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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Geophysics
Modern geophysics:
• The water cycle including snow and ice;
• Fluid dynamics of the oceans and the atmosphere;
• Electricity and magnetism in the ionosphere and
magnetosphere and solar-terrestrial relations; and
• Analogous problems associated with the Moon and other
planets
• Applied to societal needs (mineral resources, mitigation of
natural hazards and environmental protection).
• Geophysical survey data analyze potential petroleum
reservoirs and mineral deposits, locate groundwater, find
archaeological relics, determine the thickness (glaciers/soils),
and assess sites for environmental remediation.
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Geodesy
From the Ancient Greek word γεωδαισία (geodaisia) (literally,
"division of the Earth")
- originally: (ordinary) surveying
- extended to be geodesy[E]/géodésie[Fr]/Geodäsie[G]
A branch of applied mathematics and earth sciences
The scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and
representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in
a three-dimensional time-varying space.
Geodesists: studying geodynamical phenomena such as crustal
motion, tides, and polar motion
Primarily concerned with positioning within the temporally
varying gravity field (tasks)
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b
Geoid
a
MSL ? Ellipsoid
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Geodesy: tasks (implied by the definition)
1) Determine the shape of the Earth and its external gravity field
as well as their changes with time, to study the crust
deformation, and observe the polar motion and monitoring the
ocean surface.
2) Set up the geodetic coordinate system and maintain the
national horizontal geodetic control network and the vertical
leveling network.
3) Study the observation methods for geodetic instruments such
as total stations, levels, GPS, VLBI etc. and perform the data
processing for distances, directions, height differences, GPS
baselines.
4) Describe the mathematic models for the geodetic calculation
on the Earth ellipsoidal surface and the map projection from
ellipsoid surface to plane
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Geophysics and Geodesy
1) about knowledge of the Earth system, its space environment,
and the dynamical processes causing change
2) Geophysical Geodesy: The Study of the Slow Deformations of
the Earth Geodeformatics
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Geophysics and Geodesy
Their Difference explained - Example: Gravity anomaly
Anomalies in the Earth’s gravitational field play important
roles in both geodesy and geophysics.
In geodesy, gravity anomalies are used to define the figure of
the Earth, notably the geoid (the equipotential surface of the
Earth’s gravity field that corresponds most closely to mean sea
level).
In geophysics, gravity anomalies are used to deduce variations
in mass-density and hence subsurface geological structure for
a wide variety of applications.
the geophysicist’s aim is to remove gravity effects that mask
the local anomalies that are of interest, whereas the geodesist
is interested in using a gravity anomaly that preserves the
mass of the Earth
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Emphasized through
Earthquakes and other natural disasters
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang
Lecture 1: Introduction
Topics covered:
Tensors and Fields
Global Earth Structure
Isostacy
Seismic Tomography
Spherical Harmonics
Gravity and Geoid
Earth Rotation and VLBI
Geothermal Heat Flow
Mon Landing (its dark side?!) [3:26min]
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ESSE3020 G. Geophysics and Geodesy, J. Wang