|
Read Full Article (file size: 99592 bytes) Cited by
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 31,
L13310,
doi:10.1029/2004GL020461,
2004
Preliminary observations of global ocean mass variations with GRACE
Don P. Chambers
Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
John Wahr
Department of Physics, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder,
Colorado, USA
R. Steven Nerem
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Cooperative Institute for Research
in Environmental Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Abstract
Monthly estimates of the Earth's gravitational field from the GRACE mission are used to construct a time-series of global
mean ocean mass variations between August 2002 and December 2003. This time-series is compared to a mean climatology determined
from satellite altimeter measurements of global mean sea level corrected for the steric variation. The GRACE observations
show a seasonal exchange of water mass with the continents of the same magnitude (∼8.5 mm) and phase (maximum in early- to
mid-October) as the steric-corrected altimetry. This is one of the first direct validations over the ocean of the primary
GRACE science mission to measure time-variable transports of water mass in the Earth system, and it suggests that GRACE data
can be used to measure non-steric mean sea level variations which is important for climate change studies.
Received 6
May
2004;
accepted 15
June
2004;
published 14
July
2004.
Index Terms: 1655 Global Change: Water cycles (1836); 1836 Hydrology: Hydrologic budget (1655); 4556 Oceanography: Physical: Sea level variations.
Read Full Article (file size: 99592 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Chambers, D. P., J. Wahr, and R. S. Nerem
(2004),
Preliminary observations of global ocean mass variations with GRACE,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
31,
L13310,
doi:10.1029/2004GL020461.
Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.
|