Usage

Initialization

We can initialize a gravity model using the function:

function load(::Type{T}, args...; kwargs...) where T<:AbstractGravityModel -> T

where the arguments and keywords depend on the gravity model type T. For ICGEM files, we must use T = IcgemFile and the following signature:

function GravityModels.load(::Type{IcgemFile}, filename::AbstractString, T::DataType = Float64)

where it loads the ICGEM file in the path filename converting the coefficients to the type T.

We also provide a function to help downloading the ICGEM files:

function fetch_icgem_file(url::AbstractString; kwargs...)
function fetch_icgem_file(model::Symbol; kwargs...)

It fetches a ICGEM file from the url and return its file path to be parsed with the function GravityModels.load. If the file already exists, it will not be re-downloaded unless the keyword force = true is passed.

Notice that the functions downloads the files to a scratch space.

A symbol can be passed instead the URL to fetch pre-configured gravity field models. The supported values are:

:EGM96: Earth Gravitational Model from 1996.
:EGM2008: Earth Gravitational Model from 2008.
:JGM2: Joint Gravity Model 2.
:JGM3: Joint Gravity Model 3.

Finally, we can initialize, for example, the EGM96 model using:

julia> egm96 = GravityModels.load(IcgemFile, fetch_icgem_file(:EGM96))
IcgemFile{Float64}:
      Product type : gravity_field
       Model name  : EGM96
  Gravity constant : 3.986004415e14
            Radius : 6.3781363e6
    Maximum degree : 360
            Errors : formal
       Tide system : tide_free
              Norm : fully_normalized
         Data type : Float64

Gravitational Field Derivative

The following function:

function gravitational_field_derivative(model::AbstractGravityModel{T}, r::AbstractVector, time::DateTime = DateTime("2000-01-01"); kwargs...) where T<:Number

computes the gravitational field derivative [SI] with respect to the spherical coordinates:

\[\frac{\partial U}{\partial r},~ \frac{\partial U}{\partial \phi},~ \frac{\partial U}{\partial \lambda},~\]

using the model in the position r [m], represented in ITRF, at instant time. If the latter argument is omitted, the J2000.0 epoch is used.

Info

In this case, $\phi$ is the geocentric latitude and $\lambda$ is the longitude.

The following keywords are available:

max_degree::Int: Maximum degree used in the spherical harmonics when computing the gravitational field derivative. If it is higher than the available number of coefficients in the model, it will be clamped. If it is lower than 0, it will be set to the maximum degree available. (Default = -1)
max_order::Int: Maximum order used in the spherical harmonics when computing the gravitational field derivative. If it is higher than max_degree, it will be clamped. If it is lower than 0, it will be set to the same value as max_degree. (Default = -1)
P::Union{Nothing, AbstractMatrix}: An optional matrix that must contain at least max_degree + 1 × max_degree + 1 real numbers that will be used to store the Legendre coefficients, reducing the allocations. If it is nothing, the matrix will be created when calling the function.
dP::Union{Nothing, AbstractMatrix}: An optional matrix that must contain at least max_degree + 1 × max_degree + 1 real numbers that will be used to store the Legendre derivative coefficients, reducing the allocations. If it is nothing, the matrix will be created when calling the function.

julia> GravityModels.gravitational_field_derivative(egm96, [6378.137e3, 0, 0])
(-9.814284376497435, 49.45906319417034, -115.71285105900459)

Gravitational Acceleration

The gravitational acceleration is the acceleration caused by the central body mass only, i.e., without considering the centrifugal potential. We can compute it using the function:

function gravitational_acceleration(model::AbstractGravityModel{T}, r::AbstractVector, time::DateTime = DateTime("2000-01-01"); kwargs...) where T<:Number

where it returns the gravitational field acceleration [m / s²] represented in ITRF using the model in the position r [m], also represented in ITRF, at instant time. If the latter argument is omitted, the J2000.0 epoch is used.

The following keywords are available:

max_degree::Int: Maximum degree used in the spherical harmonics when computing the gravitational field derivative. If it is higher than the available number of coefficients in the model, it will be clamped. If it is lower than 0, it will be set to the maximum degree available. (Default = -1)
max_order::Int: Maximum order used in the spherical harmonics when computing the gravitational field derivative. If it is higher than max_degree, it will be clamped. If it is lower than 0, it will be set to the same value as max_degree. (Default = -1)
P::Union{Nothing, AbstractMatrix}: An optional matrix that must contain at least max_degree + 1 × max_degree + 1 real numbers that will be used to store the Legendre coefficients, reducing the allocations. If it is nothing, the matrix will be created when calling the function.
dP::Union{Nothing, AbstractMatrix}: An optional matrix that must contain at least max_degree + 1 × max_degree + 1 real numbers that will be used to store the Legendre derivative coefficients, reducing the allocations. If it is nothing, the matrix will be created when calling the function.

julia> GravityModels.gravitational_acceleration(egm96, [6378.137e3, 0, 0])
3-element StaticArraysCore.SVector{3, Float64} with indices SOneTo(3):
 -9.814284376497435
 -1.814210812013047e-5
  7.754468615862334e-6

Gravity Acceleration

The gravity acceleration is the compound acceleration caused by the central body mass and the centrifugal force due to the planet's rotation. We can compute it using the function:

function gravity_acceleration(model::AbstractGravityModel{T}, r::AbstractVector, time::DateTime = DateTime("2000-01-01"); kwargs...) where T<:Number

where it computes the gravity acceleration [m / s²] represented in ITRF using the model in the position r [m], also represented in ITRF, at instant time. If the latter argument is omitted, the J2000.0 epoch is used.

The following keywords are available:

max_degree::Int: Maximum degree used in the spherical harmonics when computing the gravitational field derivative. If it is higher than the available number of coefficients in the model, it will be clamped. If it is lower than 0, it will be set to the maximum degree available. (Default = -1)
max_order::Int: Maximum order used in the spherical harmonics when computing the gravitational field derivative. If it is higher than max_degree, it will be clamped. If it is lower than 0, it will be set to the same value as max_degree. (Default = -1)
P::Union{Nothing, AbstractMatrix}: An optional matrix that must contain at least max_degree + 1 × max_degree + 1 real numbers that will be used to store the Legendre coefficients, reducing the allocations. If it is nothing, the matrix will be created when calling the function.
dP::Union{Nothing, AbstractMatrix}: An optional matrix that must contain at least max_degree + 1 × max_degree + 1 real numbers that will be used to store the Legendre derivative coefficients, reducing the allocations. If it is nothing, the matrix will be created when calling the function.

Thus, we can compute the gravity acceleration in Equator using the EGM96 model by:

julia> egm96 = GravityModels.load(IcgemFile, fetch_icgem_file(:EGM96));

julia> GravityModels.gravitational_acceleration(egm96, [6378.137e3, 0, 0])
3-element StaticArraysCore.SVector{3, Float64} with indices SOneTo(3):
 -9.814284376497435
 -1.814210812013047e-5
  7.754468615862334e-6

Whereas we can obtain the gravity acceleration at the poles by:

julia> GravityModels.gravitational_acceleration(egm96, [0, 0, 6356.7523e3])
3-element StaticArraysCore.SVector{3, Float64} with indices SOneTo(3):
 -6.12152785935481e-5
  0.0
 -9.83208158872835