The mathematical definition and numerical computation of the gravity signal of finite mass distributions play a central role in gravity field modeling and interpretation. The topic of mass or terrain modeling deals with two distinct yet strongly coupled issues, namely the choice of geometric modeling for the approximation of the given mass distribution and the adopted mathematical method, which in turn leads to a corresponding numerical procedure for the computation of the distribution's gravitational field. Ideal geometrical shapes, such as rectangular prisms with inclined or flat tops, cylinders, generally shaped polyhedrons or tesseroids are used commonly as finite modeling elements for terrain modeling applications, with the theoretical development of the gravity signal of these bodies defining an active research area. An ideal balance between geometrical representation, computational efficiency and numerical accuracy of the computed gravity field functionals, is generally sought in local, regional or global applications of mass modeling, one of the main factors in this interplay being the availability of terrain and density data in the form of digital elevation or crustal models of increased spatial resolution and accuracy.

The session welcomes contributions from the entire theoretical as well as numerical range of mass modeling. Validation studies, novel approaches, direct applications or case studies on analytical, numerical, spectral or multiresolutional methods of computing the gravitational fields of known mass distributions are strongly encouraged.