Evaluation of optical accelerometry for next generation gravimetry missions

Twenty years of gravity observations from the satellite missions GRACE, GOCE, GRACE-FO have provided unique data about mass redistribution processes in the Earth system, such as melting of Greenland's ice shields, sea level changes, underground water depletion, droughts, floods, etc. Ongoing climate change underlines the urgent need to continue this kind of observations utilizing Next Generation Gravimetry Missions (NGGM) with enhanced instruments. Here, we focus on accelerometers (ACC). Drifts of the electrostatic accelerometers (EA) are one of the limiting factors in the current space gravimetry missions dominating the error contribution at low frequencies (