The Great Beyond: GOCE mission reveals the 'true' shape of the Earth

"... the most accurate map ever of the so-called geoid - an Earth-encompassing spirit level and global reference surface.

"Markedly different from a simple sphere or ellipsoid, the geoid is the mathematically 'true' shape of our planet. It represents a motionless global ocean but takes into account the effects of the Earth’s rotation, weight difference resulting from the position of mountains and ocean trenches, and uneven mass distribution and density variations in the planet’s interior..."

via blogs.nature.com

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