Recovery of Ocean Depth Model of South China Sea from Altimetric Gravity Gradient Anomalies

Based on the theory of potential and flexural isostatic compensation,the relationship between ocean depth and the vertical component of gravity gradient anomalies is derived.Using the vertical component of gravity gradient anomalies computed with Geosat,ERS-1/2,T/P,Jason-1,EnviSat-1 altimeter data,the ocean depth model of the South China Sea is predicted using a FFT method.Then the predicted ocean depth model is compared with LDEO ocean depth.The RMS of the difference between the predicted model and LDEO achieves 591.7 m when ocean depth is greater than 5 000 m.