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
60.529
!l.582
!3.539
!1.794
1. 373
!4.030
0. 861
0. 056
2. 024
3. 151
!1.580
!0.096
1. 892
!1.002
0. 455
1. 269
!1.477
2. 044
1. 172
!2.811
!1.586
!1.721
0. 706
1. 418
!0.021
!0.661
!0.069
0. 438
0. 703
!0.172
!1.203
1. 302
0. 667
0. 211
!0.859
0. 580
0. 848
!0.152
1.21"
!0.208
!0.220
0. 989
0. 605
0. 464
!0.724
!3.276
0. 720
1. 521
0. 311
!1.067
1. 576
0. 085
0. 380
!0.851
!4.736
!0.765
0. 797
!0.851
1. 680
!1.949
1. 235
!0.898
!0.252
!0.140
0. 536
1. 940
!0.759
!0.009
!0.201
!0.710
1. 055
0. 275
!0.272
1. 433
0. 097
!0.215
0. 388
0. 437
1. 055
!0.172
0. 012
59.211
!1.662
!2.973
!0.472
0. 997
!3.031
1. 415
!0.479
0. 945
2. 004
!2.034
0. 328
1. 204
!0.269
0. 351
1. 540
!0.340
2. 163
1. 791
!2.595
!1.473
!0.891
1. 213
2. 088
!0.018
!0.850
!0.354
0. 156
0. 087
!0.4 19
!0.554
1. 001
0. 484
!0.025
0. 269
0. 050
0. 062
0. 140
1. 130
0. 092
!0.465
0. 865
0. 880
0. 090
0. 149
!1.373
0. 788
1. 396
!0.768
!0.595
1. 924
0. 428
0. 853
!1.338
!2.876
!0.224
0. 117
!0.167
1. 363
!1.797
0. 842
!1.637
!0.118
!1.736
0. 296
1. 330
!0.792
0. 576
!0.413
!0.652
0. 904
!0.280
!0.217
1. 571
1. 080
0. 347
0. 664
0. 483
2. 085
!0.095
!0.289
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0. 186
1. 434
0. 060
!1.381
0. 286
!0.012
1. 074
!0.517
0. 884
0. 160
0. 481
1. 084
!0.428
0. 761
!0.819
0. 134
!0.859
!1.038
0. 109
0. 048
1. 074
!0.484
!0.285
0. 415
!0.538
0. 507
!0.078
!0.313
!0.228
0. 388
0. 144
!0.123
!0.113
0. 122
!0.074
!0.089
0. 657
0. 048
!0.245
0. 914
!0.166
0. 150
!0.193
0. 431
0. 169
!0.184
0. 159
!0.248
!0.867
!0.577
!0.158
!0.146
!1.209
0. 661
1. 110
0. 111
0. 556
0. 172
!0.149
0. 102
!0.237
0. 424
0. 415
0. 241
!0.864
0. 225
0. 203
0. 080
!0.442
1. 200
0. 007
!0.007
0. 255
0. 978
0. 124
!0.406
!0.162
0. 257
!0.002
!0.656
!0.076
!0.369
0. 175
0. 757
!0.048
!0.872
!0.473
0. 687
0. 568
1. 651
0. 387
!1.074
0. 101
0. 461
1. 070
0. 208
0. 342
0. 769
0. 468
0. 577
!0.118
0. 835
!0.881
0. 018
!0.633
!0.600
!0.258
1. 261
0. 769
!0.463
!0.391
0. 262
0. 110
0. 116
!0.342
0. 205
0. 182
0. 566
!0.139
0. 128
!0.207
0. 310
0. 206
0. 199
0. 686
0. 441
!0.034
0. 245
!0.421
!0.126
!0.173
0. 715
!0.741
!0.640
!0.128
!0.103
!0.742
!0.492
!0l055
0. 926
!1.247
0. 159
1. 607
0. 211
0. 193
0. 058
0. 224
0. 162
0. 152
0. 470
0. 386
1. 036
!0.832
0. 647
!0.045
0. 115
!0.505
1. 099
!0.235
!0.126
0. 705
1. 501
!0.029
!0.605
!0.039
0. 397
!0.099
!0.361
!0.135
!0.713
0. 367
1. 812
0. 388
!0.529
!0.263
1. 031
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 26
Updated Spring 2007
Spherical Harmonic Functions
The last step in the development of spherical harmonics is to include a radial dependence. If we
follow the same path that we used to get from Fourier series to spherical harmonics, we will look
for a set of functions of the radius r, and fold them in with the other series we have already built up.
There are a number of possible choices for the radial terms, but we will choose a non-orthogonal set
that corresponds to useful physics, in particular the physics of gravity, magnetics, and elastic wave
propagation in a sphere. In particular, for the first two, we need an appropriate way of expressing
the solutions of Laplace!s equation for the potential relating to a force field.
Laplace!s Equation for Potential Field
Both the vector gravity field g(r) and the vector magnetic field H(r) are very compactly expressed as
the gradient of a scalar potential function:
g(r) = "U(r), and H(r) = "A(r) (37)
where the boldface represents vector quantities. The potential functions in source-free regions
satisfy, and thus can be calculated by solving with the appropriate boundary conditions, a simple
differential equation known as Laplace!s equation: U
2
= 0, A
2
= 0. Written in this form,
Laplace!s equation looks very innocuous. If we write it out in spherical coordinates, it raises up a
more formidable aspect:
V
2
U =
1
r
2
o
or
r
2
oU
or
[
\
|

)
j +
1
r
2
sin0
o
o0
sin0
oU
o0
[
\
|

)
j +
1
r
2
sin
2
0
o
2
U
o
2
= 0 (38)
Without going into too much detail, the solutions to (38) can be found by separation of
variables, by assuming U = f
1
() f
2
() f
3
(r), plugging this into (38), then solving the three separate
differential equations linked by constants that result. Lo and behold, the f
2
() turns out to have
solutions completely describable by a Fourier series, f
1
() is solved by the associated Legendre
polynomials, and the r dependence expressed in f
3
has solutions that can be built up as:
f
3
(4) = K
1,n
r
n
+
K
2,n
r
n+1
(39)
with the K
1,n
and K
2,n
being constants to be determined, and the n that shows up in the exponents
being the same n that appears as the order of the surface harmonic.
Each of the two possible families of solutions in (39) has a specific physical interpretation.
The r
n
terms represent a potential that is well under control for small r, but increases with r and
becomes infinite as r approaches infinity. These terms are well suited for handling potentials that
arise from outside the particular level at which we wish to do our calculations. Possible examples
for cases where we are sticking close to the Earth!s surface would include gravitational attractions
by the moon, sun, and other planets (i.e., tides), or magnetic variations that arise from currents
flowing in the ionosphere. We won!t worry about these outside-source terms much just now, or
ever, except to note that if we include them in a spherical harmonic expansion, they will have their
own set of coefficients.
The r
"(n+1)
terms are the proper ones for representing the effects of masses or magnetic
sources beneath our feet, because they construct potentials that go to zero as r approaches , and
only blow up as r 0. We don!t have to worry about that, because we can!t get to r = 0 without
crossing into our source regions, where Laplace!s equation no longer holds true. The general form
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 27
Updated Spring 2007
of the spherical harmonic representation of a potential function whose sources are within the sphere
of observation then becomes:
f (0, , r) =
1
a
a
r
[
\
|

)
j
m= 0
n
_
n= 0

_
n+1
P
n
m
(0) A
n
m
cosm + B
n
m
sinm
( )
(40)
where the A!s, B!s, and P!s can either be fully normalized, or not, as the situation demands. Note
that we brought a, the radius of the sphere, outside so that we can use nondimensional radius a / r
inside the sum.
The Gravity Potential of the Earth in Spherical Harmonics
As a first example, let us identify f(, , r) in equation (40) above with the gravitational potential
U(, , r), and look at the physical meaning of the first few terms. It is customary in gravity work
to use fully normalized polynomials, so all our coefficients and P!s will have bars above them.
Gravity people also rearrange things so that the coefficients are dimensionless by bringing a factor
with units of energy outside the sum, giving the gravity potential as:
U(0, , r) = ~
Gm
e
r
a
r
[
\
|

)
j
m= 0
n
_
n= 0

_
n
P
n
m
(cos0) C
n
m
cosm + S
n
m
sinm
( )
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
~
1
2
c
2
r
2
sin
2
0 (41)
where G = Newton!s universal gravitational constant, m
e
is the mass of the Earth, a is the mean
radius of the Earth, and is the (sidereal) rate of rotation of the Earth. Following custom, we will
henceforth ignore the last term, which gives the purely rotational part of the potential.
Now consider the n = 0 term:
U
n= 0
=
Gm
e
r
C
0
0
cos (0) + S
0
0
sin (0)
( )
a
r






0
P
0
0
() =
Gm
e
r
C
0
0
(1) =
Gm
e
r
C
0
0
This we should recognize as looking a lot like the potential for a mass monopole: a single point
mass with the same mass as the Earth at the origin of our coordinate system. In fact, it is just that,
and gives rise to the fact that C
0
0
will always be taken as equal to 1 in gravity work. The result of
this choice is that the higher-order harmonics represent departures of the Earth from spherical
symmetry in its mass distribution. Because the Earth is so close to spherical, C
0
0
dominates and the
higher-order coefficients are all much smaller than 1, as you can see from the table below.
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 28
Updated Spring 2007
Table of Spherical Harmonic Coefficients of the Earth!s Gravitational Potential
(These coefficients, in units of 10
!6
, are from Lerch et al., 1979, Journal of Geophysical Research,
84, p. 3893!3916. C is given above S .)
m = 0 1 2 3 4

n = 0 1,000,000
!
1 0 0
! 0
2 !484.17 0 2.43
! 0 !1.40
3 0.96 2.03 0.89 0.70
! 0.25 -0.62 1.41
4 0.54 !0.54 0.35 0.99 !0.20
! !0.47 0.66 !0.20 0.30

As advertised above, the C
0
0

term is by far the largest: the Earth is very nearly a sphere.
Some terms are zero, but not by accident. C
1
0
, C
1
1
, and S
1
1

are proportional to the distance of the
center of mass of the planet from the origin of the coordinate system. For the Earth, we take the
center of mass for the zero point of the spherical coordinates, so those three terms vanish. C
1
2

and
S
1
2

are made zero by choosing the rotational axis for the axis of zero colatitude, because the Earth
rotates about its axis of maximum moment of inertia. There is a very close relationship between the
low-order gravity harmonics and the moments and products of inertia of the Earth. All the S
n
0

are
zero for the usual reason.
We will look later in this course at how we get gravity anomalies and geoid anomalies out of
this spherical harmonic expansion for the gravitational potential. For the moment, we will just note
that studies of satellite orbits, combined with gravity values measured on the ground, have been used
to find sets of coefficients that are well established up to order and degree 30, and somewhat
speculatively to order and degree 180. Now we will switch normalizations and look at the magnetic
field.
The Earth!s Magnetic Potential in Spherical Harmonics
For historical reasons, and to get the coefficients to come out in nice units, the magnetics people use
Gauss-Schmidt normalization. We go back to equation (40) and start customizing it for our
magnetic desires. The whole thing looks like:
A(0,, r) =
1
a
C
n
m
a
r
[
\
|

)
j
n+1
+ ' C
n
m
r
a
[
\
|

)
j
n
|
|
|
|
|
| cosm + D
n
m
a
r
[
\
|

)
j
n+1
+ ' D
n
m
r
a
[
\
|

)
j
n
|
|
|
|
|
| sinm
|

|
|
|
|

|
|
|
m= 0
n
_
n= 0

_
P
n
m
(0)
(42)
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 29
Updated Spring 2007
which is just as bad as it seems. The Earths radius is given by a, and the primed coefficients C!
and D! represent the effects of external sources. For the geomagnetic field, they are physically due
to things like atmospheric ring currents and the solar wind, and we can (and will) ignore them.
Another simplification comes from the fact that there can be no n = 0 term for a magnetic potential,
because it would have to represent a magnetic monopole, and these are at most very rare things
indeed. Now (42) boils down to:
A(",#, r) = a
a
r
$
%
&
'
(
)
m= 0
n
*
n= 0
+
*
n+1
g
n
m
cosm# + h
n
m
sinm#
( )
P
n
m
(cos") (43)
g
n
m
=
C
n
m
a
2
, h
n
m
=
D
n
m
a
2
The coefficients g
n
m
and h
n
m
are called the Gauss coefficients, and are cleverly designed to
give units of magnetic field force when the derivative is taken to find the field from the potential as
shown in (37). This way direct comparison of the various g
n
m
and h
n
m
will tell us the proportional
field strength in gammas or nanotesla caused by each term.
Lets look for the physical meaning of the n = 1 terms.
A
n=1
= a
a
r
"
#
$
%
&
'
2
P
1
0
(()g
1
0
+ P
1
1
(()g
1
1
cos) + P
1
1
(()h
1
1
sin)
[ ]
P
1
0
(") = cos ", P
1
1
(") = sin "
A
n=1
=
a
3
r
2
"
#
$
%
&
'
g
1
0
cos( +
a
3
r
2
"
#
$
%
&
'
g
1
1
sin(cos) +
a
3
r
2
"
#
$
%
&
'
h
1
1
sin(sin)
The first term in A
n=1
should immediately remind us of an axial dipole at the center of the
Earth aligned along the + z axis. g
1
0
is the strength of an axial dipole. All the n = 1 terms have
1 / r
2
dependence as expected for a dipole. The second and third terms are dipolar terms, then, but
they do not align with the z axis. The second term has a maximum when sin " = cos # = 1.
Because " is colatitude, " = 90 corresponds to the equator, and cos # = 1 implies # = 0. As a
result, g
1
1
is the strength of a dipole directed along the + x axis. Similarly, h
1
1
represents the size of
a dipole along the + y axis. Taken together, these three terms are the components of the vector
dipole moment of the Earth.
We should expect that the g
1
0
term will dominate for the Earths magnetic potential, that its
sign will be negative because the dipole today points to the south, and that the g
1
1
and h
1
1
terms will
be nonzero because the magnetic poles are not identical to the rotational polethe Earths dipole
moment is inclined to the z axis. On the next page is a table of the first few harmonic coefficients
as of 1975:
Geos 419/519 Notes: Harmonic Analysis page 30
Updated Spring 2007
m = 0 1 2 3 4

n = 0 0
!
1 !30186 !2036
! 5735
2 !1898 2997 1551
! !2124 !37
3 1299 !2144 1296 805
! !361 249 !253
4 951 807 462 !393 235
! 148 !264 37 !307

There are several points that are helpful to recognize in order to have a physical feeling for a
spherical harmonic analysis:
1. Each n term is equivalent to a 2n multipole at the Earth"s center, so that n = 0 represents a
monopole, n = 1 describes dipoles, n = 2 is a quadrapole, n = 3 represents an octapole,
whatever that is, and so on.
2. The m = 0 terms are tied to the +z component of each multipole, the component along the
Earth"s rotation axis.
3. The 0 < m < n terms are due to components of that particular multipole which are inclined to
the Earth"s rotation axis.
4. The coefficients g
n
m
, h
n
m
tell us the relative importance of the various multipoles.
Mathematical Equivalence vs. Physical Reality, or, Caveat Calculator
In discussing the spherical harmonic analysis of the geomagnetic field, we have been emphasizing
multipoles, and identifying various terms with physical quantities. This is supposed to be helpful in
making the terms seem more meaningful. However, there is a danger involved with such an
identification. Just because the n = 2 terms are mathematically explained by a geocentric
quadrapole, this does not necessarily imply that the quadrapole exists as a separate physical entity.
It simply means that the n = 2 terms could be explained by a geocentric quadrapole. However, the n
= 2 terms could also be explained by a set of dipoles of various orientations that aren"t at the center
of the Earth, or even electrical currents not in the Earth"s core at all, as long as they are
mathematically equivalent to a geocentric dipole. Thus, equivalence should not be confused with
physical reality. This general problem crops up repeatedly in potential theory problems and is
referred to as #nonuniqueness.$ When one encounters nonuniqueness, the reasonable thing to do
is to use physical reasoning to select a solution from the set of mathematically possible solutions.