GFZ RL05: An Improved Time-Series of Monthly GRACE Gravity Field Solutions
After publishing its release 04 (RL04) time-series of monthly GRACE gravity field solutions starting end of 2006, GFZ has reprocessed this time-series based on numerous changes covering reprocessed instrument data, observation and background models as wel
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GFZ RL05: An Improved Time-Series of Monthly GRACE Gravity Field Solutions Christoph Dahle, Frank Flechtner, Christian Gruber, Daniel König, Rolf König, Grzegorz Michalak and Karl-Hans Neumayer
Abstract After publishing its release 04 (RL04) time-series of monthly GRACE gravity field solutions starting end of 2006, GFZ has reprocessed this time-series based on numerous changes covering reprocessed instrument data, observation and background models as well as updated processing environment and standards. The resulting GFZ RL05 time-series features significant improvements of about a factor of two compared to its precursor. By analyzing 72 monthly solutions for the time span 2005 till 2010, a remarkable noise reduction and a noticeably higher spatial resolution become obvious. The error level has significantly decreased and is now only about a factor of six above the pre-launch simulated baseline accuracy. GFZ RL05 solutions are publically available at ISDC and PO.DAAC archives.
4.1 Introduction As part of the GRACE Science Data System (SDS) the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) has been processing its release 04 (RL04) time-series of GRACE gravity field solutions since end of the year 2006 (Flechtner et al. 2010). This time-series has been widely used by scientists worldwide to investigate various time-varying mass variation signals in the system Earth such as the continental hydrological cycle, ice mass change in Antarctica and Greenland, surface and deep ocean currents or secular effects induced by Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA). As a matter of fact, the error level of the RL04 time-series is still about a factor of 15 above the pre-launch simulated baseline accuracy derived by Kim (2000). This is caused by errors and degradations due to inaccurate background models or instrument data processing. Most evidently, this becomes visible by spurious striping artefacts in the C. Dahle (B) · F. Flechtner · C. Gruber · D. König · R. König · G. Michalak · K. H. Neumayer GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Department 1, Geodesy and Remote Sensing, Münchner Str. 20, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
F. Flechtner et al. (eds.), Observation of the System Earth from Space - CHAMP, GRACE, GOCE and Future Missions, Advanced Technologies in Earth Sciences, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-32135-1_4, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
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monthly solutions, which have to be filtered by the users before further analysis. In the framework of the LOTSE-CHAMP/GRACE project (Flechtner 2013), numerous investigations regarding observation and background models as well as processing environment and standards have been performed which led to a complete reprocessing of the whole GRACE mission published as GFZ RL05 (Dahle et al. 2012). This paper gives a short overview of the changes and improvements going from RL04 to RL05.
4.2 Changes in Observation Models In parallel to preparing a new Level-2 (gravity field solution) release, also the generation of a new Level-1B ins
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