NASA has unveiled a new 3D geoid model based on satellite observations of Earth. In the visualization, the planet appears not as a perfect sphere but as an uneven object with bulges and depressions.
The geoid is an equipotential surface that can be thought of as the shape the ocean surface would take under the influence of Earth’s gravity alone. It reflects variations in the planet’s gravitational field caused by the uneven distribution of mass inside Earth.
Areas with denser rocks and other large masses exert a stronger gravitational pull. In the model, these areas appear as imaginary «hills.» Where mass is less concentrated, gravity is slightly weaker, creating «depressions.»
THE GEOID pic.twitter.com/BCz4NJ7yOb
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To make these variations visible, NASA exaggerated the geoid’s height by a factor of 10,000. In reality, the differences are only a few dozen meters and are imperceptible to the naked eye.
The highest point in the model is near Iceland, at approximately 85 meters above the reference level. The lowest point is south of India, where the geoid drops about 106 meters below the reference level.
The visualization is based on more than 1 billion observations collected over 15 years. The geoid is used not only to study Earth’s gravitational field but also as a reference for monitoring changes in sea level, ice-sheet mass, groundwater and drought conditions.
NASA data show that between 2002 and 2025, Antarctica lost an average of approximately 135 gigatons of ice per year, while Greenland lost about 264 gigatons per year.
