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GOCE, Satellite Gravimetry and Antarctic Mass Transports

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Abstract

In 2009 the European Space Agency satellite mission GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) was launched. Its objectives are the precise and detailed determination of the Earth’s gravity field and geoid. Its core instrument, a three axis gravitational gradiometer, measures the gravity gradient components V xx , V yy , V zz and V xz (second-order derivatives of the gravity potential V) with high precision and V xy , V yz with low precision, all in the instrument reference frame. The long wavelength gravity field is recovered from the orbit, measured by GPS (Global Positioning System). Characteristic elements of the mission are precise star tracking, a Sun-synchronous and very low (260 km) orbit, angular control by magnetic torquing and an extremely stiff and thermally stable instrument environment. GOCE is complementary to GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), another satellite gravity mission, launched in 2002. While GRACE is designed to measure temporal gravity variations, albeit with limited spatial resolution, GOCE is aiming at maximum spatial resolution, at the expense of accuracy at large spatial scales. Thus, GOCE will not provide temporal variations but is tailored to the recovery of the fine scales of the stationary field. GRACE is very successful in delivering time series of large-scale mass changes of the Antarctic ice sheet, among other things. Currently, emphasis of respective GRACE analyses is on regional refinement and on changes of temporal trends. One of the challenges is the separation of ice mass changes from glacial isostatic adjustment. Already from a few months of GOCE data, detailed gravity gradients can be recovered. They are presented here for the area of Antarctica. As one application, GOCE gravity gradients are an important addition to the sparse gravity data of Antarctica. They will help studies of the crustal and lithospheric field. A second area of application is ocean circulation. The geoid surface from the gravity field model GOCO01S allows us now to generate rather detailed maps of the mean dynamic ocean topography and of geostrophic flow velocities in the region of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

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Acknowledgments

The work of the first and third author is supported by the Institute for Advanced Study of Technische Universität München. Additional support of the work of the third author comes from Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The work of the second author was supported by a research fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Roman Savcenko (German Geodetic Research Institute, DGFI) together with the fifth author provided the altimetric mean surface from the multi-mission analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Astronomical and Physical Geodesy (IAPG), Technische Universität München, 80290, München, Germany

    Reiner Rummel, Martin Horwath, Weiyong Yi & Alberta Albertella

  2. Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut (DGFI), Alfons-Goppel-Str.11, 80539, München, Germany

    Wolfgang Bosch

  3. ESA-ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201, AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands

    Roger Haagmans

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  1. Reiner Rummel
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  2. Martin Horwath
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  3. Weiyong Yi
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  4. Alberta Albertella
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  5. Wolfgang Bosch
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  6. Roger Haagmans
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Correspondence to Martin Horwath.

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Rummel, R., Horwath, M., Yi, W. et al. GOCE, Satellite Gravimetry and Antarctic Mass Transports. Surv Geophys 32, 643–657 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-011-9115-5

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