High-resolution atmospheric-hydrological background modelling for GRACE/GRACE-FO – regional refinement and validation (HIRABAM-2)

• Applicants: Privatdozentin Dr. Petra Friederichs; Professor Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Kusche
• Subject Area: Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics, Cartography ; Atmospheric Science
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388296632

For generating monthly level-2 data from GRACE and GRACE-FO, it is mandatory to remove sub-monthly non-tidal atmospheric and ocean mass variability during level-1 processing. We expect this to be pertinent to future missions (NGGMs). In this project, we focus on improving our understanding of atmospheric mass redistribution and the errors in atmospheric simulations. We investigate sub-monthly variability in the coupled atmospheric-terrestrial hydrological cycle, and we assess the potential of hydrology model simulations to improve the de-aliasing. This project has already generated a consistent global data set of atmospheric-hydrological mass variation with improved spatio-temporal resolution over Europe, and it will continue to serve the RU through validation experiments. Finally, with a view on the current ~20 year data record that NGGMs will be able to extend to climate timescales, we suggest to shift the focus on the possibility of detecting hydrometeorological extremes and their statistics in a warming climate.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2736: New Refined Observations of Climate Change from Spaceborne Gravity Missions (NEROGRAV)