Satellite gravimetry and mass transport in the earth system

Abstract

Since launched in March 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission has brought a new era to the studies of large-scale mass transport and redistribution within different components of the Earth system, including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and solid Earth, and greatly improved our understanding of the Earth climate system and solid Earth geophysics. This paper provides a comprehensive review of GRACE satellite gravimetry and its geophysical applications in monitoring and quantifying water mass changes in various components of the global water cycle, ice mass balance of polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers, global sea level change, and mass redistribution in solid Earth. We also discuss in detail different GRACE data products (e.g., standard spherical harmonic and mascon solutions), commonly used GRACE data post-processing methods, major challenges in using different GRACE data and how to correctly address those challenges.