Joint analysis of selected GRACE monthly spherical harmonic solutions and monthly MASCON solutions

Abstract

Study presented in this paper is focused on comparison and statistical assessment of differences between the selected Level 2 products of the satellite mission Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). Global monthly gravity field models in terms of spherical harmonic coefficients produced by three institutes of GRACE Science Data System are compared with the partially independent MASCON global gravity field model. Detailed comparison and statistical analysis of differences is performed in 5 selected river basins: Amazon, Congo, Danube, Yenisei and Lena. For each spherical harmonic solution, 8 different filtrations available at International Center for Global Gravity Field Models (ICGEM) are tested over the time span from April 2002 to July 2016. Fischer test at two significance levels 10% and 5% has been performed in order to qualify the statistical significance between the particular solutions.

Keywords

• time-variable gravity field, continental water storage, global geopotential models