A long record of global mean ocean mass from GRACE, GRACE-Followon, and satellite laser ranging

We present a long record of global mean ocean mass computed from gravity missions (GRACE and GRACE Follow-on) and satellite laser ranging, and discuss its role in the global sea level budget. The primary data come from GRACE, starting in August 2002 and ending in June 2017. Changes in the mean ocean mass going from Release-05 to Release-06 will be discussed, along with changes in the accuracy as various instruments began to have issues on the GRACE satellites. GRACE Follow-on (GRACE-FO) will be included in 2018 if they are available. To fill the gap between GRACE and GRACE-FO, a novel inversion of long-wavelength gravity fields derived from satellite laser ranging data will be investigated and compared to GRACE data between 2002 and 2015. The non-seasonal global mean ocean mass time-series will be compared to total sea level from satellite altimetry and steric sea level from Argo to assess relative contributions of heat and ocean mass to the sea level budget from 2002 to 2018.