Humanity’s technological advances have brought many benefits to society, from revolutionary medicines and treatments, to social and cultural issues and the way we understand our world. Innovation is the key word for the future. And based on this idea, the GRACE mission, which operated for more than 15 years before handing over its legacy to its successor GRACE FO, allows us to understand a little of how much we have already learned about water on Earth. The mission’s observations over this time taught us about: groundwater, according to data pointed out by NASA in the study by hydrologist Matt Rodell using the observations provided by the mission, which before the information coming from GRACE, that groundwater is running out much faster than they are able to replenish themselves.
The melting of ice sheets was very complex data to acquire, but, thanks to the launch of GRACE, and from the measurements made, it was found that Greenland has lost around 280 gigatons of its ice per year, which for comparison purposes, it would be a little less than twice the weight of Mount Everest. In Antarctica, losses already amount to 120 gigatons of ice per year, and there is evidence to show that in both cases, melting rates are increasing.
Sea level is also the target of some GRACE studies, as its level may be linked to the melting of ice sheets. With the GRACE mission, scientists were able to distinguish and differentiate between changes in water mass and related changes in ocean temperature, GRACE project leader Carmen Boening from JPL, who documented and also explained how there was a significant drop in water level. of the sea with the La Ninã event that occurred in 2011, this study also presented information about the water that came out of these oceans, rained in Australia, South America and Asia. This discovery about the global water cycle gave scientists a new perspective on how this cycle works.
Finally, changes in the solid earth are also the target of GRACE mission observations. Although scientists did not have much hope, it would be possible to use the mission’s measurements so that they could be used to identify abrupt changes in mass associated with large earthquakes, as there was a difference in scale, since earthquakes are sudden and local and maps monthly data provided by GRACE averaged an area approaching the size of Illinois and lasted a full month of analysis. However, with the development of new data processing and modeling techniques, researchers have been able to isolate the effects of the earthquake, with this, researchers are able to measure the mass changes in an earthquake instantaneously and with this, they have discovered that there is a very measurable relaxation that occurs during the month or two after the earthquake.
All of these contributions made by the GRACE mission have collaborated in various ways throughout its 15 years, not only in academic information, but ways of acting and working towards a better future for humanity. GRACE and GRACE-FO are fundamental parts of the production and preparation of data used in carrying out the AquaExplorer project, which aims to expand the reach of such information.