The JPL RL05M GRACE Mascon Solution: Status, Updates, and Future Prospects

The JPL RL05M GRACE mascon solution parameterizes monthly variations in the Earth's gravity field using 3o equal-area spherical cap mass concentration functions. A regularization scheme that relies on spatial and temporal a priori correlations is implemented to remove correlated errors during the gravity inversion. Several processing improvements were recently implemented, resulting in the public release of a "Version 2" of the solution in July 2016. Here, we discuss those processing improvements, provide general guidance on the usage of the solution, and discuss plans for future improvements.