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S2 tide aliasing in GRACE time-variable gravity solutions

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Abstract

Errors in high-frequency ocean tide models alias to low frequencies in time-variable gravity solutions from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). We conduct an observational study of apparent gravity changes at a period of 161 days, the alias period of errors in the S2 semidiurnal solar tide. We examine this S2 alias in the release 4 (RL04) reprocessed GRACE monthly gravity solutions for the period April 2002 to February 2008, and compare with that in release 1 (RL01) GRACE solutions. One of the major differences between RL04 and RL01 is the ocean tide model. In RL01, the alias is evident at high latitudes, near the Filchner-Ronne and Ross ice shelves in Antarctica, and regions surrounding Greenland and Hudson Bay. RL04 shows significantly lower alias amplitudes in many of these locations, reflecting improvements in the ocean tide model. However, RL04 shows continued alias contamination between the Ronne and Larson ice shelves, somewhat larger than in RL01, indicating a need for further tide model improvement in that region. For unknown reasons, the degree-2 zonal spherical harmonics (C20) of the RL04 solutions show significantly larger S2 aliasing errors than those from RL01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin, 3925 W. Braker Lane, Suite 200, Austin, TX, 78759-5321, USA

    J. L. Chen & C. R. Wilson

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1100, Austin, TX, 78712-0254, USA

    C. R. Wilson

  3. Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), KORDI, 504 Get-Pearl Tower, Songdo Techno Park, 7-50 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Inchon, 406-840, South Korea

    Ki-Weon Seo

Authors
  1. J. L. Chen
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  2. C. R. Wilson
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  3. Ki-Weon Seo
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Correspondence to J. L. Chen.

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Chen, J.L., Wilson, C.R. & Seo, KW. S2 tide aliasing in GRACE time-variable gravity solutions. J Geod 83, 679–687 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-008-0282-1

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