The invention relates to a method for determining the 1985 elevation reference
gravitational potential of China, which comprises the following steps of constructing a combined
gravitational field model, adopting the corresponding order of a GRACE / COCE
gravitational field model for the first k orders, and adopting the corresponding order of an EGM2008
gravitational field model for the k-2190 orders of the combined gravitational field model, for different k values, calculating the precision of the corresponding combined gravitational field model, selecting the gravitational field model with the highest precision as an
optimal combination order gravitational field model, obtaining the
longitude and
latitude of the target area, and calculating the elevation reference
gravitational potential of the target area through the
optimal combination order gravitational field model. According to the method, the combined gravitational field model is jointly constructed based on the GRACE or COCE gravitational field model and the EGM2008 gravitational field model, the short wave precision of the gravitational field model can be better improved, and the model precision is further improved. The optimal combined order gravitational field model is adopted to calculate the elevation reference
gravitational potential of the target area, the elevation reference gravitational potential of China can be determined with higher precision, and effective unification of the 1985 elevation reference and the global elevation reference in China is achieved.