GRACE-FO Level-2 Monthly Geopotential Spherical Harmonics GFZ Release 6.3 (RL06.3)

FOR EXPERT USE ONLY. This dataset contains estimates of the total month-by-month geopotential of the Earth, derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission measurements, produced by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The data are provided as spherical harmonic coefficients, averaged over approximately a month. These coefficients are derived from the Microwave Instrument (MWI) measured intersatellite range changes between the twin spacecraft of the GRACE-FO mission. Refer to the mission page for more information.

This GRACE-FO RL06.3 data is an updated version of the GRACE-FO RL06.1 Level-2 data products. RL06.3 differs from RL06.1 only in the Level-1B accelerometer transplant data that is used for the GF2 satellite: Level-2 RL06.3 uses ACH1B RL04 that is contained within the ACX2 Level-1 bundle, which replaces ACH1B RL04 contained within the ACX Level-1 bundle that was used for Level-2 RL06.1 (note: ACX2-L1B is only applicable for 01/2023 onwards in wide-deadband operational mode; from 6/2018 through 12/2022, RL06.1 and RL06.3 GRACE-FO data are identical). All GRACE-FO RL06.3 Level-2 products are fully compatible with the GRACE RL06 level-2 fields. Refer to the mission page for more information.