University of Gävle
/ Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development
/ Research at the Faculty
/ Hydro-geodesy: Climate change- and global warming-induced mass change detection

Hydro-geodesy: Climate change- and global warming-induced mass change detection

Climate change and climate variability have multiple deleterious consequences that affect our daily life. This project aims to develop new methods for determining one of the essential climate variables.

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The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
(GRACE).

Climate change and climate variability have multiple deleterious consequences that affect our daily life. There is an exceptional opportunity of achieving simultaneous and complementary data from a multitude of geoscience and environmental near-earth orbiting artificial satellites to study phenomena related to climate change. These satellite missions provide essential information about the various phenomena, such as cryosphere changes, ice sheet melting, ocean currents, sea-level change, terrestrial water storage changes, atmospheric composition, soil moisture variation, temperature changes, and earth surface deformations.

Develop new methods

This project was planned as Ph.D. project that aims to develop new methods for determining one of the essential climate variables (ECVs), i.e. surface mass change utilizing satellite gravimetry data (GRACE and GRACE Follow-on missions) and other remote sensing data like the Copernicus programme/missions. Monitoring global and regional mass change/transport/redistribution requires accurate models. The obtained surface mass change (in continents and sea regions) can be used for determining ice sheet melting and global mean sea-level changes, which are the most notable impacts of climate change and global warming.

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)

This project has high regional and international potential for both science and application. It addresses the effects of global warming on sea-level change and ice melting (e.g. in Greenland and Antarctica) and consequently will influence economic development and people living in the region, including indigenous peoples. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognizes these types of studies as an ECV in the same way as temperature, groundwater changes, and soil moisture. Therefore, the relevance of the project for UN sustainable development goals is evident, especially its relationship with Goal 13 and Goal 14.