Spatial-domain combination of GRACE monthly time-variable gravity models based on multiple weighting strategies and comparison of models’ performance in the Caspian Sea

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission provides original observations to different institutions for the production of various monthly time-variable gravity field models (TVGFMs). Aiming to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio of TVGFMs, we determine to combine them in the spatial domain. This combination comprises two approaches: one combines spherical harmonic coefficient (SHC) solutions, and the other combines SHC and mascon (mass concentration) solutions together. For each approach, we employ four old weighting schemes and one new scheme named oceanic accuracy weighting. We then assessed the combined models through both internal and external validations. In external validation, we compare the Caspian Sea level changes derived from the combined models with those obtained from satellite altimeter. Our results reveal an improvement of the SHC combination using variance component estimation (VCE) weighting compared to any single SHC solution. Moreover, we found enhanced performance in the combined models with the incorporation of mascon solutions, particularly employing the oceanic accuracy weighting. These findings underscore the efficacy of model combination in improving performance, and emphasize the importance of selecting appropriate weighting strategies for integrating GRACE solutions. Specifically, we recommend VCE weighting scheme for combining SHC solutions only and oceanic accuracy weighting scheme for integrating mascon and SHC solutions.