ELLIPSOIDAL STOKES BOUNDARY-VALUE PROBLEM WITH
ELLIPSOIDAL CORRECTIONS IN THE BOUNDARY CONDITION
VAHIDE. ARDESTANI
1
AND ZDENEK. MARTINEC
2
Summary: We would like to solve the Stokes boundary-value problem taking into
consideration the ellipsoidal corrections in the boundary condition in ellipsoidal coordinates The
original problem, i.e., the ellipsoidal Stokes boundary-value problem has been solved by Martinec
and Grafarend (1997) We use the same pliilosophy expressed by Martinec (1998) to solve the
spherical Stokes boundary-value problem with ellipsoidal corrections in the boundary condition We
wish to show the magnitude of the integration kernel describing the effect of the ellipsoidal
corrections in the boundary condition in a cap around the computational point.
Key words: Ellipsoidal Stokes boundary-value problem, ellipsoidal corrections, numerical results
1. INTRODUCTION
There are several options of linearizing the boundary-value problem of determining the
gravimetric geoid. One option is to use the ellipsoidal approximation in both gravity and geometry
spaces. This approach seems to be the most precise since the linearization errors are equal to
0.2 mgal and 2 mm (Martinec, 1998) in gravity and geometry spaces respectively This
approximation does not remove the ellipsoidal correction terms in the boundary condition for
anomalous gravity, The analytical forms of these corrections are derived in Heck (1991). The first
step in solving this type of boundary-value problem was made by Martinec and Grafarend (1997)
who did not consider the ellipsoidal correction terms in the boundary condition for anomalous
gravity.
2. ELLIPSOIDAL APPROXIMATION OF THE GEOID
To begin with, let us introduce ellipsoidal coordinates {u,j,A) through the
transformation relations into Cartesian coordinates {x,y,z} (Heiskanen and Moritz, 1967,
sect. 1-19),
1
Address: Insititute of Geophysics, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
(e-mail: ebrahimz@chamran.ut.ac.ir)
2
Address: Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University,
Prague, Czech Republic
Studia geoph. et geod. 45 (2001), 109-126
© 2001 StudiaGeo s.r.o., Prague
109