Gravity field variations from superconducting gravimeters for GRACE validation

The network of superconducting gravimeters (SG) of the ‘Global Geodynamics Project’ (GGP) offers the unique opportunity to supplement and validate the gravity field variations derived from the GRACE satellite mission. Because of the different spatial and temporal resolutions of the gravity data a combination of all datasets can be used to retrieve a maximum of information regarding mass transfers especially related to hydrology which is deployable as constraint for hydrological modelling.For a consistent combination of the datasets the gap between terrestrial data of superconducting and absolute gravimeters (AG) and from satellite data has to be bridged. A successful combination of SG and AG data could be realized for several stations which resulted in time series of the highest accuracy and long-term stability.In principle, the same reductions applied to GRACE data have to be taken into account for the terrestrial data. The separation of local hydrological effects in SG observations is crucial for the comparison with satellite-derived gravity data. It is shown that even for stations with a hydrological challenging situation such as Moxa/Germany local hydrology-induced effects can be successfully modelled.Currently, the study focuses on Europe with its dense and long-term observation network. Regarding the consistency of the SG gravity variations they are representative for a larger region. From a comparison with GRACE-derived gravity field changes, and the variations due to hydrological models a principle good agreement emerges.