The determination of surface harmonic expansion coefficients from mean gravity anomalies by orthogonal collocation

Orthogonal collocation methods are utilized in determining the information content of global mean gravity anomalies. In particular, it is shown that the maximum degree of a spherical harmonic expansion derived from 5°×5° (unequal area) mean anomalies is fifty. Also, a practical algorithm is given for determining the coefficients of the expansion which exactly reproduces a set of mean gravity anomaly values.