Abstract:

We provide an overview of alternative methodology developed to process GRACE Level 1B data products including KBR range-rate, precise orbit, accelerometer and attitude for regional modeling of time-variable gravity fields. The in situ geopotential differences at satellite altitude, estimated primarily by KBR low-low tracking data, could potentially become another high-level GRACE data product. Theses GRACE potential difference measurements are used to recover the time-variable mass anomalies on the Earth’s surface. The developed technique has demonstrated enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions (up to several hundred km and several days, depending on latitude) as compared to the standard method based on the monthly mean Stokes coefficients with the Gaussian or isotropic smoothing. We present scientific applications of the techniques for studying GRACE observations of mass redistributions on Earth, including hydrology, polar tides and other geophysical signals.