Sensitivity of GOCE Gradients on Mass Variation and Changes in Ice Topography
Herceg, Matija; Tscherning, Carl Christian
University of Copenhagen, DENMARK

GOCE maps variations in the gravity field by observing second order derivatives (gradients) of the Earth gravitational potential. Flying in the low altitude of around 250 km and having a spatially dense data distribution of short wavelengths of the gravity field, GOCE may be used to enhance time varying gravity coming from K-band ranging between GRACE satellites.

The GOCE gradients may potentially be used for determination of residual masses in local regions. This can be done by the use of Reduced Point Mass (RPM) method or by predicting density anomalies with collocation.

In this study, different gravity field solutions were calculated by the use of GOCE gradients. Gravity field and mass time series were created and presented for the eight consecutive months of GOCE gradient data. Furthermore, sensitivity of GOCE gradients on changes in changes in topography is evaluated.