Gravity.pod

=head1 NAME

Gravity -- compute the earth's gravity field

=head1 SYNOPSIS

B<Gravity> [ B<-n> I<name> ] [ B<-d> I<dir> ]
[ B<-N> I<Nmax> ] [ B<-M> I<Mmax> ]
[ B<-G> | B<-D> | B<-A> | B<-H> ] [ B<-c> I<lat> I<h> ]
[ B<-w> ] [ B<-p> I<prec> ]
[ B<-v> ]
[ B<--comment-delimiter> I<commentdelim> ]
[ B<--version> | B<-h> | B<--help> ]
[ B<--input-file> I<infile> | B<--input-string> I<instring> ]
[ B<--line-separator> I<linesep> ]
[ B<--output-file> I<outfile> ]

=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<Gravity> reads in positions on standard input and prints out the
gravitational field on standard output.

The input line is of the form I<lat> I<lon> I<h>.  I<lat> and I<lon> are
the latitude and longitude expressed as decimal degrees or degrees,
minutes, and seconds; for details on the allowed formats for latitude
and longitude, see the C<GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES> section of
GeoConvert(1).  I<h> is the height above the ellipsoid in meters; this
quantity is optional and defaults to 0.  Alternatively, the gravity
field can be computed at various points on a circle of latitude
(constant I<lat> and I<h>) via the B<-c> option; in this case only the
longitude should be given on the input lines.  The quantities printed
out are governed by the B<-G> (default), B<-D>, B<-A>, or B<-H> options.

All the supported gravity models, except for grs80, use WGS84 as the
reference ellipsoid I<a> = 6378137 m, I<f> = 1/298.257223563, I<omega> =
7292115e-11 rad/s, and I<GM> = 3986004.418e8 m^3/s^2.

=head1 OPTIONS

=over

=item B<-n> I<name>

use gravity field model I<name> instead of the default C<egm96>.  See
L</MODELS>.

=item B<-d> I<dir>

read gravity models from I<dir> instead of the default.  See
L</MODELS>.

=item B<-N> I<Nmax>

limit the degree of the model to I<Nmax>.

=item B<-M> I<Mmax>

limit the order of the model to I<Mmax>.

=item B<-G>

compute the acceleration due to gravity (including the centrifugal
acceleration due the the earth's rotation) B<g>.  The output consists of
I<gx> I<gy> I<gz> (all in m/s^2), where the I<x>, I<y>, and I<z>
components are in easterly, northerly, and up directions, respectively.
Usually I<gz> is negative.

=item B<-D>

compute the gravity disturbance B<delta> = B<g> - B<gamma>, where
B<gamma> is the "normal" gravity due to the reference ellipsoid .  The
output consists of I<deltax> I<deltay> I<deltaz> (all in mGal, 1 mGal =
10^-5 m/s^2), where the I<x>, I<y>, and I<z> components are in easterly,
northerly, and up directions, respectively.  Note that I<deltax> =
I<gx>, because I<gammax> = 0.

=item B<-A>

computes the gravitational anomaly.  The output consists of 3 items
I<Dg01> I<xi> I<eta>, where I<Dg01> is in mGal (1 mGal = 10^-5 m/s^2)
and I<xi> and I<eta> are in arcseconds.  The gravitational anomaly
compares the gravitational field B<g> at I<P> with the normal gravity
B<gamma> at I<Q> where the I<P> is vertically above I<Q> and the
gravitational potential at I<P> equals the normal potential at I<Q>.
I<Dg01> gives the difference in the magnitudes of these two vectors and
I<xi> and I<eta> give the difference in their directions (as northerly
and easterly components).  The calculation uses a spherical
approximation to match the results of the NGA's synthesis programs.

=item B<-H>

compute the height of the geoid above the reference ellipsoid (in
meters).  In this case, I<h> should be zero.  The results accurately
match the results of the NGA's synthesis programs.  GeoidEval(1) can
compute geoid heights much more quickly by interpolating on a grid of
precomputed results; however the results from GeoidEval(1) are only
accurate to a few millimeters.

=item B<-c> I<lat> I<h>

evaluate the field on a circle of latitude given by I<lat> and I<h>
instead of reading these quantities from the input lines.  In this case,
B<Gravity> can calculate the field considerably more quickly.  If geoid
heights are being computed (the B<-H> option), then I<h> must be zero.

=item B<-w>

toggle the longitude first flag (it starts off); if the flag is on, then
on input and output, longitude precedes latitude (except that, on input,
this can be overridden by a hemisphere designator, I<N>, I<S>, I<E>,
I<W>).

=item B<-p> I<prec>

set the output precision to I<prec>.  By default I<prec> is 5 for
acceleration due to gravity, 3 for the gravity disturbance and anomaly,
and 4 for the geoid height.

=item B<-v>

print information about the gravity model on standard error before
processing the input.

=item B<--comment-delimiter> I<commentdelim>

set the comment delimiter to I<commentdelim> (e.g., "#" or "//").  If
set, the input lines will be scanned for this delimiter and, if found,
the delimiter and the rest of the line will be removed prior to
processing and subsequently appended to the output line (separated by a
space).

=item B<--version>

print version and exit.

=item B<-h>

print usage, the default gravity path and name, and exit.

=item B<--help>

print full documentation and exit.

=item B<--input-file> I<infile>

read input from the file I<infile> instead of from standard input; a file
name of "-" stands for standard input.

=item B<--input-string> I<instring>

read input from the string I<instring> instead of from standard input.
All occurrences of the line separator character (default is a semicolon)
in I<instring> are converted to newlines before the reading begins.

=item B<--line-separator> I<linesep>

set the line separator character to I<linesep>.  By default this is a
semicolon.

=item B<--output-file> I<outfile>

write output to the file I<outfile> instead of to standard output; a
file name of "-" stands for standard output.

=back

=head1 MODELS

B<Gravity> computes the gravity field using one of the following models

    egm84, earth gravity model 1984.  See
      http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/gravitymod/wgs84_180/wgs84_180.html
    egm96, earth gravity model 1996.  See
      http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/gravitymod/egm96/egm96.html
    egm2008, earth gravity model 2008.  See
      http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/gravitymod/egm2008
    wgs84, world geodetic system 1984.  This returns the normal
      gravity for the WGS84 ellipsoid.
    grs80, geodetic reference system 1980.  This returns the normal
      gravity for the GRS80 ellipsoid.

These models approximate the gravitation field above the surface of the
earth.  By default, the C<egm96> gravity model is used.  This may
changed by setting the environment variable
C<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_NAME> or with the B<-n> option.

The gravity models will be loaded from a directory specified at compile
time.  This may changed by setting the environment variables
C<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_PATH> or C<GEOGRAPHICLIB_DATA>, or with the
B<-d> option.  The B<-h> option prints the default gravity path and
name.  Use the B<-v> option to ascertain the full path name of the data
file.

Instructions for downloading and installing gravity models are available
at L<https://geographiclib.sourceforge.io/html/gravity.html#gravityinst>.

=head1 ENVIRONMENT

=over

=item B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_NAME>

Override the compile-time default gravity name of C<egm96>.  The B<-h>
option reports the value of B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_NAME>, if defined,
otherwise it reports the compile-time value.  If the B<-n> I<name>
option is used, then I<name> takes precedence.

=item B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_PATH>

Override the compile-time default gravity path.  This is typically
C</usr/local/share/GeographicLib/gravity> on Unix-like systems and
C<C:/ProgramData/GeographicLib/gravity> on Windows systems.  The B<-h>
option reports the value of B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_PATH>, if defined,
otherwise it reports the compile-time value.  If the B<-d> I<dir> option
is used, then I<dir> takes precedence.

=item B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_DATA>

Another way of overriding the compile-time default gravity path.  If it
is set (and if B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_GRAVITY_PATH> is not set), then
$B<GEOGRAPHICLIB_DATA>/gravity is used.

=back

=head1 ERRORS

An illegal line of input will print an error message to standard output
beginning with C<ERROR:> and causes B<Gravity> to return an exit
code of 1.  However, an error does not cause B<Gravity> to
terminate; following lines will be converted.

=head1 EXAMPLES

The gravity field from EGM2008 at the top of Mount Everest

    echo 27:59:17N 86:55:32E 8820 | Gravity -n egm2008
    => -0.00001 0.00103 -9.76782

=head1 SEE ALSO

GeoConvert(1), GeoidEval(1), geographiclib-get-gravity(8).

=head1 AUTHOR

B<Gravity> was written by Charles Karney.

=head1 HISTORY

B<Gravity> was added to GeographicLib, L<https://geographiclib.sourceforge.io>,
in version 1.16.