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Gravity Anomaly Map Using GRACE Data
Gravity anomaly map using GRACE data.
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The rocket carrying GRACE-FO lifts off into a blue sky, with the Pacific Ocean beneath it.
GRACE-FO Launch, Sky and Sea
GRACE observed Earth’s surface mass changes nearly every month from 2002 to mid-2017. GRACE Follow-On will provide crucial continuity to these observations for the next five years or more.
Earth Mass Changes, 2002 to 2017
This animation shows the annual water storage changes over the U.S. from GRACE from 2003 - 2013.
Annual Water Storage Changes over the U.S. from GRACE
Illustration of GRACE-FO in orbit (view 4)
Illustration of GRACE-FO (View 4)
NASA JPL-UC Irvine glaciologist Eric Rignot explains how glaciers in West Antarctica are changing.
West Antarctic Collapse
Gravity variations studied by GRACE can be used to determine ground water storage on land masses.
Global Terrestrial Water Storage Anomaly
Research based on GRACE observations indicates that between 2002 and 2016, Greenland shed approximately 280 gigatons of ice per year.
Greenland Ice Loss 2002-2016
Between 2002 and 2016, Antarctica shed approximately 125 gigatons of ice per year, causing global sea level to rise by 0.35 millimeters per year.
Antarctic Ice Loss 2002-2016
The force of gravity not only keeps us from floating away, it also lets NASA study Earth’s water and ice from space. Using a pair of twin satellites named GRACE, we can monitor our planet’s water.
Scale in the Sky
The GRACE Intermediate Field 48 (GIF48 from UT-CSR) field model is an improved mean gravity field that combines GRACE observations and terrestrial gravity information.
Static Gravity Field Anomalies
Illustration of GRACE-FO above Alaska.
Illustration of GRACE-FO Above Alaska
The GRACE-FO satellites, attached to turntable fixtures, at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (view 1).
GRACE-FO Satellites, Attached to Turntable Fixtures
The two GRACE-FO satellites are seen from GFZ’s Satellite Laser Ranging Station in Potsdam, Germany, on May 23, 2018 at 22:16 UTC and 22:17 UTC, respectively.
GRACE-FO Satellites From Potsdam
The GRACE-FO satellites, attached to turntable fixtures, at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
GRACE-FO Satellites at Vandenberg
Flames from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching GRACE-FO into orbit.
Rocket Flames
Depletion of groundwater in northwestern India between 2002 and 2008, measured by GRACE.
Groundwater Depletion in India, 2002-2008
The Laser Ranging Interferometer instrument.
Laser Ranging Interferometer
The signal of the December 2004 earthquake in the Indian Ocean in GRACE observations of Earth's gravity field.
GRACE Sees Earthquake in Indian Ocean
The NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft launches onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
GRACE-FO Launches, Ocean View
GRACE-Follow On (GRACE-FO) is a satellite mission that launched in May 2018. GRACE-FO will continue the work of the GRACE satellite mission tracking Earth's water movement around the globe. These d...
Tracking Water from Space
Many of today’s most pressing climate science challenges hinge on knowing how and where water is moving on Earth. GRACE-FO will continue the successful partnership between NASA and the German Resea...
GRACE-FO Launch Press Kit
The GRACE-FO satellites were assembled by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany. The photo shows one of the satellites in the testing facility of IABG, an Airbus subcontractor, in Munich (view 2).
GRACE-FO Satellites During Testing (View 2)
The NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
GRACE-FO Launches, Wide Shot
Changes in Australia's mass observed by GRACE in 2010 and 2011. Areas in greens and blues had the greatest increases in mass, caused by unusually high precipitation connected with a large La Niña e...
Changes in Australia's Mass Observed by GRACE in 2010 and 2011
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen with the NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft onboard at Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
GRACE-FO in Falcon 9 on Launchpad
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In a recent study, scientists found that a previously unmeasured source – water percolating through soil and fractured rock below California’s Sierra Nevada mountains – delivers an average of 4 million acre feet (5 cubic kilometers) of water to the state’s Central Valley each year. This underground source accounts for about 10% of all the water that enters this highly productive farmland each year from every source (including river inflows and precipitation).
NASA Measures Underground Water Flowing From Sierra to Central Valley
Researchers have untangled puzzling patterns of sinking and rising land to pin down the underground locations where water is being pumped for irrigation.
NASA Finds New Way to Monitor Underground Water Loss
Decades of drought across the U.S. Southwest has led some scientists to classify the intense, prolonged dryness as a “megadrought.” But drought in North America took a different shape in 2021, affecting areas that do not face long-term or intense drought as often. The northern Great Plains has been coping with drought for months.
Drought in the Northern Great Plains
Focusing on the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions, the award cites the “outstanding leadership of the international consortium in the planning and implementation of the successful Earth gravity missions.”
International Cooperation Award for NASA JPL's Michael Watkins, Michael Gross
Scientists have gained new insights into the processes that have driven ocean level variations for over a century, helping us prepare for the rising seas of the future.
NASA-led Study Reveals the Causes of Sea Level Rise Since 1900
Continuous monitoring of glaciers and ice caps has provided unprecedented insights to global ice loss that could have serious socioeconomic impacts on some regions.
Ice Melt Linked to Accelerated Regional Freshwater Depletion