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The north‐south tilt in the Australian Height Datum is explained by the ocean's mean dynamic topography

2012; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 117; Issue: C8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/2012jc007974

2156-2202

W. E. Featherstone, M. S. Filmer,

Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes

Using geodetic and oceanographic data, we show that the apparent north‐south slope between the Australian Height Datum (AHD) and the geoid is caused almost completely by the ocean's time‐mean dynamic topography (MDT). This is because the AHD was constrained to zero height at local mean sea level at multiple tide gauges around the Australian continent. Using MDT models and corrected leveling data, almost all of the apparent north‐south slope can be removed from the AHD. An auxiliary observation is that a satellite‐only MDT model based on only around one year of GOCE data generates results commensurate with geodetic, oceanographic and combined MDT models.