RL02 Products description

Spherical harmonic coefficients of 10-day gravity field models

These are 10-day gravity field models from SH degree 2 up to SH degree and order 50, given every 10 days, using GRACE and LAGEOS data (in ITRF2000).

Models are provided every 10 days and are based solely on the 10 days (maximum) of data that are in this time interval (whereas « version 1 » models were provided every 10 days but were based on three consecutive 10-day periods with the weighting 0.5/1./0.5).

10-day models are stabilized towards EIGEN-GRGS.RL02.MEAN-FIELD , more precisely towards the realization of EIGEN-GRGS.RL02.MEAN-FIELD at each given epoch, with a new constraint law that depends on the degree and on the order of each coefficient (in version 1, the law was only degree-dependent and the models were constrained towards the static part of EIGEN-GL04S and later EIGEN-GL04C ).

Important notice

It is reminded to the users of the GRGS products that NO SMOOTHING OR FILTERING is necessary when using them, since they have already been stabilized during their generation process.

Missing solutions

There are some gaps in this time series, coming either from GPS, from accelerometers or from KBR data gaps. Twenty 10-day solutions are missing:

Dates (yyyy-mm-dd)Dates (yyyy-doy)Julian days 1950
2002-11-26_2002-12-052002-330_2002-33919322_19331
2002-12-06_2002-12-152002-340_2002-34919332_19341
2002-12-16_2002-12-252002-350_2002-35919342_19351
2002-12-26_2003-01-042002-360_2003-00419352_19361
2003-01-05_2003-01-142003-005_2003-01419362_19371
2003-01-15_2003-01-242003-015_2003-02419372_19381
2003-01-25_2003-02-032003-025_2003-03419382_19391
2003-02-04_2003-02-132003-035_2003-04419392_19401
2003-02-14_2003-02-232003-045_2003-05419402_19411
2003-05-25_2003-06-032003-145_2003-15419502_19511
2003-06-04_2003-06-132003-155_2003-16419512_19521
2003-06-14_2003-06-232003-165_2003-17419522_19531
2003-06-24_2003-07-032003-175_2003-18419532_19541
2004-01-20_2004-01-292004-020_2004-02919742_19751
2010-12-24_2011-01-022010-358_2011-00222272_22281
2011-01-03_2011-01-122011-003_2011-01222282_22291
2011-01-13_2011-01-222011-013_2011-02222292_22301
2011-01-23_2011-02-012011-023_2011-03222302_22311
2011-06-12_2011-06-212011-173_2011-18222442_22451
2011-06-22_2011-07-012011-183_2011-19222452_22461
2011-11-19_2011-11-282011-323_2011-33222602_22611
2011-11-29_2011-12-082011-333_2011-34222612_22621
2011-12-09_2011-12-182011-343_2011-35222622_22631
2012-04-17_2012-04-262012-108_2012-11722752_22761
2012-04-27_2012-05-062012-118_2012-12722762_22771
2012-05-07_2012-05-162012-128_2012-13722772_22781
2012-05-17_2012-05-262012-138_2012-14722782_22791

Grids, images and movies

Grids, images and movies of geoid and equivalent water heights differences with static field are provided. The grids are 1° x 1° global grids of geoid height or equivalent water heights differences (in meters) between time-variable solutions and static field(at reference date if the static field includes time-variable terms). The images represent geoid or equivalent water heights differences (in millimeters) between time-variable solutions and static field (at reference date if the static field includes time-variable terms). Images are compiled in geoid or EWH movies.

Dealiasing products

The files provided here contain the so-called « dealiasing products » used by CNES/GRGS, temporally averaged in a manner consistent with the way the time-variable gravity field models are produced. In the processing of the GRACE data, the gravitational influence of the Earth atmospheric pressure on the satellites’ orbits, as well as the oceanic response to it, is taken into account in the form of ECMWF 3-D atmospheric pressure fields over the whole Earth every 6 hours (with linear interpolation in-between) and MOG2D model of the response of the oceanic domain to the atmospheric forcing (pressure and wind) at the same temporal resolution. A conversion from Pascal to normalized gravitational potential units is performed.

Reference

Reference paper : Bruinsma, S., Lemoine, J.-M., Biancale, R., et al: CNES/GRGS 10-day gravity field models (release 02) and their evaluation, Adv. Space Res., 45, 4, 587-601, 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2009.10.012.

XMASCEN correction

Since 2009/08/31, a recomputed « XMASCEN » correction for the KBR-R measurement has been substituted for the one found in the Level-1B files. The « XMASCEN » correction accounts for the distance, along the measurement line of sight, between the KBR antenna phase centres and the satellites centres of mass. It depends on the satellites position, attitude and KBR antenna phase centre coordinates in the satellite reference frame. We have recomputed this correction, taking into account adjusted coordinates of the KBR antenna phase centres [Horwath et al., 2010], thus greatly reducing the horizontal striping at ~1000 km wavelength sometimes observed in the temporal solutions.

Reference paper : Horwath, M., Lemoine, J.-M., Biancale, R., Bourgogne, S.: Improved GRACE science results after adjustment of geometric biases in the Level-1B K-band ranging data, Journal of Geodesy, 2010/10/06, doi: 10.1007/s00190-010-0414-2. Read article.

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