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Lecture 01_Reference Surface and Spherical Excess

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Tanveer Rasheed
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8 views

Lecture 01_Reference Surface and Spherical Excess

Uploaded by

Tanveer Rasheed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GEODESY-IIA

(Reference Surface and


Spherical Excess)
By:
Eisha Fatima Noor
Technical Assistant-C
GEODESY
 The branch of science dealing with the size
and shape of earth is called Geodesy.
 The branch of science dealing with the size
and shape of moon is called Selenodesy.
Reference Surfaces
 The oceans, can be treated as reasonably
uniform, but the surface or topography of the
land masses exhibits large vertical variations
between mountains and valleys.
 These variations make it impossible to
approximate the shape of the Earth with any
reasonable simple mathematical model.
 Consequently, two main reference surfaces
have been established to approximate the
shape of the Earth.
 One reference surface is called the Geoid, the
other reference surface is the ellipsoid.
Reference Surfaces

 The Earth's surface, and two reference


surfaces used to approximate it: the Geoid,
and a reference ellipsoid. The deviation
between the Geoid and a reference ellipsoid
is called Geoid separation (N).
Reference Surfaces
 We can simplify matters by imagining that the entire
Earth’s surface is covered by water. If we ignore tidal
and current effects on this ‘global ocean’, the
resultant water surface is affected only by gravity.
 This has an effect on the shape of this surface
because the direction of gravity - more commonly
known as Plumb line - is dependent on the mass
distribution inside the Earth.
 Due to irregularities or mass anomalies in this
distribution the 'global ocean' results in an undulated
surface. This surface is called the Geoid.
 The plumb line through any surface point is always
perpendicular to it.
Reference Surfaces
 Where a mass deficiency exists, the Geoid will dip
below the mean ellipsoid. Conversely, where a mass
surplus exists, the Geoid will rise above the mean
ellipsoid.
 These influences cause the Geoid to deviate from a
mean ellipsoidal shape by up to +/- 100 meters. The
deviation between the Geoid and an ellipsoid is
called the geoid separation (N) or geoid
undulation.
 The biggest presently known undulations are the
minimum in the Indian Ocean with N = -100 meters
and the maximum in the northern part of the Atlantic
Ocean with N = +70 meters.
Reference Surfaces
 The Geoid is used to describe heights. In
order to establish the Geoid as reference for
heights, the ocean’s water level is registered
at coastal places over several years using
tide gauges (mareographs). Averaging the
registrations largely eliminates variations of
the sea level with time.
 The resulting water level represents an
approximation to the Geoid and is called
the mean sea level.
Reference Surfaces
 Every nation or groups of nations have established
those mean sea level points, which are normally
located close to the area of concern.
 For the Netherlands and Germany, the local mean
sea level is realized through the Amsterdam tide-
gauge (zero height). We can determine the height of
a point in the Netherlands or Germany with respect
to the Amsterdam tide gauge using a technique
known as geodetic leveling .
 The result of this process will be the height above
local mean sea level. The height determined with
respect to a tide-gauge station is known as
the Orthometric height (height H above the Geoid).
Reference Surfaces

 Care must be taken when using heights from another


local vertical datum.
 This might be the case in the border area of adjacent
nations. An example, the tide gauge (zero height) of
the Netherlands differs -2.34 meters from the tide
gauge (zero height) of the neighboring country
Belgium.
 Even within a country, heights may differ depending
on to which tide gauge, mean sea level point, they
are related.
 An example, the mean sea level from the Atlantic to
the Pacific coast of the USA increases by 0.6 to 0.7m.
Reference Surfaces

 The use of satellite-based positioning equipment


(e.g. GPS) to determine heights with respect to a
reference ellipsoid (e.g. WGS84) is becoming
more in use.
 These heights are known as the ellipsoidal
heights (height h above the ellipsoid).
 Ellipsoidal heights have to be adjusted before
they can be compared to orthometric (mean sea
level) heights.
 Geoid undulations (N) are used to adjust the
ellipsoidal heights (H = h - N).
Reference Surfaces
 The Geoid is a reference surface for heights. We also
need a reference surface for the description of the
horizontal coordinates (i.e. geographic coordinates) of
points of interest.
 Since we will later project these horizontal
coordinates onto a mapping plane, the reference
surface for horizontal coordinates requires a
mathematical definition and description.
 The most convenient geometric reference is
the oblate ellipsoid. It is formed when an ellipse is
rotated about its minor axis. This ellipse which defines
an ellipsoid or spheroid is called a meridian ellipse
(notice that ellipsoid and spheroid are used here as
equivalent and interchangeable words).
Reference Surfaces

 The shape of an ellipsoid may be defined in


a number of ways, but in geodetic practice
the definition is usually by its semi-major
axis (a) and flattening (f) is dependent on
both the semi-major axis (a) and the semi-
minor axis (b).
Reference Surfaces

 The ellipsoid may also be defined by its semi-


major axis a and eccentricity (e), which is given
by:

Given one axis and any one of the other three parameters, the
other two can be derived.
Typical values of the parameters for an ellipsoid are:
Spherical Excess
 The amount by which the sum of the interior angles of a
spherical triangle is greater than 180° and less than 540°.
180∘<(A+B+C)< 540∘
 The spherical excess is used in calculating the area of
spherical triangles.
 The area of a spherical triangle on the surface of the
sphere of radius R is given by the formula
A=πR²E/180∘

 The spherical defect D or δ is the difference between 2𝜋


Where E is the spherical excess in degrees.

(360 degrees) and the sum of the side arc lengths a, b,


and c
 D = 360∘− (a+b+c)
Spherical Excess

 The spherical excess is computed by the

E = A + B + C - 180∘
formula:

OR

Where: s =
Spherical Excess

 Spherical excess can also be calculated by


the following formula:
 Calculate the Spherical Excess for a triangle
where;
a = 115° 24’ 25’’
b = 102° 42’ 35’’
C = 79° 31’ 09’’
 Calculate the Spherical Excess for a triangle
where;
a = 108° 04’ 15’’
b = 119° 42’ 15’’
C = 75° 31’ 00’’
 Calculate the Spherical Excess for a triangle
where;
a = 80° 05’ 00’’
b = 70° 10’ 30’’
c = 145° 04’ 58’’
Spherical Excess

 The spherical excess is also computed by the

1. =
following formulae:

2. =
Ɛ

3. 1° = 111177.4734m
Ɛ

4. R = 6370Km
 Calculate the Spherical Excess for a triangle
where;
A = 86° 03’ 8.44’’
B = 50° 01’ 59.15’’
C = 43° 54’ 55.07’’
b = 34046.930m
R = 6370 KM
Find; a, c, E and A.
Objective of Geodesy (Self Study)
The main tasks of the geodesy can be summarized as
under
 To determine the shape of the earth and its gravity
field along with their changes with period of time, to
observe crust deformation , to study the polar
motion and the ocean surface
 To establish the geodetic coordinate system and to
update the national geodetic horizontal and vertical
leveling network.
 To study the observation procedures for geodetic
instruments like total stations, levels, GPS etc. ,and
to perform the data processing for
distances ,directions, height differences ,GPS
baselines

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