Earth’s Gravity Field

Credit: Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Texas Center for Space Research, and GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Posted on: Wednesday, 30 July 2003, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

The joint NASA-German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has released its first science product, the most accurate map yet of Earth’s gravity field. GRACE is the newest tool for scientists working to unlock secrets of ocean circulation and its effects on climate.

Created from 111 days of selected GRACE data to help calibrate and validate the mission’s instruments, this preliminary model improves knowledge of the gravity field so much it is being released to oceanographers now, months in advance of the scheduled start of routine GRACE science operations. The data are expected to significantly improve our ability to understand ocean circulation, which strongly influences weather and climate.

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