On the contribution of CHAMP to temporal gravity field variation studies

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of temporal gravity field variability on CHAMP and other geodetic satellites. The sensitivity of these satellites to the lower order and degree harmonics is presented along with the dominant tidal periodicities. Lumped harmonics from analyses of CHAMP are discussed with a singular value decomposition identifying the dominant combinations. Temporal variability in lower order and degree harmonics are presented in studies with and without CHAMP. These results are compared against those derived from geophysical data. © 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.