Abstract
The CHAMP satellite, equipped with a GPS receiver and an accelerometer, has yielded an enormous increase in accuracy of global satellite-only gravity field models and it has proved the concept of high-low satellite to satellite tracking (SST) for gravity field recovery. Therefore, we are interested whether the Swarm mission, consisting of three CHAMP-like satellites, is suitable for gravity field determination as well. This article presents the results of two simulation studies for static and time-variable gravity field recovery. The latter may become especially relevant after the mission end of GRACE and CHAMP. Swarm’s potential of recovering the global gravity field is investigated by simplified simulations. GPS baselines between the three satellites are used as observations. Generally, the quality of static field recovery can be better than that of CHAMP with the help of the more accurate GPS baseline measurements. A 24-months simulation with temporal variations shows that Swarm may have the potential of recovering the long wavelength part of hydrology signal.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Gerlach Ch, Sneeuw N, Visser P, Svehla D (2003) CHAMP gravity field recovery with the energy balance approach: first results. In: First CHAMP mission results for gravity, magnetic and atmospheric studies. Springer Verlag, New York, pp 134–139
Gerlach Ch, Visser P (2006) Swarm and gravity, possibilities and expectations for gravity field recovery. In: Proceedings of first Swarm international workshop, ESA WPP-261
Han S-C (2004) Efficient determination of global gravity field from satellite-to-satellite tracking. Celest Mech Dyn Astron 88:69–102
Kotsiaros S (2009) Development of algorithms and tools for data analysis, data visualization, and data validation for the Swarm satellite mission, ESA working paper 2355, pp 20–27
Olsen N, Sabaka T, Gaya-Pique L (2007) Study of an improved comprehensive magnetic field inversion analysis for swarm (Final report), pp 14–23
Reigber C (2007) Earth gravity field and seasonal variability from CHAMP. In: Earth observation with CHAMP results from three years in orbit. Springer, New York, pp 25–30
Sneeuw N, Sharifi MA, Keller W (2006) Gravity Recovery from formation flight missions. In: Proceedingsof International Association of Geodesy Symposia, VI Hotine-Marussi Symposium, vol 132. Springer, New York, pp 29–34
Visser P (2006) Space-borne gravimetry: progress, predictions and relevance for Swarm. In: Proceedings of first Swarm international workshop, ESA WPP-261
Zenner L (2006) Zeitliche Schwerefeldvariationen aus GRACE und Hydrologiemodellen (Diplomarbeit), pp 64–80. IAPG, Technische Universität München, Munich
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Wang, X., Rummel, R. (2012). Using Swarm for Gravity Field Recovery: First Simulation Results. In: Sneeuw, N., Novák, P., Crespi, M., Sansò, F. (eds) VII Hotine-Marussi Symposium on Mathematical Geodesy. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 137. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22078-4_45
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22078-4_45
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-22077-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-22078-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)