HR: 1340h
AN: G33A-0899 [Abstracts]
TI: GOCE Quick-Look Gravity Field Analysis
AU: * Wermuth, M
EM: wermuth@bv.tum.de
AF: IAPG TU Munich, Arcisstrasse 21, Munich, 80333, Germany
AU: Pail, R
EM: pail@geomatics.tu-graz.ac.at
AF: INAS TU Graz, Steyrergasse 30, Graz, 8010, Austria
AU: Mayrhofer, R
EM: reinhard.mayrhofer@tugraz.at
AF: INAS TU Graz, Steyrergasse 30, Graz, 8010, Austria
AB:
The goal of the GOCE satellite mission (steady state Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer), which will be
launched by ESA (European Space Agency) in spring 2008, is to observe the Earth's gravity field with high
resolution and global coverage. It is based on a sensor fusion concept which will combine SST (satellite-to-
satellite tracking) measurements and SGG (satellite gravity gradiometry). While SST is more sensitive to long
wavelength gravity signal, SGG will be able to observe shorter wavelengths down to 100-80 km. Due to the large
number of observations and unknown parameters the analysis is a large computational task and final results will
only be available several months after the end of the mission.
In order to monitor the data quality during the flight time of the satellite a Quick-Look gravity field analysis is
performed regularly on partial data sets with a latency of only a few days. This analysis is based on a semi-
analytic approach which uses several simplifying assumptions: 1) a circular orbit with constant orbit height and
inclination, 2) a perfect repeat pattern with regular global data coverage and 3) a perfect alignment of the satellite
to its flight direction.
Recent simulations using actual parameters of the mission show, that none of the 3 assumptions will be met,
which will affect the quality of Quick-Look gravity field solutions. A strategy how to deal with these deficiencies will
be shown. This includes the use of the so-called torus-approach, which is less vulnerable to an irregular data
distribution. Furthermore a strategy to choose the weights between SST and SGG observations using variance
component estimation will be shown.
DE: 1219 Gravity anomalies and Earth structure (0920, 7205, 7240)
DE: 1240 Satellite geodesy: results (6929, 7215, 7230, 7240)
DE: 1243 Space geodetic surveys
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting