SPP 1257:  Mass Transport and Mass Distribution in the Earth System

• Subject Area: Geosciences
• Term: from 2006 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 21726912

The gravity field of the Earth reflects the mass distribution in the atmosphere, at the surface of the Earth as well as inside the crust and the Earth's mantle. Redistribution of masses in combination with changes of the geometry of the Earth's surface, of the continents and the oceans, cause, under certain circumstances, changes of the gravity field. Such mass transports can be caused by ocean circulations, by changes of ground water-level and solid Earth moisture, by melting of continental ice sheets, by river run off, by changes of sea-level and by convective flow in the Earth's mantle.
Recently artificial satellites measure the inhomogeneous gravity field in its global distribution and with high temporal resolution using innovative and extremely precise sensor systems. At the same time the geometry of the Earth's surface and its temporal variations can be observed either by remote sensing satellites or point-wise with the help of precise techniques of the global navigation satellite systems. This Priority Programme aims at a breakthrough in the recovery of mass transports and mass distribution and in the understanding of the underlying dynamic processes on the Earth's surface and in its interior.
The following mass signals and processes will be investigated and interrelated:
(1) absolute transports in the ocean and their temporal variability,
(2) continental water storage variability on large scales and related water fluxes,
(3) mass balance of ice sheets,
(4) global and regional sea level changes,
(5) steady-state and time dependent dynamics of the Earth's interior, and
(6) lithospheric structure and surface processes, including hazard monitoring. In all of these areas, fundamental questions are still open today, which can be answered by the Priority Programme.
The processes are intimately coupled by mass exchange between ocean, ice, continents, and atmosphere and by their forcing mechanisms. Therefore, the programme aims at an integrated and interdisciplinary Earth system modelling. The results will be essential for the understanding and the prediction of the global water cycle. New insights into processes responsible for the stability and variability of our climate can be expected.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Austria, Luxembourg, USA

Projects

• Assessing the current Evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet (Applicant Dietrich, Reinhard )
• Combined Hydrological Modelling and Regional Geodetic Estimation of Water Storage Variations in Large River Basins Using GRACE Data (Applicants Döll, Petra ;  Holschneider, Matthias ;  Kusche, Jürgen )
• Combined Ocean-Geodetic Analysis of Global and Regional Ocean Mass-, and Freshwater Transport Divergences (Applicants Böning, Claus ;  Stammer, Detlef ;  Visbeck, Martin )
• Combined Ocean Tide Analysis by GRACE and Altimetry data (COTAGA) (Applicants Bosch, Wolfgang ;  Flechtner, Frank ;  Mayer-Gürr, Torsten )
• Consistent estimation of water mass variations in different continental storage compartments by the com-bined inversion of a global hydrological model with time-variable gravity and complementary observation data (Applicants Güntner, Andreas ;  Schmidt, Michael )
• Consistent integration of global gravity field information into earth process models (Applicant Schuh, Wolf-Dieter )
• Constraint on Tien Shan structure and dynamics from integrative modelling of new satellite gravity-, GNSS-, SAR- and seismic data (Applicants Hellwich, Olaf ;  Kaban, Mikhail )
• Determination of the Fennoscandian Land Uplift and Mass Variations in Northern Europe from GRACE Data (Applicant Müller, Jürgen )
• Development and application of a three-dimensional viscoelastic lithosphere and mantle model for reducing GRACE-gravity data (VILMA) (Applicant Thomas, Maik )
• Fingerprints of ice melting in geodetic GRACE and ocean modelling (Applicants Kusche, Jürgen ;  Schröter, Jens )
• Forward modelling of mantle density anomalies from geodynamic considerations (Applicant Bunge, Ph.D., Hans-Peter )
• Global modelling of the lithosphere and mantle and explaning geoid signal by merging of tomography derived mantle flow models with full thermal convection models including lateral viscosity variations (Applicants Kaban, Mikhail ;  Schmeling, Harro )
• Improved De-Aliasing for Gravity Field Modelling with GRACE (Applicants Flechtner, Frank ;  Gruber, Thomas ;  Stammer, Detlef ;  Trautmann, Thomas )
• Improved ice-mass balance and GIA-induced sea-level change by assimilation of GRACE and SLI data to 3D viscoelastic earth model and joint gravity field inversion (Applicant Sasgen, Ingo )
• Improved modelling of non-tidal mass variations for optimized gravity field analysis (Applicants Dobslaw, Henryk ;  Gruber, Thomas ;  Güntner, Andreas )
• Improving ocean tides by constraining the dynamic HAMTIDE model with altimetry an GRACE data (Applicants Rummel, Reiner ;  Stammer, Detlef )
• Integrated MOdelling of Satellite and Airborne Gravity data of Active plate margins (Applicants Götze, Hans-Jürgen ;  Jentzsch, Gerhard ;  Pail, Roland )
• Mantle plumes and the geoid: Plume dynamics and their signature in the GRACE derived gravity field (Applicants Freeden, Willi ;  Schmeling, Harro )
• Program management and scientific networking (Applicants Bosch, Wolfgang ;  Kusche, Jürgen )
• Rigorous Fusion of Gravity Field into Stationary Ocean Models (Applicants Losch, Ph.D., Martin ;  Schuh, Wolf-Dieter )
• Sea Surface Topography and Mass Transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Applicants Bosch, Wolfgang ;  Rummel, Reiner ;  Scheinert, Mirko ;  Schröter, Jens )
• Separation of mass signals by common inversion of gravimetric and geometric observations (Applicant Drewes, Hermann )
• Spatial and temporal resolution limits for regional mass transport and mass distribution (Applicants Fenoglio-Marc, Ph.D., Luciana ;  Kusche, Jürgen ;  Menzel, Lucas ;  Stanev, Emil Vassilev )
• Surface mass redistribution from joint inversion of GPS site displacements, ocean bottom pressure (OBP) models, and GRACE global gravity models (JIGOG) (Applicants Dietrich, Reinhard ;  Flechtner, Frank ;  Kusche, Jürgen ;  Schröter, Jens )
• Tailored regional gravity field models for mass distribution and mass transport phenomena in the Earth system. (Applicants Holschneider, Matthias ;  Ilk, Karl-Heinz )
• Temporal And Spatial Multiscale Assessment of mass transport by combination of Gravity Observations from GRACE and terrestrial stations (Applicants Förste, Christoph ;  Güntner, Andreas ;  Ihde, Johannes ;  Jentzsch, Gerhard )
• The Antarctic Ice Sheet Mass Balance from Satellite Geodesy and Modeling (Applicants Dierking, Wolfgang ;  Dietrich, Reinhard ;  Eineder, Michael ;  Flechtner, Frank )
• The global continental water budget using GRACE spaceborne gravimetry and high-resolution consistent geodetic-hydrometeorological data analysis (Applicants Bárdossy, András ;  van Dam, Tonie ;  Kunstmann, Harald ;  Sneeuw, Nico )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Kusche