The Temporal Improvement of Earth's Mass Transport Estimated by Coupling GRACE-FO With a Chinese Polar Gravity Satellite Mission

Yan, Zhengwen1; Ran, Jiangjun1,2; Xiao, Yun3; Xu, Zheyu4; Wu, Haotian1; Deng, Xiao-Le1; Du, Lan5; Zhong, Min6

2023-09-01

10.1029/2023JB027157

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH   Impact Factor & Quartile

2169-9313

2169-9356

["Over the past 20 years, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), and its successor mission, GRACE-Follow On (GRACE-FO) have made significant contributions to time-variable gravity field modeling. A Chinese low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking gravimetry mission (i.e., Chinese future gravimetry mission) has been confirmed to be selected as the polar-orbiting satellite gravimetry mission for China, because of the capability to collect gravity data globally. However, the analysis of potential contributions to geosciences from GRACE-FO coupling with the Chinese future gravimetry mission is still limited. This study combines GRACE-FO and Chinese future gravimetry missions as the Dual GRACE-like Polar satellite Constellation (DGPC). By carefully choosing the initial orbit parameters of the Chinese future gravimetry mission with the differential evolution algorithm, the DGPC is expected to mitigate the temporal aliasing effects by improving the temporal resolution of time-variable gravity solutions (i.e., 1-day and 3-day solutions). Regarding the spectral-domain evaluation, zonal, tesseral, and sectorial coefficients estimated by the DGPC show approximately 6.01%-13.42% noise reductions compared with GRACE-FO. Regarding the spatial-domain evaluation, the DGPC can suppress noises of about 39.44% and 31.12% in annual amplitude and long-term trend, respectively. On this basis, this paper analyzes the effectiveness of the DGPC in potential contributions to geosciences (e.g., hydrology, glaciology, and seismology). Specifically, the DGPC can improve accuracy by about 36.96%, 25.85%, and 33.16% with respect to GRACE-FO for signals in the subhumid basin, signals of ice-sheet mass balance over Greenland, and coseismic displacement of the fault zone, respectively. In general, the potential capability for high-frequency signals recovery of the DGPC would facilitate contributions of satellite gravimetry to geosciences.","The Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and its successor GRACE Follow On (GRACE-FO) have made significant contributions to time-variable gravity field modeling. A polar gravity satellite mission (i.e., Chinese future gravimetry mission) has been confirmed to be selected as the polar-orbiting satellite gravimetry mission for China because of its capability to collect gravity data globally. Including the GRACE-FO mission, it is expected that there will be two polar pairs of gravity satellites (i.e., dual GRACE-like polar satellite constellation) simultaneously within the next few years. What can we expect from the dual GRACE-like polar satellite constellation? In this study, we introduce an optimization algorithm (i.e., differential evolution algorithm) to carefully choose the initial orbit parameters of the Chinese future gravimetry mission. The dual GRACE-like polar satellite constellation has been demonstrated to have the potential to mitigate the temporal aliasing effects of time-variable gravity solutions. It is found that the dual GRACE-like polar satellite constellation can improve accuracy by about 36.96%, 25.85%, and 33.16% with respect to GRACE-FO for signals in the subhumid basin, signals of ice-sheet mass balance over Greenland, and coseismic displacement of the fault zone, respectively. The temporal improvement of Earth's mass transport estimated by coupling GRACE-FO with a Chinese polar gravity satellite mission would facilitate contributions of satellite gravimetry to geosciences.","This paper introduces the differential evolution algorithm into the design of the dual Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE)-like polar satellite constellationImproving the temporal resolution of time-variable gravity solutions can potentially contribute to mitigating the temporal aliasing effectsThe dual GRACE-like polar satellite constellation has high-frequency signal recovery capabilities and stimulates potential contributions to geosciences"]

time-variable gravity field high-frequency signals dual GRACE-like polar satellite constellation GRACE-FO Chinese future polar gravity satellite mission

SCI

English

NI Journal Papers

First ; Corresponding

We thank the editor, Prof. Paul Tregoning, associate editor, Prof. C.K. Shum, and Dr. David Wiese, for their constructive and valuable comments, which significantly improve the quality of this manuscript. The research leading to these results received fund["41974094","42174096"] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[2021YFB3900600]

Geochemistry & Geophysics

Geochemistry & Geophysics

WOS:001077413700007

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION

GEOSCIENCES

Web of Science

1.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Earth & Space Sci, Shenzhen, Peoples R China
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Shenzhen Key Lab Deep Offshore Oil & Gas Explorat, Shenzhen, Peoples R China
3.Xian Res Inst Surveying & Mapping, Xian, Peoples R China
4.Sun Yat Sen Univ, Sch Artificial Intelligence, Zhuhai, Peoples R China
5.Informat Engn Univ, Inst Geospatial Informat, Zhengzhou, Peoples R China
6.Sun Yat Sen Univ, Sch Geospatial Engn & Sci, Zhuhai, Peoples R China

Yan, Zhengwen,Ran, Jiangjun,Xiao, Yun,et al. The Temporal Improvement of Earth's Mass Transport Estimated by Coupling GRACE-FO With a Chinese Polar Gravity Satellite Mission[J]. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH,2023,128(9).

Yan, Zhengwen.,Ran, Jiangjun.,Xiao, Yun.,Xu, Zheyu.,Wu, Haotian.,...&Zhong, Min.(2023).The Temporal Improvement of Earth's Mass Transport Estimated by Coupling GRACE-FO With a Chinese Polar Gravity Satellite Mission.JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH,128(9).

Yan, Zhengwen,et al."The Temporal Improvement of Earth's Mass Transport Estimated by Coupling GRACE-FO With a Chinese Polar Gravity Satellite Mission".JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH 128.9(2023).