We investigate using the GIRAFE cold-atom gravimeter during an airborne gravity survey for improving gravity field and quasigeoid modelling. The study is conducted over the Bay of Biscay, France. Geoid/quasigeoid determination is usually a major challenge over such coastal areas due to scarce and inconsistent gravity data. In a first step, the GIRAFE dataset is analysed and compared with available surface gravity data as well as with global altimetry models from UCSD and DTU. The comparisons indicate that the DTU model is better than the UCSD model within around 10 km from the coastline. Furthermore, recent satellite altimeter missions significantly improve the altimetry models in coastal areas. A significant bias (− 4.00 mGal) in shipborne data is also found from this comparison. In a second step, eight quasigeoid solutions are calculated to evaluate the contribution of GIRAFE data. This contribution reaches 3 cm in terms of height anomaly for DTU21 while being much larger for UCSDv31 and shipborne data. Finally, the quasigeoid solutions are validated using GNSS-levelling data. The results indicate that using GIRAFE data improves by approximately 50% the quality of quasigeoid models over land near the coast. The highest accuracy, around 1 cm, is achieved when GIRAFE data are merged with refined gravity data. Importantly, the standard deviation is just 1.2 cm when compared with GNSS-levelling points if using only GIRAFE data over marine areas, which is very close to the 1 cm goal of geoid/quasigeoid model determination in modern geodesy. This study thus confirms the benefits of performing airborne gravity survey using quantum sensors.

我们在机载重力测量中使用 GIRAFE 冷原子重力仪进行研究，以改进重力场和准大地水准面建模。这项研究是在法国比斯开湾进行的。由于重力数据稀缺且不一致，大地水准面/准大地水准面的确定通常是此类沿海地区的主要挑战。第一步，对 GIRAFE 数据集进行分析，并将其与可用的表面重力数据以及来自 UCSD 和 DTU 的全球测高模型进行比较。比较结果表明，在距离海岸线10公里左右的范围内，DTU模型优于UCSD模型。此外，最近的卫星高度计任务显着改善了沿海地区的高度测量模型。从该比较中还发现船载数据存在显着偏差（− 4.00 mGal）。第二步，计算八个准大地水准面解以评估 GIRAFE 数据的贡献。对于 DTU21 的高度异常，这一贡献达到 3 厘米，而对于 UCSDv31 和船载数据来说，这一贡献要大得多。最后，使用 GNSS 水准测量数据验证准大地水准面解决方案。结果表明，使用 GIRAFE 数据将海岸附近陆地上的准大地水准面模型的质量提高了约 50%。当 GIRAFE 数据与精炼的重力数据合并时，可达到约 1 厘米的最高精度。重要的是，如果仅使用海洋区域上的 GIRAFE 数据，与 GNSS 水准点相比，标准差仅为 1.2 厘米，这非常接近现代大地测量学中大地水准面/准大地水准面模型确定的 1 厘米目标。因此，这项研究证实了使用量子传感器进行机载重力测量的好处。