Arctic Gravity Project — a status

An international, cooperative effort is ongoing to compile and evaluate all available gravity data north of 64N, in order to produce a public-domain 5’ free-air anomaly data grid by 2001. The data will, e.g., be useful for limiting the “polar gap” problem of the upcoming gravity field satellite missions. The data contributed so far includes older and recent airborne, surface, marine and submarine gravity data from US, Canadian, German and Scandinavian contributors, as well as limited grid coverage of parts of Russia and data from satellite altimetry. In the paper the current data and compilation status is outlined, along with some comparison results of different data sources in overlapping regions. A preliminary data grid and associated geoid model is presented, highlighting among other the complex tectonic patterns in the Arctic region.