GRACE will do more than just produce a more accurate gravitational field plot, however. The measurements from GRACE have important implications for improving the accuracy of many scientific measurements related to climate change - hence the "ACE" in our acronym. Improvements to the accuracy of satellite altimetry, synthetic aperture radar interferometry, and digital terrain models covering large land and ice areas - used in remote sensing applications and cartography - are expected to result from the improved gravitational field measurements provided by GRACE. These techniques provide critical input to many scientific models used in oceanography, hydrology, geology and related disciplines and, for this reason, the Earth Science community eagerly anticipates the GRACE launch. Among the expected applications:

• Studying ocean currents both near the surface and far beneath the waves;
• Tracking water movement on and beneath Earth's surface;
• Tracking the movement and changing mass of ice sheets;
• Improving information on sea-level heights and sea-level rise; and
• Tracking changes in the interior structure of the Earth.