Abstract
Spaceborne gravimetry such as GRACE provides a unique opportunity to observe basin-scale surface and subsurface global water storage changes with unprecedented accuracy and temporal and spatial coverages. The contemporary methodology to process GRACE data for hydrologic studies is in terms of monthly spherical harmonic geopotential solutions with a spatial resolution longer than 600–800,km (half-wavelength), after proper smoothing. Alternative methods include the direct processing of satellite-to-satellite K-Band Range (KBR) rate data and to estimate the localized gravity field, and the so-called mascon methods. In this study we estimate monthly continental water thickness changes over the Amazon Basin for one year (2003) by calculating in-situ Line-Of-Sight (LOS) gravity differences inferred by the GRACE KBR range acceleration. A regional inversion method based on Bayesian statistics is used to estimate water thickness changes from the LOS gravity difference observations. Power Spectral Density (PSD) comparison with the spherical harmonic monthly solutions at both 600 and 800 km resolutions indicates that the LOS gravity solution has more power at degree 13 or higher, implying that it is a viable technique for potentially enhancing spatial resolutions of GRACE solutions at these frequencies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
references
Bettadpur, S. (2004), Level-2 gravity field product user handbook, GRACE 327–734, Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin.
Han, S., C. Shum, and A. Braun (2005a), High-resolution continental water storage recovery from low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking. J. Geodyn., 39(1), 11–28.
Han, S., C. Shum, C. Jekeli, and D. Alsdorf (2005b), Improved estimation of terrestrial water storage changes from GRACE. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L07302, doi:10.1029/2005GL022382.
Jekeli, C. (1981), Alternative methods to smooth the earth’s gravity field. Technical report #327, Geodetic Science, Ohio State University, Department of Geodetic Science and Surveying, 1958 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
Rodell, M., J. Famiglietti (1999), Detectibility of variations in continental water storage from satellite observations of the time variable gravity field. Water Resour. Res., 35(9), 2705–2723.
Rodell, M., J. Famiglietti (2001), An analysis of terrestrial water storage variations in Illinois with implications for the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). Water Resour. Res., 37(5), 1327–1339.
Rowlands, D., S. Luthcke, S. Klosko, F. Lemoine, D. Chinn, J. McCarthy, C. Cox, and O. Anderson (2005), Resolving mass flux at high spatial and temporal resolution using GRACE intersatellite measurements. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L04310, doi:10.1029/2004GL021908.
Tapley, B., S. Bettadpur, M. Watkins, and C. Reigber (2004a), The gravity recovery and climate experiment: Mission overview and early results. Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L09607, doi:10.1029/2004GL019920.
Tapley, B., S. Bettadpur, J. Ries, P. Thompson, and M. Watkins (2004b), GRACE measurements of mass variability in the earth system. Science, 305, 503–505.
Wahr, J., F. Molenaar, and F. Bryan (1998), Time variability of the earth’s gravity field: Hydrological and oceanic effects and their possible detection using GRACE. J. Geophys. Res., 103(B12), 30205–30229.
Wahr, J., S. Swenson, V. Zlotnicki, and I. Velicogna (2004), Time variable gravity from GRACE: First results. Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L11501, doi:10.1029/2004GL019779.
Yuan D., and M. Watkins (2006), Recent Mascon solutions from GRACE, Proceedings of Hotine-Marussi Symposium, Wuhan, China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Chen, Y., Schaffrin, B., Shum, C. (2008). Continental Water Storage Changes from GRACE Line-of-Sight Range Acceleration Measurements. In: Xu, P., Liu, J., Dermanis, A. (eds) VI Hotine-Marussi Symposium on Theoretical and Computational Geodesy. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 132. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74584-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74584-6_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-74583-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-74584-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)