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Time-varying gravity

The temporal variation in gravity consists of numerous phenomena with different periods and amplitudes. Earth’s diurnal and semidiurnal tides due to Sun and Moon have the strongest effect. The magnitude is about 10-7 of normal gravity and depending e.g. on latitude. The next largest gravity effect due to the variable atmospheric pressure, which is10% of tides.

Other phenomena which cause temporal gravity variations are: polar motion (pole tide); non-tidal sea level variationsand hydrological phenomena such as variation in soil moisture content, groundwater level and snow cover. Effects of these phenomena are a few percent of tides.