Earth observation

High resolution terrestrial water storage changes from combination of GRACE and models

Khosro Ghobadi-Far, edited by Öykü Koç and Bramha Dutt Vishwakarma February 7, 2024

Image credits: Jakob Keck (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission (2002-2017) consisted of two satellites at ~500 km altitude separated by 200 km, following each other in the same orbit. The distance between the two GRACE satellites changes because of the gravitational pull of the masses beneath the satellites. As such, mass changes at or near the Earth’s surface caused variations in the dista ...[Read More]

Calculating postglacial sea-level change within few seconds: a statistical emulator for GIA

Yucheng Lin, edited by Marius Schlaak and Bramha Dutt Vishwakarma December 22, 2023

Figure 1. Map of the global ice sheet and topography during the Last Glacial Maximum. Areas with dark green colour indicate land created by sea-level lowering. Figure courtesy of J. Austermann; Dendy et al., 2017.

Sea-level change serves as a direct indicator of climate change with profound implications for coastal areas. Since 1900, the global mean sea level (GMSL) has risen over 20 cm, leading to beach erosion, delta inundation, and increased flooding worldwide. Over glacial cycles spanning tens of thousands of years, interactions between ocean and continental-scale ice sheets can cause GMSL to fluctuate ...[Read More]

Reshaping Earth: GIA and its far-reaching effects

Holger Steffen, Rebekka Steffen, Yucheng Lin and edited by Öykü Koç December 19, 2023

Julien Seguinot (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

As the Geodesy blog team (we are growing, horaay!), we wanted to create a space for researchers to talk about their work/papers in a more simplified language. For the first post in this series, we said “Wouldn’t it be cool if we learn more about Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) models?” then we realised that we first need to uncover what GIA is. So, we passed the pen to Holger, Rebekka and Yuche ...[Read More]

Geodesists on Tour: On a Campaign in the Arctic with a Giraf(f)e in the Aircraft

Tim Jensen and edited by Rebekka Steffen November 6, 2023

First view of the Greenland east coast after crossing the Denmark Strait

Way too early on a Saturday morning in late June 2023 I woke up and started my travel to a small airport in Akureyri, North-East Iceland. This is the location of an Icelandic charter company called Norlandair that we used for our airborne geophysical surveys and logistic operations in the Arctic. For a few months I had been preparing a survey to test a new quantum-based technology for airbo ...[Read More]