A New Reference Equipotential Surface, and Reference Ellipsoid for the Planet Mars

Gravity and Topography of the Terrestrial Planets

“…Another approach that could be used would be to use the mean potential on the planet's equator. Alternatively, the geoid could be chosen such that it best fits, in a least squares sense, the observed shape of the planet (Ardalan et al, 2010).…”

“…For this map, the normal gravity field predicted for the Mars rotating reference ellipsoid of Ardalan et al (2010) was removed. Clearly visible are the large positive anomalies associated with the volcanoes in the Tharsis plateau and a negative gravity moat that surrounds this province (Phillips et al, 2001).…”

“…The Martian geoid, as obtained from the model JGMRO_110C and plotted with respect to the reference ellipsoid of Ardalan et al (2010), is shown in Figure 5. The geoid undulations of Mars are seen to possess the largest amplitudes among the terrestrial planets, with a dynamic range of over 2.5 km.…”

“…Top) Global topography of Mars derived from the spherical harmonic shape model MarsTopo2600, referenced to the geoid. (Middle) Total free-air gravitational anomaly on the rotating reference ellipsoid ofArdalan et al (2010), obtained after truncating the spherical harmonic coefficients of JGMRO_110C beyond degree 85. (Bottom) Second-order approximation to the geoid height with respect to the reference ellipsoid.…”

Mars Express radio‐occultation data: A novel analysis approach

“…The temperature profile is parametrized with the geopotential height, which takes into account the variation of the gravity acceleration due to the planet. The geopotential height, denoted η , is defined according to the ground level where g 0 ≈3.71 m s −2 [ Lodders and Fegley , ], and it therefore writes where R p is the local radius of Mars, for which the reference ellipsoid given by Ardalan et al [] is used.…”