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Abstract

The computation is described of a geopotential model to deg 360, a sea surface topography model to deg 10/15, and adjusted Geosat orbits for the first year of the exact repeat mission (ERM). This study started from the GEM-T2 potential coefficient model and it's error covariance matrix and Geosat orbits (for 22 ERMs) computed by Haines et al. using the GEM-T2 model. The first step followed the general procedures which use a radial orbit error theory originally developed by English. The Geosat data was processed to find corrections to the a priori geopotential model, corrections to a radial orbit error model for 76 Geosat arcs, and coefficients of a harmonic representation of the sea surface topography. The second stage of the analysis took place by doing a combination of the GEM-T2 coefficients with 30 deg gravity data derived from surface gravity data and anomalies obtained from altimeter data. The analysis has shown how a high degree spherical harmonic model can be determined combining the best aspects of two different analysis techniques. The error analysis was described that has led to the accuracy estimates for all the coefficients to deg 360. Significant work is needed to improve the modeling effort.