Space-Borne Gravimetric Measurements for Quantifying Earth System Mass Change

Dear Colleagues,

Global interest towards measuring space-time variations in Earth’s gravity field has grown enormously in the last decade. Several mission concepts are under study by space agencies in both the U.S. and Europe, with a goal of continuing the time series of mass change observations established by GRACE and GRACE-FO, while also improving upon previous measurements.  The user community has underscored the importance of improving the spatio-temporal resolution of the current data record to both further scientific knowledge and reinforce and enable new applications in the fields of hydrology, oceanography, the cryosphere, solid Earth, and climate.  The measurement which enables these observations is the variation of the distance between two satellites using a precise ranging instrument, coupled with precision accelerometers that measure the non-gravitational accelerations which are separated from the gravity signal in the data processing. Supporting measurements include knowledge of inertial position of the satellites with a GNSS receiver and accurate knowledge of the satellite attitude.  A future gravity mission is positioned to build upon the successful technological advances of previous missions, such as GRACE, GOCE, and GRACE Follow-On.  These observations will be complementary to other Earth observations to advance Earth system science holistically.

Contributions highlighiting the benefit of measurements of the Earth gravity signal are welcomed, as well as papers dealing with alternative/new approaches to enabling and advancing these measurements in terms of both mission design and dedicated instrumentation.

Dr. Luca Massotti
Dr. David N. Wiese
Guest Editors

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