Instrument data simulations for GRACE Follow-on

Observation and noise models

authored by

Neda Darbeheshti, Henry Wegener, Vitali Müller, Majid Naeimi, Gerhard Heinzel, Martin Hewitson

Abstract

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has yielded data on the Earth's gravity field to monitor temporal changes for more than 15 years. The GRACE twin satellites use microwave ranging with micrometre precision to measure the distance variations between two satellites caused by the Earth's global gravitational field. GRACE Follow-on (GRACE-FO) will be the first satellite mission to use inter-satellite laser interferometry in space. The laser ranging instrument (LRI) will provide two additional measurements compared to the GRACE mission: Interferometric inter-satellite ranging with nanometre precision and inter-satellite pointing information. We have designed a set of simulated GRACE-FO data, which include LRI measurements, apart from all other GRACE instrument data needed for the Earth's gravity field recovery. The simulated data files are publicly available via doi.org/10.22027/AMDC2 and can be used to derive gravity field solutions like from GRACE data. This paper describes the scientific basis and technical approaches used to simulate the GRACE-FO instrument data.data. This paper describes the scientific basis and technical approaches used to simulate the GRACE-FO instrument data.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Geodesy

External Organisation(s)

Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)

Type

Article

Journal

Earth system science data

Volume

Pages

833-848

No. of pages

ISSN

1866-3508

Publication date

17.11.2017

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-833-2017 (Access: Open)

Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{35232bec992a4addbc2a480d42d9afda,
title = "Instrument data simulations for GRACE Follow-on: Observation and noise models",
abstract = "The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has yielded data on the Earth's gravity field to monitor temporal changes for more than 15 years. The GRACE twin satellites use microwave ranging with micrometre precision to measure the distance variations between two satellites caused by the Earth's global gravitational field. GRACE Follow-on (GRACE-FO) will be the first satellite mission to use inter-satellite laser interferometry in space. The laser ranging instrument (LRI) will provide two additional measurements compared to the GRACE mission: Interferometric inter-satellite ranging with nanometre precision and inter-satellite pointing information. We have designed a set of simulated GRACE-FO data, which include LRI measurements, apart from all other GRACE instrument data needed for the Earth's gravity field recovery. The simulated data files are publicly available via https://doi.org/10.22027/AMDC2 and can be used to derive gravity field solutions like from GRACE data. This paper describes the scientific basis and technical approaches used to simulate the GRACE-FO instrument data.data. This paper describes the scientific basis and technical approaches used to simulate the GRACE-FO instrument data.",
author = "Neda Darbeheshti and Henry Wegener and Vitali M{\"u}ller and Majid Naeimi and Gerhard Heinzel and Martin Hewitson",
note = "Funding information:. This project is supported by funding from the SFB 1128 “Relativistic Geodesy and Gravimetry with Quantum Sensors (geo-Q)” by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. We also thank JPL and AIRBUS Defense and Space for providing the GRACE-FO attitude and orbital control system performance predictions.",
year = "2017",
month = nov,
day = "17",
doi = "10.5194/essd-9-833-2017",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
pages = "833--848",
journal = "Earth system science data",
issn = "1866-3508",
publisher = "Copernicus Publications",
number = "2",
}