2014/10/31 by Bert Wouters, B Wouters, J. A. Bonin +9 · 227 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Earth (classical element) #Earth science #Earth system science #Geodesy #Geology #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Geophysics #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Glaciology #Gravitational field #Gravity of Earth #Oceanography #Physics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
paper · open access · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/77/11/116801
published in Reports on Progress in Physics 77(11), 116801 (IOP Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2014/10/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Continuous observations of temporal variations in the Earth's gravity field have recently become available at an unprecedented resolution of a few hundreds of kilometers. The gravity field is a product of the Earth's mass distribution, and these data-provided by the satellites of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE)-can be used to study the exchange of mass both within the Earth and at its surface. Since the launch of the mission in 2002, GRACE data has evolved from being an experimental measurement needing validation from ground truth, to a respected tool for Earth scientists representing a fixed bound on the total change and is now an important tool to help unravel the complex dynamics of the Earth system and climate change. In this review, we present the mission concept and its theoretical background, discuss the data and give an overview of the major advances GRACE has provided in Earth science, with a focus on hydrology, solid Earth sciences, glaciology and oceanography.