This dataset contains gridded monthly global water storage/height anomalies relative to a time-mean, derived from GRACE and GRACE-FO and processed at JPL using the Mascon approach (RL06.3Mv04). A Coastal Resolution Improvement (CRI) filter has been applied to this data set to reduce signal leakage errors across coastlines. For most land hydrology, oceanographic as well as land-ice applications this is the recommend data set for the analysis of surface mass changes. The data are provided in a single data file in netCDF format, with water storage/height anomalies in equivalent water thickness units (cm). The data are derived from solving for monthly gravity field variations on geolocated spherical cap mass concentration functions, rather than global spherical harmonic coefficients. Additionally, realistic geophysical information is introduced during the computation to intrinsically remove correlated errors. Thus, these Mascon grids do not need to be de-correlated or smoothed, like traditional spherical harmonic gravity solutions. The complete Mascon solution consists of 4,551 independent estimates of surface mass change that have been derived using an equal-area 3-degree grid of individual mascons. A subset of these individual mascons span coastlines, and contain mixed land and ocean mass change signals. In a post-processing step, the CRI filter is applied to those mixed land/ocean Mascons to separate land and ocean mass. The land mask used to perform this separation is provided in the same directory as this dataset, as are uncertainty values, and the gridded mascon-ID number to enable further analysis. Since the individual mascons act as an inherent smoother on the gravity field, a set of optional gain factors (for continental hydrology applications) that can be applied to the solution to study mass change signals at sub-mascon resolution is also provided within the same data directory as the Mascon data. For use-case examples and further background on the gain factors, please see Wiese, Landerer & Watkins, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019344. This RL06.3Mv04 is an updated version of the previous Tellus JPL Mascon RL06.1Mv03 (DOI, 10.5067/TEMSC-3JC63). For a detailed description on the Mascon solution, including the mathematical derivation, implementation of geophysical constraints, and solution validation, please see Watkins et al., 2015, doi: 10.1002/2014JB011547. For a detailed description of the CRI filter implementation, please see Wiese et al., 2016, doi:10.1002/2016WR019344.

This data set is produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as part of the GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On) program and derives the terrestrial water storage anomaly given as equivalent water thickness. These monthly grids are derived from GRACE-FO time-variable gravity observations during the specified timespan, and relative to the specified time-mean reference period. This quantity represents the total terrestrial water storage anomalies from soil moisture, snow, surface water (incl. rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc.), as well as groundwater and aquifers. A glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) correction has been applied, and standard corrections for geocenter (degree-1), C20 (degree-20) and C30 (degree-30) are incorporated. Post-processing filters have been applied to reduce correlated errors. Data grids are provided in ASCII/netCDF/GeoTIFF formats. GRACE-FO was launched on 22 May 2018, and extends the original GRACE mission (2002 – 2017) and expands its legacy of scientific achievements in tracking earth surface mass changes. Version 04 (v04) of the terrestrial water storage data uses updated and consistent C20 and Geocenter corrections (i.e., Technical Notes TN-14 and TN-13), as well as an ellipsoidal correction to account for the non-spherical shape of the Earth when mapping gravity anomalies to surface mass change. Additionally, this RL06.3 is an updated release of the previous RL06.1. It differs from RL06.1 only in the Level-1B accelerometer transplant data that is used for the GF2 (GRACE-FO 2) satellite; see respective L-2 data descriptions. RL06.3 uses the ACX2-L1B data products. All GRACE-FO RL06.3 Level-3 fields are fully compatible with the GRACE RL06 data.

The monthly land mass grids contain water mass anomalies given as equivalent water thickness derived from GRACE & GRACE-FO time-variable gravity observations during the specified timespan, and relative to the specified time-mean reference period. The Equivalent water thickness represents the total terrestrial water storage anomalies from soil moisture, snow, surface water (incl. rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc.), as well as groundwater and aquifers. A glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) correction has been applied, and standard corrections for geocenter (degree-1), C20 (degree-20) and C30 (degree-30) are incorporated. Post-processing filters have been applied to reduce correlated errors. Version 04 (v04) of the terrestrial water storage data uses updated and consistent C20 and Geocenter corrections (i.e., Technical Notes TN-14 and TN-13), as well as an ellipsoidal correction to account for the non-spherical shape of the Earth when mapping gravity anomalies to surface mass change. Data grids are provided in ASCII/netCDF/GeoTIFF formats. For the RL06 version, all GRACE products in the ASCII format have adopted the YAML encoding header, which is in full compliance with the PODAAC metadata best practices.

This data set is produced by the Center for Space Research (CSR) GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On) program and derives the terrestrial water storage anomaly given as equivalent water thickness. These monthly grids are derived from GRACE-FO time-variable gravity observations during the specified timespan, and relative to the specified time-mean reference period. This quantity represents the total terrestrial water storage anomalies from soil moisture, snow, surface water (incl. rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc.), as well as groundwater and aquifers. A glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) correction has been applied, and standard corrections for geocenter (degree-1), C20 (degree-20) and C30 (degree-30) are incorporated. Post-processing filters have been applied to reduce correlated errors. Data grids are provided in ASCII/netCDF/GeoTIFF formats. GRACE-FO was launched on 22 May 2018, and extends the original GRACE mission (2002 – 2017) and expands its legacy of scientific achievements in tracking earth surface mass changes. Version 04 (v04) of the terrestrial water storage data uses updated and consistent C20 and Geocenter corrections (i.e., Technical Notes TN-14 and TN-13), as well as an ellipsoidal correction to account for the non-spherical shape of the Earth when mapping gravity anomalies to surface mass change. Additionally, this release 06.3 is an updated version of the Level 3 products in coordination with the release of the analogous Level 2 products used to generate them. It differs from RL06.1 only in the Level-1B accelerometer transplant data that is used for the GF2 (GRACE-FO 2) satellite; see respective L-2 data descriptions. RL06.3 uses the ACX2-L1B data products. All GRACE-FO RL06.3 Level-3 fields are fully compatible with the GRACE RL06 data.

This data set is produced by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) as part of the GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On) program and derives the terrestrial water storage anomaly given as equivalent water thickness. These monthly grids are derived from GRACE-FO time-variable gravity observations during the specified timespan, and relative to the specified time-mean reference period. This quantity represents the total terrestrial water storage anomalies from soil moisture, snow, surface water (incl. rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc.), as well as groundwater and aquifers. A glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) correction has been applied, and standard corrections for geocenter (degree-1), C20 (degree-20) and C30 (degree-30) are incorporated. Post-processing filters have been applied to reduce correlated errors. Data grids are provided in ASCII/netCDF/GeoTIFF formats. GRACE-FO was launched on 22 May 2018, and extends the original GRACE mission (2002 – 2017) and expands its legacy of scientific achievements in tracking earth surface mass changes. Version 04 (v04) of the terrestrial water storage data uses updated and consistent C20 and Geocenter corrections (i.e., Technical Notes TN-14 and TN-13), as well as an ellipsoidal correction to account for the non-spherical shape of the Earth when mapping gravity anomalies to surface mass change. Additionally, this release 06.3 is an updated version of the Level 3 products in coordination with the release of the analogous Level 2 products used to generate them. It differs from RL06.1 only in the Level-1B accelerometer transplant data that is used for the GF2 (GRACE-FO 2) satellite; see respective L-2 data descriptions. RL06.3 uses the ACX2-L1B data products. All GRACE-FO RL06.3 Level-3 fields are fully compatible with the GRACE RL06 data.

FOR EXPERT USE ONLY. This dataset contains estimates of ocean bottom pressure derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission measurements, produced by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The data are in spherical harmonics averaged over approximately a month. The primary objective of the GRACE mission is to obtain accurate estimates of the mean and time-variable components of the gravity field variations. This objective is achieved by making continuous measurements of the change in distance between twin spacecraft, co-orbiting in about 500 km altitude, near circular, polar orbit, spaced approximately 200 km apart, using a microwave ranging system. In addition to these range change, the non-gravitional forces are measured on each satellite using a high accuracy electrostatic, room-temperature accelerometer. The satellite orientation and position (and timing) are precisely measured using twin star cameras and a GPS receiver, respectively. Spatial and temporal variations in the gravity field affect the orbits (or trajectories) of the twin spacecraft differently. These differences are manifested as changes in the distance between the spacecraft, as they orbit the Earth. This change in distance is reflected in the time-of-flight of microwave signals transmitted and received nearly simultaneously between the two spacecraft. The change in this time of fight is continuously measured by tracking the phase of the microwave carrier signals. The so called dual-one-way range change measurements can be reconstructed from these phase measurements. This range change (or its numerically derived derivatives), along with other mission and ancillary data, is subsequently analyzed to extract the parameters of an Earth gravity field model.

GRACE non-tidal high-frequency atmospheric and oceanic mass variation models are routinely generated at GFZ as so-called Atmosphere and Ocean De-aliasing Level-1B (AOD1B) products (in terms of corresponding spherical harmonic geopotential coefficients) to be added to the background static gravity model during GRACE monthly gravity field determination. AOD1B products are 3-hourly series of spherical harmonic coefficients up to degree and order 180 which are routinely provided to the GRACE Science Data System and the user community with only a few days time delay. These products reflect spatio-temporal mass variations in the atmosphere and oceans deduced from an operational atmospheric model and corresponding ocean dynamics provided by an ocean model. The variability is derived by subtraction of a long-term mean of vertical integrated atmospheric mass distributions and a corresponding mean of ocean bottom pressure as simulated with the ocean model. The Gridded AOD1B data sets provided here contain the monthly mean AOD1B data in geolocated gridded form, smoothed or spatially aggregated to be consistent with the GRACE and GRACE-FO Tellus Level-3 data products of land and/or ocean mass anomalies. With these gridded AOD1B Level-3 products, users can remove or add the effects of the modeled mean monthly atmospheric and ocean bottom pressure change (e.g., to compare different models).

FOR EXPERT USE ONLY. This dataset contains estimates of geopotential field derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission measurements and a non-tidal oceanic and atmospheric model produced by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The data are in spherical harmonics averaged over approximately a month. The primary objective of the GRACE mission is to obtain accurate estimates of the mean and time-variable components of the gravity field variations. This objective is achieved by making continuous measurements of the change in distance between twin spacecraft, co-orbiting in about 500 km altitude, near circular, polar orbit, spaced approximately 200 km apart, using a microwave ranging system. In addition to these range change, the non-gravitional forces are measured on each satellite using a high accuracy electrostatic, room-temperature accelerometer. The satellite orientation and position (and timing) are precisely measured using twin star cameras and a GPS receiver, respectively. Spatial and temporal variations in the gravity field affect the orbits (or trajectories) of the twin spacecraft differently. These differences are manifested as changes in the distance between the spacecraft, as they orbit the Earth. This change in distance is reflected in the time-of-flight of microwave signals transmitted and received nearly simultaneously between the two spacecraft. The change in this time of fight is continuously measured by tracking the phase of the microwave carrier signals. The so called dual-one-way range change measurements can be reconstructed from these phase measurements. This range change (or its numerically derived derivatives), along with other mission and ancillary data, is subsequently analyzed to extract the parameters of an Earth gravity field model.

The monthly land mass grids contain water mass anomalies given as equivalent water thickness derived from GRACE & GRACE-FO time-variable gravity observations during the specified timespan, and relative to the specified time-mean reference period. The Equivalent water thickness represents the total terrestrial water storage anomalies from soil moisture, snow, surface water (incl. rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc.), as well as groundwater and aquifers. A glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) correction has been applied, and standard corrections for geocenter (degree-1), C20 (degree-20) and C30 (degree-30) are incorporated. Post-processing filters have been applied to reduce correlated errors. Version 04 (v04) of the terrestrial water storage data uses updated and consistent C20 and Geocenter corrections (i.e., Technical Notes TN-14 and TN-13), as well as an ellipsoidal correction to account for the non-spherical shape of the Earth when mapping gravity anomalies to surface mass change. Data grids are provided in ASCII/netCDF/GeoTIFF formats. For the RL06 version, all GRACE products in the ASCII format have adopted the YAML encoding header, which is in full compliance with the PODAAC metadata best practices.

FOR EXPERT USE ONLY. This dataset contains estimates of geopotential field derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission measurements and a non-tidal oceanic model produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The data are in spherical harmonics averaged over approximately a month. The primary objective of the GRACE mission is to obtain accurate estimates of the mean and time-variable components of the gravity field variations. This objective is achieved by making continuous measurements of the change in distance between twin spacecraft, co-orbiting in about 500 km altitude, near circular, polar orbit, spaced approximately 200 km apart, using a microwave ranging system. In addition to these range change, the non-gravitional forces are measured on each satellite using a high accuracy electrostatic, room-temperature accelerometer. The satellite orientation and position (and timing) are precisely measured using twin star cameras and a GPS receiver, respectively. Spatial and temporal variations in the gravity field affect the orbits (or trajectories) of the twin spacecraft differently. These differences are manifested as changes in the distance between the spacecraft, as they orbit the Earth. This change in distance is reflected in the time-of-flight of microwave signals transmitted and received nearly simultaneously between the two spacecraft. The change in this time of fight is continuously measured by tracking the phase of the microwave carrier signals. The so called dual-one-way range change measurements can be reconstructed from these phase measurements. This range change (or its numerically derived derivatives), along with other mission and ancillary data, is subsequently analyzed to extract the parameters of an Earth gravity field model.