These images show three different views of the Earth's geoid - a surface of equal gravitational potential that, over the ocean, closely follows the sea surface.The geoid was determined from data collected by previous satellite missions.Among these satellites is the Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP), the forerunner to GRACE, launched by the German Georesearch Center GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam(GFZ). Similar products will be developed using data from GRACE with an expected improvement in accuracy of several orders of magnitude.These images were provided courtesy of GFZ. The illustration of the GRACE satellites was provided by Chris Meaney. |