GRACE and GRACE-FO mascons for ocean dynamic applications

Abstract. A new series of mascons are made from GRACE and GRACE-FO data, specifically designed for use by oceanographers interested in studying variations in ocean mass transport and circulation. This series has pre-removed those changes in ocean mass distribution caused by barystatic gravity, rotation, and deformation (GRD) signals, as well as the non-oceanographic signals caused by four major oceanic earthquakes, neither of which impact circulation. Subtle changes in the processing and regularization schemes also help reduce the visibility of instrument/orbital errors in the ocean signal, particularly in the Arctic and near the sites of the removed earthquakes. The primary benefit of this data set is increased ease of use for researchers interested in ocean dynamics, as the product is designed to be used “off the shelf” with no additional corrections required, even by those less familiar with GRACE data usage. The complete dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/3VUPEW (Pie et al., 2025).