The GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) has significantly upgraded the knowledge on the Earth gravity field. In this contribution the accuracy of height anomalies determined from Global Geopotential Models (GGMs) based on approximately 27 months GOCE satellite gravity gradiometry (SGG) data have been assessed over Poland using three sets of precise GNSS/levelling data. The fits of height anomalies obtained from 4th release GOCE-based GGMs to GNSS/levelling data were discussed and compared with the respective ones of 3rd release GOCE-based GGMs and the EGM08. Furthermore, two highly accurate gravimetric quasigeoid models were developed over the area of Poland using high resolution Faye gravity anomalies. In the first, the GOCE-based GGM was used as a reference geopotential model, and in the second – the EGM08. They were evaluated with GNSS/levelling data and their accuracy performance was assessed. The use of GOCE-based GGMs for recovering the long-wavelength gravity signal in gravimetric quasigeoid modelling was discussed.

In this study, several variants create and choose of a local quasi-geoid model in Poland have been considered. All propositions have a source in European Gravimetric Geoid models – EGG2008 and EGG2015, which are purely gravimetric models of reference surface. In the course of this work, each model has been analyzed in various ways: without any corrections, by parallel shifting of residuals, by the 7-parameter conformal transformation and by fitting residuals by 4- and 5-parameter trigonometric polynomials. Eventual corrections were based on points of national GNSS/levelling networks (EUVN, EUVN_DA, POLREF, EUREF and ASG-EUPOS eccentric points). As a final result of this study, a comparison of the accuracy of selected models has been carried out by RMSE statistics and maps showing spatial distribution of residuals and histograms. Validation has shown that the maximum achievable accuracy of the EGG models is approximately 2 cm for the ETRF2000 reference system and approximately 8 cm for ETRF89. In turn, fitting with the use of different mathematical methods results in an improvement of the standard deviation of residues to the level of 1.3–1.4 cm. The conclusions include an evaluation of considerations for and against the use of models based only on EGG realizations and, on the other hand, fitted to the points of Polish vertical network. Its usefulness is strictly connected with needs of the definition of up to date quasi-geoid model for the new realization of heights system in Poland, based on EVRF2007 frame.