Statistical geodesy

Motivated largely by the needs of the navigation community, engineers have become increasingly involved in understanding and Modeling the fine structure of the earth\´s gravity field. In this endeavor, the engineer has augmented the applied mathematical tools of the "geodesistscientist" with those of modern estimation and control theory, state-space mathematics, and random process theory. One of the outputs of this involvement has been the development of "statistical geodesy". In this paper, the mathematical structure and applications of statistical geodesy are reviewed, with an emphasis on the engineer\´s contribution. The chronology and accomplishments of statistical geodesy are outlined. Statistical gravity models are presented that are suitable along a line (e.g., ship track), over the surface of the earth, and above the earth\´s surface. A distinction is drawn between global and local models, and the assumptions of stationarity and isotropy are reviewed in light of known geophysical properties of the earth\´s crust and mantle. Several applications of statistical gravity models are presented" estimation of gravimetric uncertainties, error analysis of inertial navigation systems, gravity gradiometry, and satellite altimetry. A new algorithm is presented- frequency-domain collocationsuitable for the efficient processing of large amounts of gravimetric data. Finally, opportunities for further research are suggested. This paper appeared in the Proceedings of the IEEE, May 1978, under the title, "Statistical Geodesy- An Engineering Perspective". Therefore, only the abstract is included in the Conference Proceedings.