GRACE-FO: Monthly Terrestrial Water Storage and Ocean Bottom Pressure Anomalies

GRACE-FO satellite data, launched on 22 May 2018, provides monthly global grids of terrestrial water storage and ocean bottom pressure anomalies. The dataset, produced by the Center for Space Research, uses time-variable gravity observations to track changes in groundwater, soil moisture, snow, and sea floor pressure. Version 04 (v04) incorporates updated geophysical corrections and is provided in ASCII, netCDF, and GeoTIFF formats.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global groundwater depletion trends based on terrestrial water storage anomaly data.
• Analyzing ocean mass changes and their contribution to sea level rise based on ocean bottom pressure grids.
• Modeling the impact of climate variability on continental water storage (soil moisture, snow, surface water).
• Validating hydrological and climate models with satellite-derived equivalent water thickness observations.

Strengths

• Data incorporates glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and standard geocenter (degree-1), C20, and C30 corrections.
• Post-processing filters have been applied to reduce correlated errors, as stated in the description.
• Version 04 uses updated and consistent C20 and Geocenter corrections (TN-14 and TN-13).
• Extends the original GRACE mission legacy, providing continuity from 2002 to the present.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific ML tasks.

Provenance

Source

Center for Space Research (CSR) GRACE-FO program

Collection Method

Derived from GRACE-FO satellite time-variable gravity observations.

Time Range

Post-May 2018, extending the GRACE mission (2002–2017).

Freshness

null

Geography

Global