Speaker: Prof. Wei Feng (Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,China)
December 10th,2025
4pm,Beijing time
Watch it on Zoom

We have the pleasure to host the next Infinite Horizons'seminar on December 10th,2025. Our host will be Prof. Wei Feng from the School of Geospatial Engineering and Science,Sun Yat-sen University will talk about Tracking Water from Space: the Role of Satellite Gravimetry.

Seminar's Abstract:
Since 2002,the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and its successor,GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites, have revolutionized our understanding of the Earth’s temporal gravity fields and the associated mass transport and redistribution within the Earth system. Building on this legacy, the Chinese Gravimetry Augment and Mass Change Exploring Mission (ChiGAM) satellites were launched successfully in 2021. In the near future, the Chinese Tianqin-II mission with an inclined orbit will work synergistically with European gravity missions in a Bender-type configuration to retrieve mass variations with enhanced spatial–temporal resolution and improved accuracy. Supported by ISSI/ISSI-BJ,an international team dedicated to gravity field modelling in the context of the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions has been established. A newly updated COST-G GRACE solution,integrating products from both Chinese and European groups,now provides a well-defined and consolidated time variable gravity product for hydrologists,glaciologists,oceanographers,geodesists and geophysicists.
Satellite gravimetry enables the observation of Earth's water mass transport and redistribution across both land and ocean. Over land,GRACE offers precise estimates of terrestrial water storage (TWS) variations and its different components,including surface water,soil moisture,groundwater,and ice or glacier mass. It also provides independent observations of ocean mass change,shedding light on mass exchange processes between land and ocean. In this presentation,we will give an overview of hydrological applications of satellite gravimetry,illustrated through global case studies as well as examples from specific regions.

Zoom ID: 858 8849 5474
(Our Infinite Horizons seminars are usually host on the third Wednesday of the month)

About the Speaker:

Wei Feng received his Ph.D. degree in Geophysics from the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGG, CAS), and the University of Toulouse III. From 2013 to 2021, he worked as a Research Fellow at IGG and later at the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, CAS. Since 2021, he has been a Professor in the School of Geospatial Engineering and Science at Sun Yat-Sen University, China. He is a Fellow of International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and currently chairs the IAG Sub-commision "Gravity Inversion and Earth's Mass Transport". His research interests include satellite gravity, satellite altimetry, hydrogeodesy, and global climate change.