Local determination of the components of the deflection of the vertical using gravitational potential parameters at a neighboring point

We present a method for the estimation of the components ξ and η of the deflection of the vertical using several parameters of the gravitational potential. Specifically, we assume that we know the geodetic coordinates (φ, λ, h), the magnitude of gravity g, the components ξ, η and the second partial derivatives of the gravitational potential (elements of the Eötvös matrix) at a point P. Knowing only the geodetic coordinates of a neighboring point A (at a distance up to several kilometers from P), we estimate the components ξ and η at A. The proposed method is evaluated with simulated data at several points in Greece. The results show that it may be used for the densification of a given astrogeodetic net.