GRACE GAC: Monthly Geopotential Coefficients from Satellite Gravity Measurements

NASA JPL Release 6.0 provides estimates of the Earth's geopotential field derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission. Data are averaged over approximately a month and are based on continuous measurements of distance changes between twin spacecraft in a 500 km polar orbit. The primary objective is to obtain accurate estimates of mean and time-variable gravity field variations.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean mass and pressure variations based on non-tidal oceanic and atmospheric model data
• Analyzing time-variable gravity field changes based on monthly spherical harmonic coefficients
• Studying climate-related mass transport (e.g., ice sheet loss, groundwater changes) based on GRACE mission measurements
• Calibrating and validating global geophysical models based on high-accuracy satellite trajectory data

Strengths

• Data produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a leading authority.
• Based on continuous, high-accuracy measurements from the GRACE satellite mission.
• Includes non-tidal oceanic and atmospheric model corrections.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Collection Method

Derived from GRACE mission measurements of microwave ranging between twin spacecraft, combined with accelerometer, star camera, and GPS data.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not specified in the provided input.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:40:22.202718; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage, inferred from the mission's near-polar orbit.