Physical geodesy

Collocation was discussed and applied in physical geodesy from the deterministic and stochastic point of view and then generalized into operational geodesy where the starting points are geodetic observables which are modeled by a nonlinear functional where unknowns exist in the geometry and gravity space. Geodetic reference systems were transformed and generalized for a model of a deformable Earth. Different Earth models were studied in detail. The geodetic boundary value problem was studied in detail, especially with respect to the Molodensky correction. Higher derivatives of the geopotential, mixed data on the ocean and the solid Earth, and different telluroid definitions were analyzed. Downward continuation was regularized. Three dimensional geodesy could be stabilized by additional height information through potential differences.