A New Bouguer Gravity Anomaly Field in the Adriatic Sea for Geodetic and Geophysical Applications

This study is attempting to create a tool which will answer questions mainly aiming at the deep but also shallow structure of the Adriatic Sea and its surrounding areas. The most vital parameter for the accomplishment of this task is the production of gravity from geodetic data coming from satellite missions. Quintessential to this goal is the successful compilation of a total gravitational database consisting of gridded Bouguer anomalies for the wider region of the Adriatic, empowered by the correct binding of heterogeneous data such as field gravity measurements (both land and shipborne) and altimetric data. These data are consolidated through the application of least squares collocation, an interpolation method which uses the statistical properties of the gravitational field and predicts its values on grid points of our choice. The whole procedure is based on the notion of the covariance function, which is normally used for geodetic applications. The completion of the Bouguer anomaly map generates the desired tool which aids and supports all kind of geophysical investigation of the deep and shallow structure of the region at hand.