A Novel Multithreaded Parallel Computing Approach for Solving Convolution Integrals in Geoid Modelling

The geoid, which serves as the reference surface for heights in geosciences, is a closed surface representing the Earth’s real physical shape. In literature, various methods have been proposed for geoid determination over the years; the gravimetric approach, which relies on gravity data, is one of the most widely used. The major challenge of the gravimetric method lies in solving the convolution integral involved in the formulation, which is a computationally time-consuming process. In this paper, the parallel computation of a convolution integral is explained. Also, the gravimetric geoid determination was carried out by parallel computing using multi-threads. Hence, the speed-up graphs and numerical comparisons were performed based on the integration cap size, data density, and number of threads, separately. The experimental results demonstrate that parallel computing significantly contributes to geoid determination processes regarding the runtime. For illustration, depending on the cap size and data density, parallel computing achieves speed-ups of up to 9 and 11 times, respectively.