All Earth (Dec 2023)

The first sexaxial figure of the Earth

  • H. Bâki İz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/27669645.2023.2227483
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35, no. 1
pp. 183 – 194

Abstract

Read online

ABSTRACTIn this study, a sexaxial figure of the Earth was created using randomly distributed 6400 control points on the geoid, which was generated by the EGM2008 gravity model. The shape of the sexaxial ellipsoid is defined by its six orthogonal axes. To construct the new geometric figure, eight triaxial ellipsoids were fitted to the Cartesian coordinates of control points in each octant of the geoid using the least squares method. Its geometric origin is constrained to coincide with the centre of mass of the geoid, and the ellipsoid has no net rotation with respect to the WGS84 coordinate system. This study demonstrates that the new geometric figure provides a customised fit to the control points in each octant.

Keywords