A New Advanced GRACE Analyis Product - JPLRL05M: Improving Terrestrial Water Storage Estimates

We have developed a new surface mass solution using spherical cap mascons, designated as JPL RL05M, and now publicly available via the GRACE Tellus site. This solution has a number of characteristics that make it useful for studies of terrestrial water storage, including higher spatial resolution than the (smoothed) harmonic fields available on Tellus, and not requiring the "de-striping" filter widely used on harmonic fields to remove North-South artifacts. In this talk we will discuss the quality of the new products, how to use them, and how they differ from existing harmonic-based products that users may be familiar with. We believe this new product will enable hydrologists to study smaller regions, regions nearer to coastlines, and regions with more North-South orientation than they have been able to with previous generation GRACE products.