The determination of Thailand Geoid Model 2017 (TGM2017) from airborne and terrestrial gravimetry

Abstract

The Royal Thai Survey Department and Chiang Mai University developed the Thailand geoid model 2017 (TGM2017) with a 1’ × 1’ grid to support the transformation between Global Navigation satellite System (GNSS) ellipsoid heights and Kolak-1915 vertical datum orthometric heights. TGM2017 was based on Thailand gravimetric geoid model 2017 (THAI17G) and 299 GNSS ellipsoidal heights co-located with Kolak-1915 heights. All terrestrial gravity data used for geoid computation came from the new national gravity network, consisting of 87 absolute and 9929 relative gravity stations at 10 – 25 km intervals, mostly along with existing roads. From 2016 to 2017, airborne gravity surveys were conducted at a 4000m-flight altitude and 10 km along-track spacing to acquire the gravity data over mountainous and inaccessible areas, including coastal and marine areas, at an estimated accuracy of 3.0 mGal. Long-wavelength geoid structure was controlled by the GOCE-EGM2008 combined model (GECO) and the Technical University of Denmark’s global marine gravity model 2013 (DTU13). All gravity data were combined and downward, using least-squares collocation with the residual terrain model reductions from a digital terrain elevation data level 2 (DTED2). THAI17G was determined by multi-band spherical Fast Fourier Transform and converted to TGM2017 with the 38.2cm root-mean-square (rms) fit of 299 GNSS/leveling co-points and a mean offset of 37.0 cm. This value represents the separation between Kolak-1915 and a global mean sea level. The evaluation of TGM2017 at 100 GNSS/leveling checkpoints shows the rms of 4.9 cm, consequently leading to reliable orthometric heights at a 10-cm accuracy level or better.