scholarly journals Prograde and Retrograde Terms of Gravimetric Polar Motion Excitation Estimates from the GRACE Monthly Gravity Field Models

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolanta Nastula ◽  
Justyna Śliwińska

From 2002 to 2017, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission’s twin satellites measured variations in the mass redistribution of Earth’s superficial fluids, which disturb polar motion (PM). In this study, the PM excitation estimates were computed from two recent releases of GRACE monthly gravity field models, RL05 and RL06, and converted into prograde and retrograde circular terms by applying the complex Fourier transform. This is the first such analysis of circular parts in GRACE-based excitations. The obtained series were validated by comparison with the residuals of observed polar motion excitation (geodetic angular momentum (GAM)–atmospheric angular momentum (AAM)–oceanic angular momentum (OAM) (GAO)) determined from precise geodetic measurements of the pole coordinates. We examined temporal variations of hydrological excitation function series (or hydrological angular momentum, HAM) in four spectral bands: seasonal, non-seasonal, non-seasonal short-term, and non-seasonal long-term. The general conclusions arising from the conducted analyses of prograde and retrograde terms were consistent with the findings from the equatorial components of PM excitation studies drawn in previous research. In particular, we showed that the new GRACE RL06 data increased the consistency between different solutions and improved the agreement between GRACE-based excitation series and reference data. The level of agreement between HAM and GAO was dependent on the oscillation considered and was higher for long-term than short-term variations. For most of the oscillations considered, the highest agreement with GAO was obtained for CSR RL06 and ITSG-Grace2018 solutions. This study revealed that both prograde and retrograde circular terms of PM excitation can be determined by GRACE with similar levels of accuracy. The findings from this study may help in choosing the most appropriate GRACE solution for PM investigations and can be useful in future improvements to GRACE data processing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Śliwińska ◽  
Jolanta Nastula

This study evaluates the gravity field solutions based on high-low satellite-to-satellite tracking (hl-SST) of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites: GRACE, Swarm, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, MetOp-A, MetOp-B, and Jason 2, by converting them into hydrological polar motion excitation functions (or hydrological angular momentum (HAM)). The resulting HAM series are compared with the residuals of observed polar motion excitation (geodetic residuals, GAO) derived from precise geodetic measurements, and the HAM obtained from the GRACE ITSG 2018 solution. The findings indicate a large impact of orbital altitude and inclination on the accuracy of derived HAM. The HAM series obtained from Swarm data are found to be the most consistent with GAO. Visible differences are found in HAM obtained from GRACE and Swarm orbits and provided by different processing centres. The main reasons for such differences are likely to be different processing approaches and background models. The findings of this study provide important information on alternative data sets that may be used to provide continuous polar motion excitation observations, of which the Swarm solution provided by the Astronomical Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, is the most accurate. However, further analysis is needed to determine which processing algorithms are most appropriate to obtain the best correspondence with GAO.



2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Śliwińska ◽  
Małgorzata Wińska ◽  
Jolanta Nastula

<p>Assessing the impact of continental hydrosphere and cryosphere on polar motion (PM) variations is one of the crucial tasks in contemporary geodesy. The pole coordinates, as one of the Earth Orientation Parameters, are needed to define the relationship between the celestial and terrestrial reference frames. Therefore, the variations in PM should be monitored and interpreted in order to assess the role of geophysical processes in this phenomenon.</p><p>The role of hydrological and cryospheric signals in PM is usually examined by computing hydrological excitation (hydrological angular momentum, HAM) and cryospheric excitation (cryospheric angular momentum, CAM) of  PM, commonly treated together as HAM/CAM.</p><p>The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) missions deliver temporal variations of the gravity field resulting from changes in global mass redistribution. The so-called GRACE/GRACE-FO Level-3 (L3) data delivers changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) that can be used for computation of HAM/CAM.</p><p>For best possible representation of TWS, a number of corrections are introduced in the L3 data by computing centres. Such corrections are, among others, glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) correction, geocenter correction and C<sub>20</sub> coefficient correction.</p><p>The main goal of this study is to examine the impact of corrections included in GRACE/GRACE-FO data on HAM/CAM determined. More specifically, we test their influence on HAM/CAM trends, seasonal changes and non-seasonal variations. We also examine the change in compliance between HAM/CAM and hydrological plus cryospheric signal in geodetically observed excitation when the corrections are used. To achieve our goals, we use GRACE and GRACE-FO L3 datasets provided by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Center for Space Research (CSR), and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).</p>



2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Śliwińska ◽  
Małgorzata Wińska ◽  
Jolanta Nastula

<p>The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has provided global observations of temporal variations in mass redistribution at the surface and within the Earth for the period 2002–2017. Such measurements are commonly exploited to interpret polar motion changes due to variations in the Earth’s surficial fluids, especially in the continental hydrosphere. Such impacts are usually examined by computing the so-called hydrological polar motion excitation (Hydrological Angular Momentum, HAM). The great success of the GRACE mission and the scientific robustness of its data contributed to the launch of its successor, GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO), which begun in May 2018 and continues to the present.</p> <p>This study compares the estimates of HAM computed from GRACE and GRACE-FO mascon data provided by three data centers: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Center for Space Research (CSR), and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The analysis of HAM is performed for different spectral bands. A validation of different HAM estimates is conducted here using precise geodetic measurements of the pole coordinates and geophysical models (so-called geodetic residuals or GAO).</p> <p>Comparison of HAM computed from different mascon data sources indicates high consistency between the solutions provided by JPL and CSR, and low consistency between the GSFC solution and other data. The reason for this may be that the strategy used for GSFC mascons computation is different than methodology exploited by CSR and JPL teams. This study also indicates that HAM computed using CSR and JPL solutions are characterized by the highest consistency with GAO in all considered spectral bands.</p>



2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Śliwińska ◽  
Jolanta Nastula ◽  
Henryk Dobslaw ◽  
Robert Dill

Over the last 15 years, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has provided measurements of temporal changes in mass redistribution at and within the Earth that affect polar motion. The newest generation of GRACE temporal models, are evaluated by conversion into the equatorial components of hydrological polar motion excitation and compared with the residuals of observed polar motion excitation derived from geodetic measurements of the pole coordinates. We analyze temporal variations of hydrological excitation series and decompose them into linear trends and seasonal and non-seasonal changes, with a particular focus on the spectral bands with periods of 1000–3000, 450–1000, 100–450, and 60–100 days. Hydrological and reduced geodetic excitation series are also analyzed in four separated time periods which are characterized by different accuracy of GRACE measurements. The level of agreement between hydrological and reduced geodetic excitation depends on the frequency band considered and is highest for interannual changes with periods of 1000–3000 days. We find that the CSR RL06, ITSG 2018 and CNES RL04 GRACE solutions provide the best agreement with reduced geodetic excitation for most of the oscillations investigated.



2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Śliwińska ◽  
Jolanta Nastula ◽  
Małgorzata Wińska

AbstractIn geodesy, a key application of data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO), and Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is an interpretation of changes in polar motion excitation due to variations in the Earth’s surficial fluids, especially in the continental water, snow, and ice. Such impacts are usually examined by computing hydrological and cryospheric polar motion excitation (hydrological and cryospheric angular momentum, HAM/CAM). Three types of GRACE and GRACE-FO data can be used to determine HAM/CAM, namely degree-2 order-1 spherical harmonic coefficients of geopotential, gridded terrestrial water storage anomalies computed from spherical harmonic coefficients, and terrestrial water storage anomalies obtained from mascon solutions. This study compares HAM/CAM computed from these three kinds of gravimetric data. A comparison of GRACE-based excitation series with HAM/CAM obtained from SLR is also provided. A validation of different HAM/CAM estimates is conducted here using the so-called geodetic residual time series (GAO), which describes the hydrological and cryospheric signal in the observed polar motion excitation. Our analysis of GRACE mission data indicates that the use of mascon solutions provides higher consistency between HAM/CAM and GAO than the use of other datasets, especially in the seasonal spectral band. These conclusions are confirmed by the results obtained for data from first 2 years of GRACE-FO. Overall, after 2 years from the start of GRACE-FO, the high consistency between HAM/CAM and GAO that was achieved during the best GRACE period has not yet been repeated. However, it should be remembered that with the systematic appearance of subsequent GRACE-FO observations, this quality can be expected to increase. SLR data can be used for determination of HAM/CAM to fill the one-year-long data gap between the end of GRACE and the start of the GRACE-FO mission. In addition, SLR series could be particularly useful in determination of HAM/CAM in the non-seasonal spectral band. Despite its low seasonal amplitudes, SLR-based HAM/CAM provides high phase consistency with GAO for annual and semiannual oscillation.





2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srinivas Bettadpur ◽  
Himanshu Save ◽  
Peter Nagel ◽  
Nadège Pie ◽  
Steven Poole ◽  
...  

<p>At the time of presentation, nearly two years of flight data from the joint NASA/GFZ GRACE Folllow-On mission will have been collected. In this time, gravity field models have been produced using two independent inter-satellite tracking systems - the MWI and the LRI using radio and optical interferometry, respectively. The data have been analyzed over more than two complete cycles of the sun relative to the orbit plane, allowing a characterization of the environmental impacts on the flight data. Extended duration of analyses have also permitted an assessment of the GRACE-FO data relative to the corresponding GRACE data.</p><p>This poster presents the status and lessons learned from two years of estimation of Earth gravity field models from the GRACE-FO data at the science data system component at the University of Texas Center for Space Research.</p>



2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid V. Zotov ◽  
Christian Bizouard

AbstractObserved polar motion consists of uniform circular motions at both positive (prograde) and negative (retrograde) frequencies. Generalized Euler–Liouville equations of Bizouard, taking into account Earth's triaxiality and asymmetry of the ocean tide, show that the corresponding retrograde and prograde circular excitations are coupled at any frequency. In this work, we reconstructed the polar motion excitation in the Chandler band (prograde and retrograde). Then we compared it with geophysical excitation, filtered out in the same way from the series of the Oceanic Angular Momentum (OAM) and Atmospheric Angular Momentum (AAM) for the period 1960–2000. The agreement was found to be better in the prograde band than in the retrograde one.



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