GPS data collected by satellite gravity missions can be used for extracting the long-wavelength part of the Earth’s gravity field. We propose a new data processing method which makes use of the ‘average acceleration’ approach to gravity field modelling. In this method, satellite accelerations are directly derived from GPS carrier phase measurements with an epoch-differenced scheme. As a result, no ambiguity solutions are needed and the systematic errors that do not change much from epoch to epoch are largely eliminated. The GPS data collected by the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite mission are used to demonstrate the added value of the proposed method. An analysis of the residual accelerations shows that accelerations derived in this way are more precise, with noise being reduced by about 20 and 5% at the cross-track component and the other two components, respectively, as compared to those based on kinematic orbits. The accelerations obtained in this way allow the recovery of the gravity field to a slightly higher maximum degree compared to the solution based on kinematic orbits. Furthermore, the gravity field solution has an overall better performance. Errors in spherical harmonic coefficients are smaller, especially at low degrees. The cumulative geoid height error is reduced by about 15 and 5% up to degree 50 and 150, respectively. An analysis in the spatial domain shows that large errors along the geomagnetic equator, which are caused by a high electron density coupled with large short-term variations, are substantially reduced. Finally, the new method allows for a better observation of mass transport signals. In particular, sufficiently realistic signatures of regional mass anomalies in North America and south-west Africa are obtained.

We present a high resolution model of the linear trend in the Earth’s mass variations based on DMT-2 (Delft Mass Transport model, release 2). DMT-2 was produced primarily from K-Band Ranging (KBR) data of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE). It comprises a time series of monthly solutions complete to spherical harmonic degree 120. A novel feature in its production was the accurate computation and incorporation of stochastic properties of coloured noise when processing KBR data. The unconstrained DMT-2 monthly solutions are used to estimate the linear trend together with a bias, as well as annual and semi-annual sinusoidal terms. The linear term is further processed with an anisotropic Wiener filter, which uses full noise and signal covariance matrices. Given the fact that noise in an unconstrained model of the trend is reduced substantially as compared to monthly solutions, the Wiener filter associated with the trend is much less aggressive compared to a Wiener filter applied to monthly solutions. Consequently, the trend estimate shows an enhanced spatial resolution. It allows signals in relatively small water bodies, such as Aral sea and Ladoga lake, to be detected. Over the ice sheets, it allows for a clear identification of signals associated with some outlet glaciers or their groups. We compare the obtained trend estimate with the ones from the CSR-RL05 model using (i) the same approach based on monthly noise covariance matrices and (ii) a commonly-used approach based on the DDK-filtered monthly solutions. We use satellite altimetry data as independent control data. The comparison demonstrates a high spatial resolution of the DMT-2 linear trend. We link this to the usage of high-accuracy monthly noise covariance matrices, which is due to an accurate computation and incorporation of coloured noise when processing KBR data. A preliminary comparison of the linear trend based on DMT-2 with that computed from GSFC global mascons v01 reveals, among other, a high concentration of the signal along the coast for both models in areas like the ice sheets, Gulf of Alaska, and Iceland.