VENUS SPHERICAL HARMONIC GRAVITY MODEL TO DEGREE-60 AND ORDER-60

The Magellan and Pioneer Venus Orbiter radiometric tracking data sets have been combined to produce a 60th degree and order spherical harmon ic gravity field. The Magellan data include the high-precision X-band gravity tracking from September 1992 to May 1993 and post-aerobraking data up to January 5, 1994. Gravity models are presented from the appl ication of Kaula's power rule for Venus and an alternative a priori me thod using surface accelerations. Results are given as vertical gravit y acceleration at the reference surface, geoid, vertical Bouguer, and vertical isostatic maps with errors for the vertical gravity and geoid maps included. Correlation of the gravity with topography for the dif ferent models is also discussed. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.