The interferometers aboard the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) platforms use microwave technology to provide extremely precise measurements of the distance between the twin satellites in each mission. These measurements are then used to derive detailed estimates of Earth's gravity field. Such measurements are useful for tracking the movement of water around the planet, including underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level.
We are in the process of migrating all NASA Earth science data sites into Earthdata from now until end of 2026. Not all NASA Earth science data and resources will appear here until then. Thank you for your patience as we make this transition.
Read about the Web Unification Project