Accuracy assessment of satellite derived bouguer gravity in comparison with terrestrial bouguer gravity of Gongola Basin, Nigeria

Abstract

Since the advent of the geophysics field, terrestrial gravity observation has been one of the traditional methods of gravity acquisition. One of its shortcomings is a sparse network of data for a broad survey, which restricts how much they may be used. Satellite gravity on the other hand provides dense data for regional surveys. The availability of plenty of satellite gravity models causes the dilemma of choosing an accurate model for research. One of the techniques for isolating good satellite gravity models is to determine their accuracy in particular areas. Therefore, this research assesses the accuracies of 21 satellite gravity models in the Gongola basin by utilizing Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) as performance indicators in their evaluation of the accuracies. Results obtained showed XGM2019e 2159 model produced the best value for this region's performance metrics as a result of the statistical analysis for the Gongola Basin. Because XGM2019e 2159 has the lowest MAE (4.710), MAPE (14.26%), and highest correlation (0.787) with the terrestrial bouguer anomalies, it is assessed to be the most appropriate for use in this study. The next best contestants were, XGM2016, GECO, EGM-2008, EIGEN-6C4 and GGM05C in decreasing order of accuracy