A spectral assessment review of current satellite‐only and combined Earth gravity models

Abstract

AbstractThe realization over the last decade of dedicated gravity field satellite missions enabled the production of a series of new satellite‐only and combined models for the Earth's gravity field. Using different sensors, measurement techniques, and algorithmic procedures, the final product in each case is a set of spherical harmonic coefficients representing the series expansion of the gravitational potential up to a certain maximum degree, depending on the mission characteristics and the range of the available data. The present review performs a detailed quantified analysis of a representative selection of currently available CHAMP (Challenging Minisatellite Payload), GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady‐State Ocean Circulation Explorer), and combined Earth gravity models. In this comparative analysis, we also include the so‐called topographic/isostatic gravity models that represent the contribution of global digital elevation maps for the topography and ocean bathymetry. Applying a range of available spatial and spectral accuracy and assessment measures, such as correlation per degree and order, smoothing per degree and order, signal‐to‐noise ratio, gain, degree variances, and error degree variances, one gains a quantified “peek” inside the quality of these models spanning over their whole spectrum. The applied error and assessment measures are defined both in an absolute and relative manner with respect to other similar models or some reference Earth gravity models. Furthermore, the nature of the performed analysis (degree‐wise, order‐wise, and cumulative) permits the identification of distinct spectral bandwidths in these models, enables the quantification of some standard features of the observed field, such as its “long wavelength”, “short wavelength”, or “very high frequency part”, and specifies the attenuation of the gravity signal with increasing altitude from the Earth's surface. An examination of the assessment quantities reveals certain bandwidths of these models with characteristic statistical features. A band‐limited synthesis of these bandwidths in the space domain quantifies the corresponding contributions in terms of selected gravity field functionals, including second‐order derivatives at GOCE altitude.