GRACE-FO: science results, mission status and outlook
- 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA (felix.w.landerer@jpl.nasa.gov)
- 2Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Geodesy, Potsdam, Germany
- 3Center for Space Research- University of Texas, Center for Space Research- University of Texas, Austin, USA
Since 2018, the GRACE Follow-On satellite mission, a partnership between NASA (US) and GFZ (Germany), is continuing the unique essential climate data record of mass change across the Earth system initiated in 2002 by the GRACE mission (2002-2017). The combined GRACE & GRACE-FO data records now span over 22 years and provide foundational observations of monthly to decadal global mass changes and transports in the Earth system derived from temporal variations in the Earth’s gravity field. These observations have become indispensable for climate-related studies that enable process understanding of the evolving global water cycle, including ocean dynamics, polar ice mass changes, and near-surface and global ground water changes.
In this presentation, we will present recent GRACE/GRACE-FO science and applications highlights, new data processing, calibration approaches, the improvements and performance of the recently released new RL06.3 data version, and discuss the GRACE-FO mission plan to operate and collect high-quality science data through the peaking solar cycle 25, aiming for continuity with the upcoming NASA/DLR GRACE-Continuity mission, targeted to launch in late 2028.
How to cite: Landerer, F., Flechtner, F., Save, H., McCullough, C., Dahle, C., Bettadpur, S., Gaston, R., Snopek, K., and Reager, J. T.: GRACE-FO: science results, mission status and outlook, GRACE/GRACE-FO Science Team Meeting, Potsdam, Germany, 8–10 Oct 2024, GSTM2024-94, https://doi.org/10.5194/gstm2024-94, 2024.
