PHYSICAL GEODESY

LESSON 1:

INTRODUCTION TO
PHYSICAL GEODESY

PRESENTED BY:
ENGR. MARINEL A. MADRIDEO
GEODESY
- Geodesy takes its etymology from two Greek words, “geo” meaning “earth” and
“daesai” meaning “to divide”.

- is the scientific discipline that deals with the representation and measurement of the
Earth including its gravity field, in a three-dimensional time varying space. (Vanicek &
Kakiwsky, 1986)

- is a combination of mathematics, earth science and other related fields that “deal
with the measurement and portrayal of the Earth’s surface” (F.R Helmert, 1880).
GEODESY
- Geodesy:- Geo “earth” desy “ the study of” - “The study of the
Earth”
- Geodesy, over the years of continuous research and studies
involving the topic, has expanded towards many branches that deal
with more specific topics and fields.

- Geodesy is the science of the measurement and mapping of the

earth surface.

Eratosthenes - discovered that you could measure the

circumference of the Earth by looking down a well.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Hellenic World
The period of ancient Greek history between the date of the first democracy in Athens
and the death of Alexander the Great. Speculation and theorizing ranged from the flat
disc advocated by Homer to the spherical body postulated by Pythagoras — an idea
supported later by Aristotle.

Pythagoras was a mathematician who identified the sphere as the most perfect figure
of the Earth.
Anaximenes was an early Greek scientist who strongly believed that the Earth was
rectangular in shape.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Since the spherical shape was the most widely supported during the Greek Era, efforts
to determine its size followed.
Plato determined the circumference of the Earth to be 400,000 stadia (between
62,800 km/39,250 mi and 74,000 km/46,250 mi)
Archimedes it to be 300,000 stadia (55,500 kilometers/34,687 miles).
In Alexandria (Egypt), a Greek scholar and philosopher, Eratosthenes, set out to
make more explicit measurements.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Since the spherical shape was the most widely supported during the Greek Era, efforts
to determine its size followed.
Plato determined the circumference of the Earth to be 400,000 stadia (between
62,800 km/39,250 mi and 74,000 km/46,250 mi)
Archimedes it to be 300,000 stadia (55,500 kilometers/34,687 miles).
In Alexandria (Egypt), a Greek scholar and philosopher, Eratosthenes, set out to
make more explicit measurements.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Hellenistic World covers the period of ancient Greek (Hellenic) history and
Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the
emergence of the Roman Empire as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the
subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year.

Eratosthenes - a Greek scholar and philosopher, known for measuring the Earth’s
circumference with great precision with the length 252,000 stadia.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Posidonius – also a Greek scholar who computed the Earth's circumference in stadia as
240,000

Claudius Ptolemy – an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer that

calculated the larger and smaller sizes of the Earth at different times, 252,000 stadia and
180,000 stadia
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Ancient India
Aryabhata - an Indian mathematician who was a pioneer of mathematical astronomy.
He describes the earth as being spherical and that it rotates on its axis. He also
estimates the circumference of Earth, with an accuracy of 1% which is remarkable.

Aryabhatiya was one of Aryabhata’s works which represented the pinnacle of

astronomical knowledge
- divided in 4 sections Gitika, Ganitha (mathematics), Kalakriya (reckoning of
time) and Gola (celestial sphere)
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Islamic World
Muslim scholars – held to the spherical Earth theory to calculate the distance and
direction from any given point on the earth to Mecca (the Holiest City in Islam)
Muslim Mathematician - developed spherical trigonometry used for calculations.
Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni introduced techniques to measure the earth and distances on it
using triangulation.
➢ found the radius of the earth to be 6339.9 km
➢ written a study of map projections, Cartography
➢ discussed human geography and the planetary habitability of the Earth
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Medieval Europe
Ptolemy - determined 18,000 miles as the Earth's circumference through his world
maps
Christopher Columbus - using such maps, was led to believe that Asia was only 3
or 4 thousand miles west of Europe
Mercator - a Flemish cartographer that made successive reductions in the size of
the Mediterranean Sea and all of Europe which had the effect of increasing the size of
the earth
 HISTORY OF GEODESY

Early Modern Period

The invention of the telescope and the theodolite and the development of logarithm
tables allowed exact triangulation and grade measurement.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Europe
Jean Picard - performed the first modern meridian arc measurement in 1669–1670. He
measured a base line by the aid of wooden rods, used a telescope in his angle
measurements, and computed with logarithms.

Jacques Cassini - divided the measured arc into two parts, one northward from Paris,
another southward. He computed the length of a degree from both chains, he found that
the length of one degree in the northern part of the chain was shorter than that in the
southernpart.
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Europe

French Academy of Sciences - dispatched two expeditions

➢ Pierre Louis Maupertuis (Torne Valley)

➢ Pierre Bouguer (modern-day Ecuador, near the equator)

 HISTORY OF GEODESY
Asia and Americas

“ Undulation of the Geoid “- became the next great undertaking in the science of
studying the figure of the Earth
 HISTORY OF GEODESY
19 th Century

Central Bureau for International Geodesy - was established by Austria-Hungary and

Germany
Friedrich Robert Helmert – a German Geodesist who derived relevant theories of
Geodesy (Mathematical and Physical Theories of Higher Geodesy, Vol. 1)
John Fillmore Hayford - a US Geodesist derived a global ellipsoid in ~1910, based on
intercontinental isostasy and an accuracy of 200 m. It was adopted by the IUGG as
"international ellipsoid 1924"
GEODESY
Branches of Geodesy
• Geometric Geodesy
• Satellite Geodesy
• Physical Geodesy
PHYSICAL GEODESY
- is the branch of geodesy concerned with studying the Earth’s gravity field in order
to determine its true size and shape.
- it studies the physical properties of the gravity field of the earth and the
geopotential, with a view to their application in geodesy.

Gravity surveying is the actual execution through the gravity of the earth by the
use of the gravity surveying instruments.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
- it uses the geoid as a primary model for the
Earth’s shape and its other properties. The geoid is
the equipotential surface of the Earth at the mean
sea level. This means that without the tides, waves,
and oceanic currents, the ocean surface coincides the
geoid.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
Gravity – In Laymans term – is the force that pulls you down of holds you in place.
In physics – is resultant force experienced on the Earth’s surface due to the
attraction by the earths masses (gravitation), and centrifugal forced caused by the
earth’s rotation.
Gravitation – is one of the fundamental forces in the universe and is observed as the
attraction between two bodies.
The force gravity is responsible for holding objects onto the surface of planets and is
responsible for keeping objects in orbit around one another.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
Gravitational Field - a model used to explain the influence that a massive body
extends into the space around itself, producing a force on another massive body.
- Discovered by Isaac Newton
- Measured in newtons per kilogram (N/Kg)

With sufficient information regarding the earth’s gravity field, it is possible to determine:

1. Geoid undulations
2. Gravimetric deflections
3. Earth’s flattening
PHYSICAL GEODESY
1. Undulation of the Geoid - the mathematical process of determining the height in
meters above the geoid (relative to the mean sea level) from the height provided by the
GPS system which uses the (WGS84) ellipsoid as reference.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
2. Gravimetric Deflection - set of methods in measuring the vertical deflection
PHYSICAL GEODESY
3. Flattening - the measure of the compression of a circle or sphere along a diameter to
form an ellipse or an ellipsoid of revolution (spheroid) respectively
PHYSICAL GEODESY
Gravitational Force VS. Gravity Force
Gravitation is the force of attraction acting between two bodies of
the universe while gravity is the Earth’s gravitational pull on a body
laying on near the surface of earth.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
Gravimeter - is the measuring instrument of gravitational field of the Earth at
specific location.

There are two types of gravimeters:

1. Absolute meters -Where gravity can be directly determined by measuring a length

and/or a time.
2. Relative meters -Where gravity depends on things like spring constants, which
cannot be so readily determined. Relative instruments can only tell you the relative
difference in gravity between two points or between two times.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
The basic tools of physical geodesy are:
1. astronomical measurements for obtaining the direction of the plumb line;
2. linear and azimuthal measurements for determining distances and angles in a
triangulation net; an
3. gravimetrical measurements that provide accurate values for the gravity anomaly
for the difference between gravity on the geoid and gravity on a reference surface,
which is commonly assumed to be an ellipsoid of revolution.
PHYSICAL GEODESY
TWO (2) FUNDAMENTAL FORMULAS OF PHYSICAL GEODESY

1. The Strokes formula for geoidal undulations

2. The Vening - Meinesz formula for deflections

PHYSICAL GEODESY
Geoid and Ellipsoid

Geiod – is the particular equipotential surface that coincides with the mean sea level
• Over the oceans, the geoid is the ocean surface (assuming no currents, waves, etc)
• Over the continents, the geoid is not the topographic surface (its location can be
calculated from gravity measurements)
• Geoid “undulations “are caused by the distribution of mass in the Earth

The shape of the Earth can be mathematically represented as an ellipsoid defined by:
–Semi-major axis = equatorial radius = a
–Semi-minor axis = polar radius = b
–Flattening (the relationship between equatorial and polar radius): f = (a-b)/a
–Eccentricity: e2= 2f-f2
PHYSICAL GEODESY
Geoid and Ellipsoid
The shape of the Earth can be mathematically represented as an ellipsoid
defined by:
–Semi-major axis = equatorial radius = a
–Semi-minor axis = polar radius = b
–Flattening (the relationship between equatorial and polar radius): f = (a-
b)/a
–Eccentricity: e2= 2f-f2
PHYSICAL GEODESY
Geodetic Datum and Coordinate Projections

In the Philippines, there are two basic datum’s, the World Geodetic
System (WGS) of 1984 and the Luzon Datum or the Philippine
Reference System of 1992.

Two projected coordinate systems used in the Philippines are the Universal
Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system and the Philippine
Transverse Mercator (PTM) coordinate system.
Definition of Terms
Elevation - is the distance above or below a reference surface.
Equipotential Surface - is a continuous surface defined in terms of work units with regard to its physical
environment.
Level surface - a continuous surface that is always perpendicular to the local plumb line.
Geiod - is an equipotential surface most closely represented by mean sea level in equilibrium all over the world.
Geopotential number - is a relative value computed as the infinite summation of the product of force times
distance accumulated along path of maximum gradient
Dynamic Height - is the geopotential number at a point divided by a constant reference gravity.
Orthometric Height - is the curved distance along the plumb line from the geoid to a point or surface in question.
Ellipsoidal height - is the distance as measured along the ellipsoid normal above or below the mathematical
ellipsoid.
Geoidal height - is taken to be the distance along the ellipsoid normal between the ellipsoid and geiod discounting the
curvature of the plumb line.
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR LISTENING