Mean radius, mass, and inertia for reference Earth models

• DOI: 10.1016/s0031-9201(01)00200-x
• Publication Date: 2002-07-25T18:09:00Z
• Authors: Frédéric Chambat; Bernard Valette
• Keywords: Earth radius; Moment of inertia

Abstract 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, M 0 =(5.9733±0.0090)×10 24 kg, I 0 / M 0 =(1.342 354±0.000 031)×10 13 m2.