Splines and local approximation of the earth's gravity field

Abstract

The Hilbert space spline theory of Delvos and Schempp, and the reproducing kernel theory of L. Schwartz, provide the conceptual foundation and the construction procedure for rotation-invariant splines on Euclidean spaces, splines on the circle, and splines on the sphere and harmonic outside the sphere. Spherical splines and surface splines such as multi-conic functions, Hardy's multiquadric functions, pseudo-cubic splines, and thin-plate splines, are shown to be largely as effective as least squares collocation in representing geoid heights or gravity anomalies. A pseudo-cubic spline geoid for southern Africa is given, interpolating Doppler-derived geoid heights and astro-geodetic deflections of the vertical. Quadrature rules are derived for the thin-plate spline approximation (over a circular disk, and to a planar approximation) of Stokes's formula, the formulae of Vening Meinesz, and the L₁ vertical gradient operator in the analytical continuation series solution of Molodensky's problem.