利用解析法有效快速估计将来GRACE Follow-On地球重力场的精度

本文首次利用解析法有效快速估计了将来GRACE（Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment） Follow-On地球重力场的精度. 第一,基于功率谱原理分别建立了新的GRACE Follow-On卫星激光干涉星间测量系统星间速度、GPS接收机轨道位置和轨道速度以及加速度计非保守力误差影响累计大地水准面的单独和联合解析误差模型. 第二,利用提出的GRACE卫星关键载荷匹配精度指标和美国喷气推进实验室（JPL）公布的GRACE Level 1B实测精度指标的一致性,以及估计的GRACE累计大地水准面精度和德国波兹坦地学研究中心（GFZ）公布的EIGEN-GRACE02S地球重力场模型实测精度的符合性,验证了本文建立的解析误差模型是可靠的. 第三,论证了GRACE Follow-On卫星不同关键载荷匹配精度指标和轨道高度对地球重力场精度的影响. 在360阶处,利用轨道高度250 km、星间距离50 km、星间速度误差1×10^-9m/s、轨道位置误差3×10^-5m、轨道速度误差3×10^-8m/s和非保守力误差3×10^-13m/s²,基于联合解析误差模型估计累计大地水准面的精度为1.231×10^-1 m. 本文的研究不仅为当前GRACE和将来GRACE Follow-On地球重力场精度的有效快速确定提供了理论基础和计算保证,同时对国际将来GRAIL（Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory）月球卫星重力测量计划的成功实施具有重要的参考意义.     

基于GRACE Follow-On卫星重力梯度法精确反演地球重力场

由于GRACE Follow-On双星系统等效于基线长为星间距离的一维水平重力梯度仪,因此本文基于GRACE Follow-On卫星重力梯度法开展了精确和快速反演下一代地球重力场的可行性论证研究. 研究结果表明：第一,基于GRACE Follow-On卫星重力梯度法（GFO-SGGM）,利用卫星轨道参数（轨道高度250 km、星间距离50 km、轨道倾角89°、轨道离心率0.001）、关键载荷测量精度（星间距离10^-6 m、星间速度10^-7 m·s^-1、星间加速度10^-10 m·s^-2、轨道位置10^-3 m、轨道速度10^-6 m·s^-1、非保守力10^-11 m·s^-2）、观测时间30天和采样间隔10 s反演了120阶地球重力场,在120阶处累计大地水准面精度为9.331×10^-4 m. 第二,在120阶内,利用将来GRACE Follow-On双星反演地球重力场精度较现有GRACE双星平均提高61倍,因此GRACE Follow-On卫星重力梯度法是进一步提高地球重力场反演精度的优选方法. 第三,下一代GRACE Follow-On计划较当前GRACE计划的优点如下：轨道高度更低（200~300 km）、载荷精度更高（10^-7 ~10^-9 m·s^-1）和星间距离更短（50~100 km）.     

基于半解析法有效和快速估计GRACE全球重力场的精度

首先基于半解析法建立了新的GRACE卫星K波段测量系统星间测速、GPS接收机轨道位置和加速度计非保守力误差联合影响累计大地水准面的误差模型;其次,基于各关键载荷精度指标的匹配关系,论证了误差模型的可靠性;最后,基于美国喷气动力实验室（JPL）公布的2006年的GRACE Level 1B实测误差数据,有效和快速地估计了120阶全球重力场的精度,在120阶处累计大地水准面的精度为18.368 cm,其结果和德国地学研究中心（GFZ）公布的EIGEN-GRACE02S全球重力场模型符合较好. 本文的研究为将来国际卫星重力测量计划（如GRACE Follow-On, 360阶）中高阶全球重力场模型精度的有效和快速估计提供了理论基础和计算保证.     

基于时空域混合法利用Kaula正则化精确和快速解算GOCE地球重力场

为了研究卫星重力梯度技术对中高频地球重力场反演精度的影响,本文基于时空域混合法,利用Kaula正则化反演了250阶GOCE地球重力场.模拟结果表明:第一,时空域混合法是精确和快速求解高阶地球重力场的有效方法;第二,Kaula正则化是降低正规阵病态性的重要方法;第三,基于改进的预处理共轭梯度迭代法可快速求解大型线性方程组...     

一种新型重力测量卫星系统确定全球重力场的性能分析

本文设计了一种高-低卫星跟踪卫星、低-低卫星跟踪卫星和卫星重力梯度测量相结合的新型重力测量卫星系统,其可在一定程度上发挥卫星重力梯度和低低卫星跟踪卫星两种测量模式各自的优势.基于重力卫星系统指标设计的半解析法,深入分析了不同重力测量卫星系统配置和不同观测量及其不同白噪声水平情况下,新型卫星重力测量模式反演重力场模型的能力.数值模拟分析结果表明：在观测值精度和星间距离相同的条件下,轨道高度是影响重力场反演精度的关键因素;随着星间距离的增大,高频重力场信号反演精度会先提高后降低,轨道高度在200~350 km之间时,星间距离在150~180 km之间时反演精度最优;星间距离变率和卫星重力梯度两类观测值仅在某些精度配置时可达到优势互补,如果某一类观测值精度很高,则另一类观测值在联合解算时贡献非常小或者没有贡献.在300 km轨道高度,若以GRACE和GOCE任务的设计指标1 μm·s^-1/√Hz和5 mE/√Hz来配置新型重力测量卫星系统中星间距离变率和引力梯度观测值的精度,联合两类观测值解算200阶次模型大地水准面的精度比独立解算分别提高1.2倍和2.8倍.如果以实现100 km空间分辨率1~2 cm精度大地水准面为科学目标,考虑卫星在轨寿命,建议轨道高度选择300 km,星间距离变率和卫星重力梯度的精度分别为0.1 μm·s^-1/√Hz和1 mE/√Hz.本文的研究成果可为中国研制自主的重力测量卫星系统提供参考依据.     

基于下一代三向车轮双星编队改善地球重力场空间分辨率研究

由于当前GRACE(Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment)串行式编队存在"南北向条带误差"等缺陷,因此本文基于星间速度插值法开展了利用下一代三向车轮双星编队ACR(Along-Cross-Radial)-Cartwheel提高地球重力场空间分辨率的可行性研究论证.第一,采用GRACE卫星轨道参数和关键载荷精度,利用三向车轮双星编队ACR-Cartwheel-A/B反演了120阶地球重力场.结果表明:基于ACR-Cartwheel-A/B双星编队反演地球重力场的模拟精度较德国波茨坦地学研究中心(GFZ)公布的EIGEN-GRACE02S地球重力场模型的实测精度平均提高2.6倍,从而检验了基于下一代三向车轮双星编队ACR-Cartwheel-A/B反演地球重力场精度优于当前GRACE串行式双星编队的可行性.第二,通过星间速度插值法,采用卫星轨道参数(初始轨道高度350km、平均星间距离100km、初始轨道倾角89°、初始轨道离心率0.0046)、卫星关键载荷精度指标(星间速度10-7 m·s-1、轨道位置10-3 m、轨道速度10-6 m·s-1、非保守力10-11 m·s-2)、观测时间30天和采样间隔10s,基于经向车轮双星编队Lo-AR(Longitudinal-Along-Radial)-Cartwheel-A/B、纬向车轮双星编队La-AR(Latitudinal-Along-Radial)-Cartwheel-A/B和三向车轮双星编队ACR-Cartwheel-A/B,分别反演了120阶地球重力场;在120阶处,累计大地水准面精度分别为5.115×10-4 m、4.923×10-4 m和3.488×10-4 m.结果表明:(1)由于La-AR-Cartwheel-A/B编队的轨道稳定性优于Lo-AR-Cartwheel-A/B编队,因此基于La-AR-Cartwheel-A/B编队反演重力场精度高于Lo-AR-CartwheelA/B编队;(2)由于ACR-Cartwheel-A/B编队可以同时获得轨向、垂向和径向的重力场信息,卫星观测数据具有各向同性优点,因此ACR-Cartwheel-A/B编队是建立下一代高精度和高空间分辨地球重力场模型的优化选择.     

基于下一代四星转轮式编队系统精确和快速反演FSCF地球重力场

第一,由于重力卫星编队轨道的稳定性设计是建立下一代高精度和高空间分辨率地球重力场模型的关键,因此为保证下一代四星转轮式编队系统的稳定性,轨道根数的最优设计如下:(1)轨道半长轴a、轨道偏心率e、轨道倾角i和升交点赤经Ω保持不变;(2)每对卫星的近地点幅角ω和平近点角M分别相差180°;(3)初始近地点辐角ω设置于赤道处,初始平近点角M设计于极点处;(4)卫星编队系统椭圆轨道的半长轴和半短轴之比为2:1. 第二,基于下一代四星转轮式编队系统,利用星间速度插值法,通过相关系数(激光干涉测量系统的星间速度0.85、GPS接收机的轨道位置和轨道速度0.95、星载加速度计的非保守力0.90)、观测时间30天和采样间隔10 s,反演了120阶FSCF-1/2/3/4(Four-Satellite Cartwheel Formation)地球重力场,在120阶处累计大地水准面精度为1.162×10^-4 m,较目前GRACE地球重力场精度至少提高一个数量级. 第三,下一代四星转轮式编队系统具有低轨道高度、高精度测量、全张量观测、弱混频效应和强时变信号的优点.     

基于残余星间速度法精确和快速反演下一代GRACE Follow-On地球重力场

基于新型残余星间速度法（RIRM）反演了120阶GRACE Follow-On地球重力场. 第一,由于GPS定轨精度相对较低,通过将激光干涉测距仪的高精度残余星间速度（测量精度10^-7 m·s^-1）引入残余轨道速度差分矢量的视线分量构建了新型RIRM观测方程. 第二,基于2点、4点、6点和8点RIRM公式对比论证了最优的插值点数. 如果相关系数和采样间隔一定,随着插值点数的增加,卫星观测值的信号量被有效加强,而卫星观测值的误差量也同时增加. 因此,6点RIRM公式是提高下一代地球重力场精度的较优选择. 第三,相关系数对地球重力场精度的影响在不同频段表现为不同特性. 随着相关系数的逐渐增大,地球长波重力场精度逐渐降低,而地球中长波重力场精度逐渐升高. 第四,基于6点RIRM公式,通过30天观测数据和采样间隔5 s,分别利用星间速度和残余星间速度观测值,在120阶次处反演下一代GRACE Follow-On累计大地水准面精度为1.638×10^-3 m和1.396×10^-3 m. 研究结果表明：（1）残余星间速度观测量较星间速度对地球重力场反演精度更敏感;（2）GRACE Follow-On地球重力场精度较GRACE至少高10倍.     

插值公式、相关系数和采样间隔对GRACE Follow-On 星间加速度精度的影响

本文基于星间加速度法开展了插值公式、相关系数和采样间隔对GRACE Follow-On星间加速度精度影响的研究. 模拟结果表明:1)适当增加数值微分公式的插值点数可有效提高插值精度. 基于9点Newton插值公式,星间加速度的插值误差为4.401×10^-13 m·s^-2,分别基于7点、5点和3点插值公式,插值误差增加了1.192倍、6.912倍和274.029倍. 2)适当增大相关系数可有效降低星间加速度的误差. 基于相关系数0.99,星间加速度方差为3.777×10^-24 m²·s^-4,分别基于相关系数0.90、0.70、0.50和0.00,方差增加了9.780倍、22.404倍、26.217倍和26.820倍. 3)随着采样间隔增大,星间加速度方差逐渐降低,但卫星观测值的空间分辨率也同时降低,因此合理选取采样间隔有利于地球重力场精度的提高. 4)基于9点Newton插值公式、相关系数(K波段测量系统星间距离和星间速度0.85、GPS轨道位置和轨道速度0.95、星载加速度计非保守力0.90)和采样间隔10 s,利用预处理共轭梯度迭代法,精确和快速反演了120阶GRACE Follow-On地球重力场,在120阶处累计大地水准面精度为4.602×10^-4 m.     

Geoid anomalies across fracture zones and the thickness of the lithosphere

Recent advances in the measurement and interpretation of geoid height anomalies provide a new way to estimate the thickness of the oceanic lithosphere as a function of crustal age. GEOS-III satellite altimetry measurements show abrupt changes in sea level across fracture zones which separate areas of lithosphere with different ages. These changes have the correct location, amplitude, and wavelength to be caused by the combined gravitational attraction of the relief across the fracture zone and the isostatic support of this relief. Eight profiles of geoid height and bathymetry across the Mendocino fracture zone are inverted to determine the depth of the isostatic compensation, assuming that the compensation occurs in a single layer. These depths are then interpreted with a thermal boundary layer model of lithospheric growth. To explain satisfactorily the geoid measurements, the thermal diffusivity of the upper mantle must be 3.3 × 10^?3 cm² s^?1 and the thickness of the lithosphere, defined as the depth at which the geotherm reaches 95% of its maximum value, must be9.1km m.y.^?1/2 × t^1/2, where t is lithospheric age.     

Upward continuation of Dome-C airborne gravity and comparison with GOCE gradients at orbit altitude in east Antarctica

An airborne gravity campaign was carried out at the Dome-C survey area in East Antarctica between the 17th and 22nd of January 2013, in order to provide data for an experiment to validate GOCE satellite gravity gradients. After typical filtering for airborne gravity data, the cross-over error statistics for the few crossing points are 11.3 mGal root mean square (rms) error, corresponding to an rms line error of 8.0 mGal. This number is relatively large due to the rough flight conditions, short lines and field handling procedures used. Comparison of the airborne gravity data with GOCE RL4 spherical harmonic models confirmed the quality of the airborne data and that they contain more high-frequency signal than the global models. First, the airborne gravity data were upward continued to GOCE altitude to predict gravity gradients in the local North-East-Up reference frame. In this step, the least squares collocation using the ITGGRACE2010S field to degree and order 90 as reference field, which is subtracted from both the airborne gravity and GOCE gravity gradients, was applied. Then, the predicted gradients were rotated to the gradiometer reference frame using level 1 attitude quaternion data. The validation with the airborne gravity data was limited to the accurate gradient anomalies (T_XX, T_YY, T_ZZ and T_XZ) where the long-wavelength information of the GOCE gradients has been replaced with GOCO03s signal to avoid contamination with GOCE gradient errors at these wavelengths. The comparison shows standard deviations between the predicted and GOCE gradient anomalies T_XX, T_YY, T_ZZ and T_XZ of 9.9, 11.5, 11.6 and 10.4 mE, respectively. A more precise airborne gravity survey of the southern polar gap which is not observed by GOCE would thus provide gradient predictions at a better accuracy, complementing the GOCE coverage in this region.     

联合串行式和钟摆式卫星编队精确建立下一代HIP-3S地球重力场模型

第一,基于扰动星间距离观测量对地球重力场反演精度的敏感性优于星间距离观测值的特性,本文构建了新型扰动星间距离法(DIRM).第二,有效检验了下一代HIP-3S编队的轨道稳定性,结果表明:HIP-3S编队较稳定,有利于提高地球重力场反演精度.第三,基于扰动星间距离法,分别利用当前GRACE-2S串行式双星编队和下一代HIP-3S复合式三星编队精确反演了120阶地球重力场,在120阶处累计大地水准面精度为2.271×10~(-1)m和1.923×10~(-3)m,结果表明:HIP-3S复合式三星编队有利于建立下一代高精度和高空间分辨率的地球重力场模型.     

A study of regional gravity field recovery from GOCE vertical gravity gradient data in the Auvergne test area using collocation

Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) is the first satellite mission that observes gravity gradients from the space, to be primarily used for the determination of high precision global gravity field models. However, the GOCE gradients, having a dense data distribution, may potentially provide better predictions of the regional gravity field than those obtained using a spherical harmonic Earth Geopotential Model (EGM). This is investigated in Auvergne test area using Least Squares Collocation (LSC) with GOCE vertical gravity gradient anomalies (T_zz), removing the long wavelength part from EGM2008 and the short wavelength part by residual terrain modelling (RTM). The results show that terrain effects on the vertical gravity gradient are significant at satellite altitude, reaching a level of 0.11 E?tv?s unit (E.U.) in the mountainous areas. Removing the RTM effects from GOCE T_zz leads to significant improvements on the LSC predictions of surface gravity anomalies and quasigeoid heights. Comparison with ground truth data shows that using LSC surface free air gravity anomalies and quasi-geoid heights are recovered from GOCE T_zz with standard deviations of 11 mGal and 18 cm, which is better than those obtained by using GOCE EGMs, demonstrating that information beyond the maximal degree of the GOCE EGMs is present. Investigation of using covariance functions created separately from GOCE T_zz and terrestrial free air gravity anomalies, suggests that both covariance functions give almost identical predictions. However, using covariance function obtained from GOCE T_zz has the effect that the predicted formal average error estimates are considerably larger than the standard deviations of predicted minus observed gravity anomalies. Therefore, GOCE T_zz should be used with caution to determine the covariance functions in areas where surface gravity anomalies are not available, if error estimates are needed.     

Performance of GOCE and GRACE-derived mean dynamic topographies in resolving Antarctic Circumpolar Current fronts

Presently, two satellite missions, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), are making detailed measurements of the Earth’s gravity field, from which the geoid can be obtained. The mean dynamic topography (MDT) is the difference between the time-averaged sea surface height and the geoid. The GOCE mission is aimed at determining the geoid with superior accuracy and spatial resolution, so that a more accurate MDT can be estimated. In this study, we determine the mean positions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current fronts using the purely geodetic estimates of the MDT constructed from an altimetric mean sea surface and GOCE and GRACE geoids. Overall, the frontal positions obtained from the GOCE and GRACE MDTs are close to each other. This means that these independent estimates are robust and can potentially be used to validate frontal positions obtained from sparse and irregular in situ measurements. The geodetic frontal positions are compared to earlier estimates as well as to those derived from MDTs based on satellite and in situ measurements and those obtained from an ocean data synthesis product. The position of the Sub-Antarctic Front identified in the GOCE MDT is found to be in better agreement with the previous estimates than that identified in the GRACE MDT. The geostrophic velocities derived from the GOCE MDT are also closer to observations than those derived from the GRACE MDT. Our results thus show that the GOCE mission represents an improvement upon GRACE in terms of the time-averaged geoid.     

Application of Gravity Gradients in the Process of GOCE Orbit Determination

The possibility of improving the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission satellite orbit using gravity gradient observations was investigated. The orbit improvement is performed by a dedicated software package, called the Orbital Computation System (OCS), which is based on the classical least squares method. The corrections to the initial satellite state vector components are estimated in an iterative process, using dynamic models describing gravitational perturbations. An important component implemented in the OCS package is the 8th order Cowell numerical integration procedure, which directly generates the satellite orbit. Taking into account the real and simulated GOCE gravity gradients, different variants of the solution of the orbit improvement process were obtained. The improved orbits were compared to the GOCE reference orbits (Precise Science Orbits for the GOCE satellite provided by the European Space Agency) using the root mean squares (RMS) of the differences between the satellite positions in these orbits. The comparison between the improved orbits and the reference orbits was performed with respect to the inertial reference frame (IRF) at J2000.0 epoch. The RMS values for the solutions based on the real gravity gradient measurements are at a level of hundreds of kilometers and more. This means that orbit improvement using the real gravity gradients is ineffective. However, all solutions using simulated gravity gradients have RMS values below the threshold determined by the RMS values for the computed orbits (without the improvement). The most promising results were achieved when short orbital arcs with lengths up to tens of minutes were improved. For these short arcs, the RMS values reach the level of centimeters, which is close to the accuracy of the Precise Science Orbit for the GOCE satellite. Additional research has provided requirements for efficient orbit improvement in terms of the accuracy and spectral content of the measured gravity gradients.     

卫星跟踪卫星测量模式中星载加速度计高低灵敏轴分辨率指标优化设计论证

本文利用改进的能量守恒法开展了GRACE星载加速度计与K波段星间测速仪及GPS接收机精度指标之间的匹配模拟论证. 结果表明：（1）采用GRACE公布的其他载荷精度指标,当加速度计分辨率指标设计为ACC_X=(1～10)×10^-9m/s², ACC_Y,Z=(1～10)×10^-10m/s²时,在120阶处恢复累计大地水准面的精度为19～80 cm,恢复1.5°×1.5°累计重力异常的精度为0.3～1.3 mGal;(2)建议我国将来卫星重力测量计划中星载加速度计三轴分辨率指标设计为ACC_X=(1～5)×1010^-9m/s²,ACC_Y,Z=(1～5)×10^-10m/s²较合适,与GRACE其他载荷精度指标基本匹配.     

GRACE星体和SuperSTAR加速度计的质心调整精度对地球重力场精度的影响

本文利用改进的能量守恒法开展了GRACE星体和星载加速度计检验质量的不同质心调整精度影响地球重力场精度的模拟研究论证. 结果表明：第一,在120阶处,当质心调整精度设计为0 m,恢复累计大地水准面精度为17.616 cm;当质心调整精度分别设计为5×10^-5 m、1×10^-4 m和5×10^-4 m时,恢复精度各自降低至18.106 cm、19.033 cm和27.329 cm. 第二,以德国GFZ公布的EIGEN-GRACE02S地球重力场模型的实测累计大地水准面精度为标准,当质心调整精度设计为(5～10)×10^-5 m时,其和K波段星间测量系统、GPS接收机、SuperSTAR加速度计、恒星敏感器等GRACE核心载荷的精度指标相匹配,对地球重力场恢复精度的影响较小,因此建议我国将来研制的首颗重力卫星的星体和星载加速度计检验质量的质心调整精度设计为(5～10)×10^-5 m较优.     

Combined Regional Gravity Model of the Andean Convergent Subduction Zone and Its Application to Crustal Density Modelling in Active Plate Margins

The Central Andean subduction system is one of the most active geological structures on Earth. Although there have been a few previous studies, the structure and dynamics of the system are still not well understood. In the present study, we determine a combined regional gravity model of the Andean convergent subduction region for constraining lithospheric models. After a thorough validation and cleaning of the terrestrial gravity and height databases, the method of Least Squares Collocation was applied to consistently combine terrestrial and satellite gravity data, putting much emphasis on the stochastic modelling of the individual data components. As a result, we computed the first high-resolution regional gravity model of the study region that includes GOCE satellite gravity information. The inclusion of GOCE is an essential distinction from the independent global gravity model EGM2008. Validation against EGM2008 reveals that our regional solution is very consistent in regions where terrestrial gravity data are available, but shows systematic differences in areas with terrestrial data gaps. Artefacts in the EGM2008 of up to 150 mGal could be identified. The new combined regional model benefits from the very homogeneous error characteristics and accuracy of GOCE gravity data in the long-to-medium wavelengths down to 80–100 km. Reliable density modelling became possible also in the region of Central Andes, which lacks terrestrial gravity data. Finally, density models were adapted to fit the new regional gravity field solution. The results clearly demonstrate the capabilities of GOCE to better constrain lithospheric models.     

模拟分析低低跟踪模式重力卫星反演地球重力场的精度

本文利用卫星重力反演与模拟软件ANGELS系统(ANalyst of Gravity Estimation with Low-orbit Satellites)对低低跟踪模式的重力卫星的关键载荷精度指标进行了深入分析.模拟结果表明:(1)对短弧长积分法而言,在低低跟踪模式的关键载荷精度指标中,重力场反演精度对星间距离变率精度最为敏感;(2)通过对目前在轨运行GRACE的载荷指标进行分析,发现轨道数据的误差主要影响重力场的低阶部分(约小于25阶),较高阶次部分(约大于26阶)主要受星间距离变率的误差限制;(3)如果下一代低低跟踪模式的重力卫星的目标之一是把重力异常反演精度较GRACE提高约10倍,则在保持轨道高度和GRACE相同的前提下,轨道、星间距离变率和星载加速度计等关键载荷指标需要达到的最低精度分别约为2cm、10nm·s-1和3.0×10-10 m·s-2;(4)轨道精度和混频误差将是影响下一代低低跟踪模式重力卫星重力场恢复能力进一步提高的主要制约因素,距离变率精度和加速度计精度存在盈余.     

High-harmonic geoid signatures related to glacial isostatic adjustment and their detectability by GOCE

The Earth’s asthenosphere and lower continental crust can regionally have viscosities that are one to several orders of magnitude smaller than typical mantle viscosities. As a consequence, such shallow low-viscosity layers could induce high-harmonic (spherical harmonics 50–200) gravity and geoid anomalies due to remaining isostasy deviations following Late-Pleistocene glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). Such high-harmonic geoid and gravity signatures would depend also on the detailed ice and meltwater loading distribution and history.ESA’s Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite mission, planned for launch in Summer 2008, is designed to map the quasi-static geoid with centimeter accuracy and gravity anomalies with milligal accuracy at a resolution of 100 km or better. This might offer the possibility of detecting gravity and geoid effects of low-viscosity shallow earth layers and differences of the effects of various Pleistocene ice decay scenarios. For example, our predictions show that for a typical low-viscosity crustal zone GOCE should be able to discern differences between ice-load histories down to length scales of about 150 km.One of the major challenges in interpreting such high-harmonic, regional-scale, geoid signatures in GOCE solutions will be to discriminate GIA-signatures from various other solid-earth contributions. It might be of help here that the high-harmonic geoid and gravity signatures form quite characteristic 2D patterns, depending on both ice load and low-viscosity zone model parameters.