GRACE Science Team Meeting 2010

Participants of the GSTM-2010 (GFZ Potsdam)

The GRACE Science Team Meeting 2010 was organized by moderated discussions on specific themes, each consisting of invited and contributed presentations plus room for open-floor questions and answers. The format of the moderated sessions was in the responsibility of the respective conveners. The contributed abstracts were organized by subject, and delivered as either oral or poster presentations. Abstracts were solicited from the Science Team members and other attendees for presentations in the following areas: GRACE Geodesy and Geophysics & Climate Science.

The meeting was opened with a brief Project Status session, which consisted of updates on the mission status, the flight segment technical status, and status and information on the latest operational RL04 and reprocessed RL05 data releases from the GRACE Science Data System.

Sessions:

A. GRACE Geodesy:

A.1 GRACE-Follow On:
Addresses the status of the GRACE Follow-On mission; and progress towards the realization and simulation of Next Generation gravity mission concepts.
Session Convener: Mike Watkins

A.2 Analysis Techniques:
For presentations on methods, algorithms and results from GRACE data analysis and error assessments; providing insights into spatio-temporal signal content; including diverse methods of error reduction.
Session Convener: Frank Flechtner

A.3 GRACE & GOCE:
Results on combination and complementary results from GRACE and GOCE data.
Session Convener: Frank Flechtner

B. Geophysics & Climate Science Applications:

For each of the following topics, abstracts are solicited that report progress or new applications of GRACE data products to each science area.

B.1 Multidisciplinary Programs:
Presentations are solicited describing the science goals or progress within multi-disciplinary, and multi-institutional or multi-national science application programs, with either global or regional scope - whose one important element is the GRACE dataset (e.g. DFG’s “Mass Transport and Mass Distribution in System Earth”). This session can be viewed as a forum for showcasing progress, as well as for engaging wider community involvement.
Session Convener: Srinivas Bettadpur

B.2 Solid Earth Sciences
B.2.a - Understanding GIA
Session Convener: Erik Ivans

B.2.b - Studies of the Earth's crustal structure, lithospheric and mantle properties; Advances in the modeling and understanding of the Great Andaman/Sumatra Earthquake or other seismic events; as well as other related topics.
Session Convener: Bert Vermeersen

B.3 Cryosphere:
B.3.a - This session will address the measurements of change in the Earth's ice sheets, at all spatio-temporal scales; the science advancements and open questions in the interpretation of these GRACE results; current uncertainties; as well fusion/cross-validation of GRACE data with other sensors and models.
Session Convener: Isabella Velicogna

B.4 Oceanography:
B.4.a - Report from Workshop “Gravity from Space” for Oceans, land ice and sea level rise (Hamburg, Sep 29/30 2010)
Session Convener: Victor Zlotnicki, Jens Schröter

B.4.b - GRACE & the ACC.
Session Convener: Victor Zlotnicki

B.4.c - Ocean Processes & Validation:
This session addresses advances in the validation and oceanographic applications of GRACE data.
Session Convener: Jens Schröter

B.5 Hydrology:
B.5.a - Theme: Improving GRACE hydrology products. This session will report on the development of GRACE products that are optimized for terrestrial hydrology, including results from a working group within the science team that has taken on that challenge.
Session Convener: Matt Rodell

B.5.b - Papers are solicited on advances in hydrological applications of GRACE data products, including signal interpretation and model assimilation. Papers on the assessment of hydrological trends and long-term water storage variations are particularly encouraged.
Session Convener: Andreas Güntner

B.6 Other (non-Gravity) GRACE Applications:
Papers are solicited on studies of the GRACE Radio Occultation data; Atmospheric Density and Accelerometry; and other science applications of GRACE data un-related to the gravity fields.
Session Convener: Jens Wickert

The following documents are available for download:

Below you can download the presentations and posters from the GSTM-2010 that are released by the authors for publication.
For each session one zip-file is available. This files contains all released presentations of the session.

Joint International GSTM and DFG SPP Symposium

The 5 years design life time of the GRACE satellites has been reached on March 17, 2007. The satellites, instruments and ground systems are working well and the predicted remaining life time exceeds 5 years in every category. Following a comprehensive re-analysis which was completed in February 2007, the GRACE Science Data System has released a homogeneously reprocessed time series using updated background models and processing standards (Release 04). These improvements have enabled considerable progress in analysing mass transports and mass distributions in the Earth system. The launch of the GOCE satellite in December 2007 will further increase our knowledge of the static gravity field. GRACE-1 radio occultation measurements are routinely generated since autumn 2006 and are already assimilated together with CHAMP, COSMIC and METOP RO data by weather services.

Sessions:

Opening: GRACE and GOCE Status, Special Priority and NASA Programs (invited talks only)

The latest information on the GRACE mission status and SDS RL04 models, the GOCE mission status, the German Special Priority Program and further NASA programs will be presented (invited talks only).

Session A: Latest Results of GRACE Gravity Field Modelling

Besides the SDS “standard” GRACE gravity products provided as monthly spherical harmonic time series this session will focus on gravity field models derived from alternative representations (mascons, wavelet analysis, etc.), with higher temporal resolution, for regional interpretation and in combination with terrestrial gravity and other mission data.

Session B: Processing Methods and Background Modelling

Even with current GRACE RL04 gravity field models the projected mission baseline accuracy has not yet been reached and gravity field variations estimated from different GRACE solutions still differ and complicate geophysical interpretation. This session invites papers analysing deficiencies in the applied data pre- and post-processing methods or background models or demonstrating improvements for future reprocessing of GRACE mission data.

Session C: Combination and Validation

Papers are solicited dealing with a consistent data combination and mass signal separation e.g. by common inversion of gravimetric and geometric observations or combination of gravity observations from GRACE and terrestrial data.

Session D: Hydrological Applications

Papers are solicited dealing with progress in hydrological application such as comparison of GRACE products with hydrological models or in-situ data or assimilation of GRACE data into hydrological models.

Session E: Oceanographic Applications

This session addresses advances in analysis of GRACE-only or in combination with altimeter data for oceanographic applications such as estimation of steric and mass related contribution to sea level change, ocean mass and transport or validation of GRACE products against ocean bottom pressure in-situ data or models.

Session F: Ice Mass Balance and GIA

This session invites presentations, distinct from session B, showing explicitly results for ice mass balance estimates in Greenland and Antarctica and which also consider other science issues that effect the interpretation of GRACE mass balance results such as glacial isostatic adjustment.

Session G: Dynamics and Structure of Mantle and Crust

This session invites presentations which use GRACE data in combination with mantle density anomalies, seismic tomography and other geophysical data to improve the modelling of the dynamics and structure of the Earth’s mantle and crust.

Session H: GRACE Follow-on

Key questions to consider in this session include: What is the science rationale for GRACE Follow-On? How large a data gap can be tolerated between GRACE and GRACE Follow-On? What is the science rationale for possible changes in GRACE Follow-On mission design? What technology options are available over the next decade to meet future science needs?

Session I: Open Session

This session solicits papers un-related to gravity field interpretation such as results obtained from GRACE radio occultation data, the interpretation of accelerometer data for air density modelling, GRACE POD or others.

The following documents are available for download:

Below you can download the presentations from the GSTM-2007.
For each session one zip-file is available.

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