Pic of the day #40 (Gravity and Geoid)

Left Figure: Gravity on the ellipsoidal Earth is the vector sum of the gravitational and centrifugal accelerations and is not radial; consequently, geographic latitude (?) is slightly larger than geocentric latitude (?’).
Right Figure: (a) A mass outside the ellipsoid or (b) a mass excess below the ellipsoid elevates the geoid above the ellipsoid. N is the geoid undulation.

 

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