ABSTRACT
The global geoid and gravity fields are now well defined by spherical harmonic coefficients from the accurate tracking of artificial satellites. Of the terrestrial planets, the Earth is unusual in that the major anomalies of its regional geoid field do not correlate with the planet’s surface topography — with the single exception of the positive geoid anomaly over the central Andes of South America. The apparent non-uniqueness of determining internal mass anomaly configuration from external gravity fields, from a flat Earth perspective, has traditionally led analyses of global fields to interpreting the slopes of the power curve from sets of spherical harmonic coefficients defining the potential field. However, the readers also recognize that planetary spherical harmonic coefficients are attempting to assimilate signals from a multiplicity of mass anomaly sources (shallow, deep, intermediate, compact, broad, elongate, etc.), and that different derivatives amplify signals from different source depths and configurations.
