Salahaddin University-Erbil

College of Engineering
Department of Geomatics (Surveying)

Basic Surveying Instruments

Practical lecture #4

Curvature and Refraction:

If the earth was reckoned to be perfectly spherical, a level line would be equidistant from the center
of the earth but in fact, the line of sight through a leveling instrument is a horizontal line tangential to
the level line. This results from the earth’s curvature and therefore causes an error to occur especially
at long distance while taking readings on staff rod for leveling purposes. The value of curvature is
determined in reference to the radius of earth (6370 m).
In addition, the line of sight that is normally considered horizontal is affected by refraction caused by
various factors such as pressure, temperature, latitude, humidity, etc… causing the line of sight to
slightly bend downwards, towards the earth and its value is not constant. Thus, the line of sight is not
totally horizontal especially at long distances. The value of refraction is taken as 1/7th of the
curvature and is opposite in effect. Furthermore, it is good practice when leveling at a distance more
than 50 m not to allow the reading on staff rod to fall below 0.5 m due to the variation in refraction
caused by fluctuation in the density of air close to ground surface.

Equipment/Tools required:
 Leveling instrument
 Graduated staff rod
 Measuring tape

Procedure:
1. Using the measuring tape, fix two points at a specified distance apart (usually a large
distance e.g. >120 m).
2. Set up and level the instrument at one of the points and the staff rod shall be held at the end
of the appointed distance at the other point.
3. Take the staff reading and apply the correction after determining the amount of error due to
curvature and refraction.
Calculations:
Magnitude of error due to curvature and refraction is often taken into account in considerably large
distances (e.g. distances greater than 120 m) otherwise the magnitude of error is negligible thus
correction can be neglected (e.g. for lengths less than 120 m). The apparent reading on staff rod is
always greater than actual reading due to error formed due to curvature and refraction.

 To determine the combined error due to curvature and refraction, use the following formula:
C=0.0673L2 where C is correction for curvature and refraction and L is length in km.
 The error is subtracted from the reading taken on staff rod.

Result:
As a result of leveling operations at great lengths, the curvature of earth and refraction of line of
sight will create an error on staff readings as mentioned earlier. For each reading on a staff rod, the
error due to curvature and refraction shall be taken into consideration during leveling calculations
where needed.