ISSN 1069-3513, Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, 2007, Vol. 43, No. 7, pp. 547–553.

© Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2007.

Original Russian Text © B.P. Pertsev, 2007, published in Fizika Zemli, 2007, No. 7, pp. 18–25.

Tidal Corrections to Gravity Measurements

B. P. Pertsev
Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Bol’shaya Gruzinskaya ul. 10, Moscow, 123995 Russia
Received November 10, 2006

Abstract—Methods taking into account the effect of tidal forces on gravity measurements are considered. Cor-
rections for the effect of tidal forces can exceed 250 µGal. Only the structure of the Earth and positions of tide-
generating celestial bodies are necessary for taking into account earth tides, while cotidal charts are additionally
required for the correct incorporation of the effect of ocean tides. This effect can reach a few tens of µGal near
shorelines. The modern accuracy of gravity measurements being 1–2 µGal, the ocean tide effect, together with
other less significant factors, should be considered for the correct interpretation of gravity data.
PACS numbers: 91.10.Tq
DOI: 10.1134/S1069351307070038

The results of gravity measurements at any point of R is the radius of the Earth, z is the geocentric zenith
the planet experience insignificant variations with time. distance of the celestial body, and Pn(z) is the main
These variations in gravity measurements can be secu- spherical function of order n.
lar, periodic, or quasi-periodic. The latter can be
caused, for example, by atmospheric pressure varia- This series converges rapidly due to the smallness of
tions and other meteorological factors. Periodic varia- R/r (even for the Moon). Therefore, in practice, only the
tions caused by the earth and ocean tides are most sig- harmonics of the second and third orders are generally
nificant. Note that the tidal gravity variations at some retained if the lunar effect is considered and the har-
points of the Earth’s surface can occasionally exceed monic of the second order alone is retained in the case
250 µGal. At present, the accuracy of gravity measure- of the solar effect. However, due to the improvement in
ments being 1–2 µGal, not only the effects of the earth the accuracy of measurements and the calculations of
and ocean tides but also those of meteorological phe- the tide-generating potential expansion, higher order
nomena should be taken into account. Because the tides harmonics and effects of other planets are also taken
in the Earth’s atmosphere are small, they do not have a into account. Using the summation theorem for spheri-
noticeable effect on gravity measurements, but oscilla- cal functions and formulas of spherical geometry, the
tions of the atmospheric pressure should be taken into first two terms in expansion (1) can be written in the
account [Pariiskii et al., 1982]. equatorial coordinate system as
The tide-generating forces are the differential grav- fM
itational forces produced by extraterrestrial sources dis- W = -------
3
-
r
turbing the Earth’s gravity field and deforming the
Earth. Other celestial bodies of the solar system are the
1 1
× R P 2 ( sin δ )P 2 ( sin ϕ ) + --- P 2 ( sin δ )P 2 ( sin ϕ ) cos t
2 1
sources of the tide-generating forces. With the modern
accuracy of measurements, only the effects of the Sun 3
and Moon are generally considered. Note that the effect
of the Moon is two times stronger than that of the Sun. 1 2
+ ------ P 2 ( sin δ )P 2 ( sin ϕ ) cos 2t
2
The effect on the Earth of only one disturbing body will 12
be considered due to the superposition principle.
The potential of the tide-generating forces produced fM 3
by a celestial body of a mass M can be written as fol- 4
- R P 3 ( sin δ )P 3 ( sin ϕ ) -
+ ------- (2)
lows: r
2 1 1
+ --- P 3 ( sin δ )P 3 ( sin ϕ ) cos t
fM 2 R R 1
3
- R P 2 ( z ) + ---P 3 ( z ) + -----P
W = ------- 2 4
( z ) + … , (1) 6
r r r
1 2
+ ------ P 3 ( sin δ )P 3 ( sin ϕ ) cos 2t
where f is the gravitational constant, r is the distance 2

between the centers of the Earth and the celestial body, 60

547
548
1 3
+ --------- P 3 ( sin δ )P 3 ( sin ϕ ) cos 3t ,
3
360
where δ and t are, respectively, the declination and the
hour angle of the celestial body and ϕ is the geocentric
latitude of an observation point.
This representation of the tide-generating potential,
given by Laplace, clearly demonstrates that the tide
contains long-term, diurnal, semidiurnal, and eight-
hour components deforming the Earth differently and
giving rise to different geophysical consequences. This
is clearly demonstrated by the harmonic of the second
order in (2), where the potential is represented by zonal,
tesseral, and sectorial spherical functions. Actually, the
first term in the brackets is independent of the hour
angle t and, consequently, varies slowly with time due
to the variation in the declination δ of the celestial body.
The deformation of the Earth by this component leads
to a periodic variation in the Earth’s flattening and, con-
sequently, to a variation in the polar moment of inertia
and the velocity of the Earth’s rotation. The second
term, due to the presence of the multiplier cos t, deter-
mines the diurnal type of tidal waves. The deformation
described by the tesseral function is asymmetric with
respect to the axis of the Earth’s rotation, leads to
movements of the principal axes of inertia in the Earth’s
body, and causes nutational motions. Finally, the last
term determines the semidiurnal tide. The deformation
described by the sectorial spherical function changes
neither the position of the polar axis of inertia nor the
polar moment of inertia.
Darwin further elaborated the expansion of the tide-
generating potential at the end of the 19th century, and
Doodson [1921] obtained a more detailed expansion of
the potential in simple sinusoidal waves with constant
amplitudes and frequencies. The consistent table con-
structed by Doodson contained 386 tidal waves. After-
ward, such tables were improved and significantly
extended by other researchers [Cartwright and Edden,
1973; Qinwen, 1987; Tamura, 1987; Bullesfeld, 1985;
Hartmann and Wenzel, 1995; Roosbeek, 1966].
Presently, the tide-generating potential is generally
represented in the form
W = ∑ A ( ϕ ) cos ( σ t + υ ),
i i i forces. These radial and tangential displacements and
Table
M2
Wave D, km
δ ∆ϕ
Talgar 2400 1.1602 –0.41
Obninsk 1000 1.1845 –2.14
Uccle 90 1.1837 2.74
Hamilton 40 1.2910 –5.10
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH
PERTSEV
where Ai is the amplitude of the ith wave depending on
the latitude ϕ and astronomical parameters, σi is the fre-
quency, t is time, and υi is the initial phase of this wave.
The representation of the tide-generating potential
in the form of a series of simple sinusoidal waves with
constant frequencies is distinguished not only by its
clearness and convenience for calculations; this repre-
sentation also demonstrates the dependence of the
Earth’s response on the tidal frequency. We should note
that this series contains two waves, solar and lunar,
which depend only on latitude and are time-indepen-
dent. These two components, which cannot be deter-
mined from observations, produce an additional time-
independent flattening of the Earth that disturbs its
gravity field. Assuming that the Earth’s response to per-
manently applied forces is elastic, these two waves lead
to time-independent corrections varying from –35 µGal
at the equator to +71 µGal at the poles. Because the
Earth is not a perfectly elastic body, its deformations
will differ from elastic deformations caused by short-
period components of the tide-generating forces.
Honkasalo [1964] proposed that this time-independent
term should be eliminated from tidal corrections and
should be included in the gravity value. However, this
proposal was not generally acknowledged because
“Honkasalo’s corrections” violated the condition of the
Stokes theorem, according to which all gravitating
masses must be inside the level surface studied. In our
opinion, this difficulty can be overcome by dividing the
time-independent component of the tide-generating
force into two parts, one of which depends on the direct
action of an outer source and the other of which is due
to the Earth’s deformation by this force [Pertsev, 1984].
With a sufficient degree of accuracy, the Earth can
be considered as an elastic heterogeneous compressible
gravitating sphere, the inner structure of which depends
only on the distance to its center. The dimensionless
parameters h, k, and l depending on the Earth’s struc-
ture and introduced into geophysics by Love and Shida
are sufficient for describing all tidal phenomena on the
Earth’s surface. Here, h and l characterize, respectively,
radial and tangential displacements of points of the
Earth’s surface and k characterizes the gravity field
changes due to deformations of the Earth by tidal
O1 K1
δ ∆ϕ δ ∆ϕ
1.1607 0.06 1.1384 0.19
1.1600 –0.90 1.1464 –0.92
1.1531 0.07 1.1399 0.26
1.2167 –1.86 1.1744 –0.69
Vol. 43 No. 7 2007