GRACE Monthly Mass Grids Version 04 - Global Mascon (CRI Filtered)

  • This dataset provides monthly global water storage and height anomalies, derived from GRACE and GRACE-FO and processed by NASA's JPL, using the Mascon approach (RL06.3Mv04) in equivalent water thickness units (cm).

  • The data, available from March 31, 2002, to September 30, 2024, consists of 4,551 independent estimates of surface mass change on a 3-degree grid, and it is provided in a single netCDF file for analysis of ocean, ice, and hydrology.

  • The Mascon grids in this dataset do not need to be de-correlated or smoothed, differing from traditional spherical harmonic gravity solutions, and do not correct for leakage errors across coastlines.

  • The dataset includes two bands: lwe_thickness which is equivalent liquid water thickness in cm and uncertainty which represents the 1-sigma uncertainty, and are intended for expert users, with the suggestion for others to use the CRI-filtered Mascon dataset.

  • All NASA-produced data from this GRACE mission is freely available for public use, but should be cited properly when utilized, as outlined in the terms of use.
NASA/GRACE/MASS_GRIDS_V04/MASCON_CRI
Dataset Availability
2002-03-31T00:00:00Z–2024-09-30T00:00:00Z
Dataset Provider
Earth Engine Snippet
ee.ImageCollection("NASA/GRACE/MASS_GRIDS_V04/MASCON_CRI")
Tags
grace gravity jpl mascon mass nasa surface-ground-water tellus water

Description

This dataset contains gridded monthly global water storage/height anomalies relative to a time-mean, derived from GRACE and GRACE-FO and processed at JPL using the Mascon approach (RL06.3Mv04). These data are provided in a single data file in netCDF format, and can be used for analysis for ocean, ice, and hydrology phenomena. The water storage/height anomalies are given in equivalent water thickness units (cm). The solution provided here is derived from solving for monthly gravity field variations in terms of geolocated spherical cap mass concentration functions, rather than global spherical harmonic coefficients. Additionally, realistic geophysical information is introduced during the solution inversion to intrinsically remove correlated error. Thus, these Mascon grids do not need to be de-correlated or smoothed, like traditional spherical harmonic gravity solutions.

The complete Mascon solution consists of 4,551 relatively independent estimates of surface mass change that have been derived using an equal-area 3-degree grid of individual mascons. It should be noted that this dataset does not correct for leakage errors across coastlines; it is therefore recommended only for users who want to apply their own algorithm to separate between land and ocean mass very near coastlines.

For more information, please visit GRACE page. For a detailed description on the Mascon solution, including the mathematical derivation, implementation of geophysical constraints, and solution validation, please see Watkins et al., 2015. This product is intended for expert use only; other users are encouraged to use the CRI-filtered Mascon dataset.

This RL06.3Mv04 is an updated version of the previous Tellus JPL Mascon RL06.1Mv03.

Bands

Pixel Size
55660 meters

Bands

Name Units Pixel Size Description
lwe_thickness cm meters

Equivalent liquid water thickness in centimeters.
uncertainty meters

1-sigma uncertainty for each 3-degree mascon estimate. The provided estimates of uncertainty are regarded to be conservative. See the provider's Error & Uncertainty Estimates section

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

All NASA-produced data from the GRACE mission is made freely available for the public to use. When using any of the GRCTellus data, please add an acknowledgment: "GRACE land are available at https://grace.jpl.nasa.gov, supported by the NASA MEaSUREs Program." and cite with the citations provided.

Citations

Citations:

  • D. N. Wiese, D.-N. Yuan, C. Boening, F. W. Landerer, M. M. Watkins. 2023. JPL GRACE and GRACE-FO Mascon Ocean, Ice, and Hydrology Equivalent Water Height CRI Filtered RL06.3Mv04. Ver. RL06.3Mv04. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://doi.org/10.5067/TEMSC-3JC634.

  • Watkins, M. M., D. N. Wiese, D.-N. Yuan, C. Boening, and F. W. Landerer (2015), Improved methods for observing Earth's time variable mass, mass distribution with GRACE using spherical cap mascons, J. Geophys. Res Solid Earth, 120, doi:10.1002/2014JB011547.

  • Wiese, D. N., F. W. Landerer, and M. M. Watkins (2016), Quantifying and reducing leakage errors in the JPL RL05M GRACE mascon solution, Water Resour. Res., 52, 7490-7502, doi:10.1002/2016WR019344.

DOIs

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset = ee.ImageCollection('NASA/GRACE/MASS_GRIDS_V04/MASCON_CRI')
                  .filter(ee.Filter.date('2016-08-01', '2016-08-30'));
var equivalentWaterThickness = dataset.select('lwe_thickness');
var equivalentWaterThicknessVis = {
  min: -25.0,
  max: 25.0,
  palette: ['001137', '01abab', 'e7eb05', '620500'],
};
Map.setCenter(6.746, 46.529, 2);
Map.addLayer(
    equivalentWaterThickness, equivalentWaterThicknessVis,
    'Equivalent Water Thickness');
Open in Code Editor
This dataset contains gridded monthly global water storage/height anomalies relative to a time-mean, derived from GRACE and GRACE-FO and processed at JPL using the Mascon approach (RL06.3Mv04). These data are provided in a single data file in netCDF format, and can be used for analysis for ocean, ice, and hydrology …
NASA/GRACE/MASS_GRIDS_V04/MASCON_CRI, grace,gravity,jpl,mascon,mass,nasa,surface-ground-water,tellus,water
2002-03-31T00:00:00Z/2024-09-30T00:00:00Z
-90 -180 90 180
Google Earth Engine