There is a need to accurately link the water level to the shoreline vertical datum for various applications including coastal management, lake/river/estuary/wetland hydrological or storm surge modeling/forecasting. Coastal topography is historically surveyed and referenced to the predetermined vertical datum in terms of orthometric heights, or the heights above the geoid, which is poorly known ...

Abstract This article is a short introduction to the debate on choosing geoid and orthometric heights or quasi-geoid normal as vertical coordinate system. It mainly compiles some more less already known facts for comparing two systems.

With the gravity eld and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) (preferably combined with the gravity eld and climate experiment (GRACE)) a new generation of geoid models will become available for use in height determination. These models will be globally consistent, accurate (<3 cm) and with a spatial resolution up to degree and order 200, when expressed in terms of a spherical harmoni...

Physical heights were traditionally determined without considering the dynamic processes of Earth induced from temporal mass variations. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission provided valuable data that allow estimation geoid/quasigeoid height changes vertical deformations Earth’s surface loading, thereby variations physical heights. objective this investigation is to disc...

The ability to build three-dimensional models through technologies based on satellite navigation systems GNSS and the continuous development of new sensors, as Airborne Laser Scanning Hydrography (ALH), data acquisition methods and 3D multi-resolution representations, have contributed significantly to the digital 3D documentation, mapping, preservation and representation of landscapes and herit...