Figure of the Earth

A view across a 20-km-wide bay in the coast of Spain. The curvature of the Earth is evident in the horizon across the image, and the bases of the buildings on the far shore are below that horizon and hidden by the sea.

The simplest model for the shape of the entire Earth is a sphere. The Earth's radius is the distance from Earth's center to its surface, about 6,371 km (3,959 mi). While "radius" normally is a characteristic of perfect spheres, the Earth deviates from spherical by only a third of a percent, sufficiently close to treat it as a sphere in many contexts and justifying the term "the radius of the Earth".

The concept of a spherical Earth dates back to around the 6th century BC,[2] but remained a matter of philosophical speculation until the 3rd century BC. The first scientific estimation of the radius of the Earth was given by Eratosthenes about 240 BC, with estimates of the accuracy of Eratosthenes's measurement ranging from −1% to 15%.

The Earth is only approximately spherical, so no single value serves as its natural radius. Distances from points on the surface to the center range from 6,353 km (3,948 mi) to 6,384 km (3,967 mi). Several different ways of modeling the Earth as a sphere each yield a mean radius of 6,371 km (3,959 mi). Regardless of the model, any radius falls between the polar minimum of about 6,357 km (3,950 mi) and the equatorial maximum of about 6,378 km (3,963 mi). The difference 21 km (13 mi) correspond to the polar radius being approximately 0.3% shorter than the equatorial radius.

An oblate spheroid, highly exaggerated relative to the actual Earth

A scale diagram of the oblateness of the 2003 IERS reference ellipsoid, with north at the top. The outer edge of the dark blue line is an ellipse with the same eccentricity as that of Earth. For comparison, the light blue circle within has a diameter equal to the ellipse's minor axis. The red curve represents the Karman line 100 km (62 mi) above sea level, while the yellow band denotes the altitude range of the ISS in low Earth orbit.

Since the Earth is flattened at the poles and bulges at the Equator, geodesy represents the figure of the Earth as an oblate spheroid. The oblate spheroid, or oblate ellipsoid, is an ellipsoid of revolution obtained by rotating an ellipse about its shorter axis. It is the regular geometric shape that most nearly approximates the shape of the Earth. A spheroid describing the figure of the Earth or other celestial body is called a reference ellipsoid. The reference ellipsoid for Earth is called an Earth ellipsoid.

An ellipsoid of revolution is uniquely defined by two quantities. Several conventions for expressing the two quantities are used in geodesy, but they are all equivalent to and convertible with each other:

• Equatorial radius ${\displaystyle a}$ (called semimajor axis), and polar radius ${\displaystyle b}$ (called semiminor axis);
• ${\displaystyle a}$ and eccentricity ${\displaystyle e}$;
• ${\displaystyle a}$ and flattening ${\displaystyle f}$.

Eccentricity and flattening are different ways of expressing how squashed the ellipsoid is. When flattening appears as one of the defining quantities in geodesy, generally it is expressed by its reciprocal. For example, in the WGS 84 spheroid used by today's GPS systems, the reciprocal of the flattening ${\displaystyle 1/f}$ is set to be exactly 298.257223563.

The difference between a sphere and a reference ellipsoid for Earth is small, only about one part in 300. Historically, flattening was computed from grade measurements. Nowadays, geodetic networks and satellite geodesy are used. In practice, many reference ellipsoids have been developed over the centuries from different surveys. The flattening value varies slightly from one reference ellipsoid to another, reflecting local conditions and whether the reference ellipsoid is intended to model the entire Earth or only some portion of it.

A sphere has a single radius of curvature, which is simply the radius of the sphere. More complex surfaces have radii of curvature that vary over the surface. The radius of curvature describes the radius of the sphere that best approximates the surface at that point. Oblate ellipsoids have constant radius of curvature east to west along parallels, if a graticule is drawn on the surface, but varying curvature in any other direction. For an oblate ellipsoid, the polar radius of curvature ${\displaystyle r_{p}}$ is larger than the equatorial

${\displaystyle r_{p}={\frac {a^{2}}{b}},}$

because the pole is flattened: the flatter the surface, the larger the sphere must be to approximate it. Conversely, the ellipsoid's north–south radius of curvature at the equator ${\displaystyle r_{e}}$ is smaller than the polar

${\displaystyle r_{e}={\frac {b^{2}}{a}}}$

where ${\displaystyle a}$ is the distance from the center of the ellipsoid to the equator (semi-major axis), and ${\displaystyle b}$ is the distance from the center to the pole. (semi-minor axis)

Geoid undulation in false color, shaded relief and vertical exaggeration (10000 scale factor).

Geoid undulation in false color, to scale.

It was stated earlier that measurements are made on the apparent or topographic surface of the Earth and it has just been explained that computations are performed on an ellipsoid. One other surface is involved in geodetic measurement: the geoid. In geodetic surveying, the computation of the geodetic coordinates of points is commonly performed on a reference ellipsoid closely approximating the size and shape of the Earth in the area of the survey. The actual measurements made on the surface of the Earth with certain instruments are however referred to the geoid. The ellipsoid is a mathematically defined regular surface with specific dimensions. The geoid, on the other hand, coincides with that surface to which the oceans would conform over the entire Earth if free to adjust to the combined effect of the Earth's mass attraction (gravitation) and the centrifugal force of the Earth's rotation. As a result of the uneven distribution of the Earth's mass, the geoidal surface is irregular and, since the ellipsoid is a regular surface, the separations between the two, referred to as geoid undulations, geoid heights, or geoid separations, will be irregular as well.

The geoid is a surface along which the gravity potential is everywhere equal and to which the direction of gravity is always perpendicular (see equipotential surface). The latter is particularly important because optical instruments containing gravity-reference leveling devices are commonly used to make geodetic measurements. When properly adjusted, the vertical axis of the instrument coincides with the direction of gravity and is, therefore, perpendicular to the geoid. The angle between the plumb line which is perpendicular to the geoid (sometimes called "the vertical") and the perpendicular to the ellipsoid (sometimes called "the ellipsoidal normal") is defined as the deflection of the vertical. It has two components: an east–west and a north–south component.[3]

Modern geodesy tends to retain the ellipsoid of revolution as a reference ellipsoid and treat triaxiality and pear shape as a part of the geoid figure: they are represented by the spherical harmonic coefficients ${\displaystyle C_{22},S_{22}}$ and ${\displaystyle C_{30}}$, respectively, corresponding to degree and order numbers 2.2 for the triaxiality and 3.0 for the pear shape.

The possibility that the Earth's equator is better characterized as an ellipse rather than a circle and therefore that the ellipsoid is triaxial has been a matter of scientific inquiry for many years.[4][5] Modern technological developments have furnished new and rapid methods for data collection and, since the launch of Sputnik 1, orbital data have been used to investigate the theory of ellipticity.[3] More recent results indicate a 70 m difference between the two equatorial major and minor axes of inertia, with the larger semidiameter pointing to 15° W longitude (and also 180-degree away).[6][7]

The theory of a slightly pear-shaped Earth arose and gained publicity after the first artificial satellites observed long periodic orbital variations, indicating a depression at the South Pole and a bulge of the same degree at the North Pole. This theory contends that the northern middle latitudes are slightly flattened and the southern middle latitudes correspondingly bulged.[3] U.S. Vanguard 1 satellite data from 1958 confirms that the southern equatorial bulge is greater than that of the north, which is corroborated by the South Pole's sea level being lower than that of the north.[8] A pear-shaped Earth had first been theorized in 1498 by Christopher Columbus, based on his incorrect readings of the North Star's diurnal motion.[9]

John A. O'Keefe and co-authors are credited with the discovery that the Earth had a significant third degree zonal spherical harmonic in its gravitational field using Vanguard 1 satellite data.[10] Based on further satellite geodesy data, Desmond King-Hele refined the estimate to a 45 m difference between north and south polar radii, owing to a 19 m "stem" rising in the North Pole and a 26 m depression in the South Pole.[11][12] The polar asymmetry is small, though: it is about a thousand times smaller than the earth's flattening and even smaller than the geoidal undulation in some regions of the Earth.[13]

Simpler local approximations are possible.

The local tangent plane.

The local tangent plane is appropriate for very small distances.

Ellipsoid and osculating sphere.

The best local spherical approximation to the ellipsoid in the vicinity of a given point is the Earth's osculating sphere. Its radius equals Earth's Gaussian radius of curvature, and its radial direction coincides with the geodetic normal direction. The center of the osculating sphere is offset from the center of the ellipsoid, but is at the center of curvature for the given point on the ellipsoid surface. This concept aids the interpretation of terrestrial and planetary radio occultation refraction measurements and in some navigation and surveillance applications.[14][15]