A further evaluation of the EG M96 geopotential model based on deflections of the vertical

The deflection of the vertical is a gravitational signal with significant high
spatial frequency informational content. However, no such data enter the typical
global geopotential model development. Therefore, deflections of the vertical
represent an ideal independent data source to assess global gravity models, since
they are weakest at high frequencies. A comparison of the deflections of the vertical
computed from the recently developed EGM96 geopotential model with
astrogeodetic deflections at about 3600 points in the conterminous United States
show that the EGM96 model may be under-powered at degrees higher than 200.