Extending the Global Mass Change Data Record: GRACE Follow‐On Instrument and Science Data Performance

Autor: Bryant D. Loomis, Furun Wang, Sung Hun Byun, Dah-Ning Yuan, Srinivas Bettadpur, Zhigui Kang, Mark E. Tamisiea, M. Murböck, Christoph Dahle, Gerhard Kruizinga, Felix W. Landerer, Himanshu Save, Hui-Ying Wen, Tamara Bandikova, Frank Webb, S. R. Poole, Frank Flechtner, Henryk Dobslaw, Michael M. Watkins, Peter Nagel, Nadege Pie, William I. Bertiger, E. Fahnestock, Meegyeong Paik, Dmitry Strekalov, Nate Harvey, David N. Wiese, Christopher McCullough
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geophysical Research Letters
ISSN: 1944-8007
0094-8276
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl088306
Popis: Since June, 2018, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow‐On (GRACE‐FO) is extending the 15‐year monthly mass change record of the GRACE mission, which ended in June 2017. The GRACE‐FO instrument and flight system performance has improved over GRACE. Better attitude solutions and enhanced pointing performance result in reduced fuel consumption and gravity range rate post‐fit residuals. One accelerometer requires additional calibrations due to unexpected measurement noise. The GRACE‐FO gravity and mass change fields from June 2018 through December 2019 continue the GRACE record at an equivalent precision and spatio‐temporal sampling. During this period, GRACE‐FO observed large interannual terrestrial water variations associated with excess rainfall (Central US, Middle East), drought (Europe, Australia), and ice melt (Greenland). These observations are consistent with independent mass change estimates, providing high confidence that no inter‐mission biases exist from GRACE to GRACE‐FO, despite the 11‐month gap. GRACE‐FO has also successfully demonstrated satellite‐to‐satellite laser ranging interferometry.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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