GRACE MONTHLY OCEAN MASS EOF GRIDS NETCDF JPL RELEASE 5.0

10.5067/TEOCN-ENJ05

TELLUS_OCEANEOF_NC_JPL_RL05

The twin satellites of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), launched in March of 2002, are making detailed monthly measurements of Earth's gravity field changes. These observations can detect regional mass changes of Earth's water reservoirs over land, ice and oceans. GRACE measures gravity variations by relating it to the distance variations between the two satellites, which fly in the same orbit, separated by about 240 km at an altitude of ~450 km. The monthly ocean mass grids contain ocean bottom pressure anomalies from GRACE time-variable gravity data processed by JPL relative to a time-mean, but additionally filtered to project onto model-derived Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs). The EOF-filter can improve the comparison of the GRACE-based ocean bottom pressure to sea surface height from altimetry. The bottom pressure anomalies are given in 'equivalent water thickness' (in NetCDF format), so can be compared to sea level anomalies due to changes of water mass (reference density is 1027 kg/m^3). The time coverage for the monthly grids are determined by GRACE months. For the list of GRACE month dates visit http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/data/grace-months/. For information please visit http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/data/get-data/monthly-mass-grids-ocean/.

5.0

Solid Earth › Geodetics/Gravity › Gravity
Oceans › Ocean Pressure › Water Pressure › Ocean Bottom Pressure

3

August 1, 2002 to Present

-

GRACE/GRACE ACC, GRACE/GRACE SCA, GRACE/GRACE KBR

Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs)

PO.DAAC