Gravity field

GRACE, and GRACE-FO andas well as GOCE are groundbreaking gravity missions that offer us a unique opportunity to explore the Earth's gravity field in greater detail. I have been involved in two main areas of research to fully harness the data from these satellites.

Together with my co-authors, I have demonstrated for the first time that flows within the Earth's core can produce a detectable gravity signature in satellite measurements. For decades, humanity has dreamed of exploring the deep Earth, particularly its core. While the idea of embarking on a Jules Verne-style "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" remains purely fantastical, surface geophysics has provided a means to indirectly investigate the core. Recent advances in our understanding of core dynamics have been driven by the interpretation of magnetic field variations observed by ground-based observatories and satellites, revealing large-scale material flows. This discovery opens the door to studying core dynamics using additional geophysical data beyond magnetism, geodesy, and seismology. In the future, much could be gained from combining these independent datasets to create a more complete picture of the Earth’s interior.

The GOCE mission offers an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Earth’s gravity field. This breakthrough is made possible by the use of gradiometry, a measurement technique that was implemented on a satellite for the first time with GOCE. The mission’s set of accelerometers can detect variations in Earth’s gravitational attraction in three dimensions, providing a level of precision that makes it a unique and invaluable mission. I have contributed to studies showing that, using GOCE’s three-dimensional data, we can observe how the force of gravity varies across different locations due to the dynamic processes and uneven mass distribution inside the planet.

These high-resolution gravity maps, when combined with other geophysical datasets, will enable even deeper insights into the Earth’s interior. The knowledge gained from GOCE’s detailed measurements of Earth's gravitational shape is crucial for a variety of applications. One particularly striking discovery is the realization that the Earth's gravity surface, or "global horizontal," is far from flat—it has noticeable bumps and lumps, which underscores the complexity and variability of our planet’s interior.