Atmos.mov

The force of gravity not only keeps us from floating away, it also lets NASA study Earth’s water and ice from space. Using a pair of twin satellites named "GRACE," we can monitor ou...

Zoom in to view GRACE flying over Greenland.

Research based on GRACE observations indicates that between 2002 and 2016, Greenland shed approximately 280 gigatons of ice per year.

GPS signal occultation by the atmosphere, and the resulting useful data is explained.

GRACE logo

For 15 years, the GRACE mission has unlocked mysteries of how water moves around our planet. It gave us the first view of underground aquifers from space, and shows how fast polar ice sheets and mo...

Global ocean conveyor belt of warm and cold water is explained.

NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has measured significant groundwater depletion around the world in recent years. These animations show trends in total water storage from Jan....

Measuring Earth's Gravity from Space exhibit

This animation illustrates the highs and lows of the Earth's gravity field as water in the basins of the U.S. changes over time.

GRACE mission pre-launch poster

This animation shows the annual water storage changes over the U.S. from GRACE from 2003 - 2013.

Accuracy of scaled GRACE terrestrial water storage estimates

Between 2002 and 2016, Antarctica shed approximately 125 gigatons of ice per year, causing global sea level to rise by 0.35 millimeters per year.

The GRACE Intermediate Field 48 (GIF48 from UT-CSR) field model is an improved mean gravity field that combines GRACE observations with terrestrial and ocean gravity information for the small-scale...

GRACE on orbit

The amount of water stored in the Amazon basin varies from month to month, and can be monitored from space by looking at how it alters Earth's gravity field.

This visualization of a gravity model was created with data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and shows variations in Earth’s gravity field.

This image shows the mean annual amplitude of total water storage on Earth in 2007 as measured by GRACE.