JPL GRACE and GRACE-FO Mascon RL06.3Mv04

JPL GRACE and GRACE-FO Mascon RL06.3Mv04 is a Level 3 monthly mass-change grid derived from GRACE and GRACE-FO gravity observations and distributed by NASA JPL through PO.DAAC.^[1] The product reports global water storage or height anomalies relative to a time mean in centimetres of equivalent water thickness, with a record starting in April 2002 and active version status for RL06.3Mv04.^[1] JPL solves the monthly gravity variation as geolocated spherical-cap mass concentrations instead of global spherical harmonic coefficients, and PO.DAAC serves the collection as a single netCDF file with download, subset, OPeNDAP, and cloud access paths.^[1]

The product supports large-basin terrestrial water storage, groundwater depletion screening, ice-sheet and glacier mass change, ocean bottom pressure, and sea-level budget analysis where the mass component must be separated from steric height change.^[1][2] Its practical scale is monthly and regional: the complete mascon solution contains 4,551 independent estimates built on an equal-area 3-degree mascon grid, so local aquifer or individual glacier interpretation needs external constraints.^[1] The non-CRI collection does not correct coastline leakage, which matters near ice margins, islands, and narrow shelves; users needing land-ocean separation near coasts normally choose the companion CRI-filtered collection or apply their own separation method.^[1]