Remote Sensing by Satellite Gravimetry

Dear Colleagues,

During the last two decades, satellite gravimetry has become a new remote sensing technique providing a detailed global picture of the physical structure of the Earth. For the first time, with the CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE missions, mass irregularities and the transport of mass in the Earth system could be systematically observed and monitored from space. A wide range of Earth science disciplines and operational observing systems benefit from these observations and have been enabled to improve their models and to get new insights into processes of the Earth system (e.g., water cycle, continental hydrology, ocean modelling, ice sheet and glacier melting, lithosphere modelling). Recently, because of the success of these missions, GRACE Follow-On was launched in order to continue the time series of mass transport observations, which is needed to disentangle the effects of anthropogenic and natural sources of climate change on the Earth system. The value of satellite gravimetry has been acknowledged by the international Earth science community in various resolutions and, in the meantime, this procedure is regarded as a new remote-sensing tool, providing information that is complementary to other remote-sensing techniques. In order to secure sustained observations of mass distribution and mass transport on a long-term basis, space agencies and the Earth science community are currently planning future satellite gravimetry mission concepts enabling higher accuracy and better spatial and temporal resolution. This Special Issue is calling for contributions about observation techniques, data processing, and achievements obtained with satellite gravimetry missions so far. In addition, the first results of the GRACE Follow-On mission and future concepts of satellite constellations for monitoring the mass distribution of the Earth shall be addressed.  Potential topics of the Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

• CHAMP, GRACE, GRACE Follow-On, and GOCE data analysis, including instrument performance
• Techniques for gravity field modelling with satellite data
• Current and future concepts for satellite gravimetry
• New observation techniques in satellite gravimetry
• Satellite gravity field models (mean field and time series) and their validation
• Time series of mass transport in the Earth system
• Applications of satellite gravimetry in Earth sciences

Dr. Thomas Gruber
Prof. Dr. Annette Eicker
Prof. Dr. Frank Flechtner
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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