Mean radius, mass, and inertia for reference Earth models

Frédéric Chambat (1) , Bernard Valette (2)

1 ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon
2 USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc

This paper focuses on the global quantities, radius, mass, and inertia that are needed for the construction of reference Earth density models. We recall how these quantities b, M, and I are measured and we give realistic estimates and uncertainties. Since a reference model corresponds to a spherical average of the real Earth, we detail how these estimates need to be corrected in order to be used as input data for such a mean model. The main independent data to be used for reference models are: b=6 371 230±10 m, M₀=(5.9733±0.0090)×10 ²⁴ kg, I₀/ M₀=(1.342 354±0.000 031)×10 ¹³ m ².

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Frédéric Chambat, Bernard Valette. Mean radius, mass, and inertia for reference Earth models. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 2001, 124, pp.237-253. ⟨10.1016/S0031-9201(01)00200-X⟩. ⟨insu-03606661⟩