Geoid undulation, interpretation

Abstract

The geoidal height (geoid undulation) is a quantity that can be quite readily interpreted in terms of density distribution within the Earth. The main application is in studying the processes that take place deep within the Earth, but even shallower density anomalies have an impact on a geoid map. Nowadays, when sea surface height measured by satellite altimetry is freely available, marine geoid has become a particularly handy tool to use.