Scientists presented the most accurate model of the world today
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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As reported on the official website of the European Space Agency ESA, to build the map, scientists used the data obtained by the device GOCE - a satellite to study the gravitational field and permanent ocean currents. On board this device, high-sensitivity accelerometers were installed, which enabled the apparatus to obtain data on the Earth's gravitational field. GOCE took about two years to collect data.
Based on the data obtained, the researchers compiled a three-dimensional geoid model. In addition, according to scientists, new data will help them, in particular, in compiling the most accurate maps of the sea currents to date.
The concept of a geoid was first introduced by Gauss in the 19th century as a mathematical form of the Earth. The figure represents the equipotential surface of the earth's gravitational field. Such a shape would have the surface of the planet if there were no currents in the world's oceans (that is, water would be stationary relative to the surface), tides, and the surface of the continents would be covered with a network of deep narrow channels that would connect different oceans and allow us to determine the sea level in given point of the continent. In this case, the real form of the Earth, in general, differs markedly from the geoid.
The GOCE was launched on March 17, 2009 by the Russian Rokot carrier rocket from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. It is noteworthy that the probe is equipped with ionic motors - collecting xenon from the surrounding space, it ionizes it with electric discharges (electricity, in turn, produces solar cells), then to be used as a working fluid.
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