Validation of fast pre-mission error analysis of the GOCE gradiometry mission by a full gravity field recovery simulation

Spherical harmonic error analysis fully relies on the validity of the a priori observational and stochastic models. In this paper we validate error analysis results of the gradiometer mission GOCE by a full-fledged spherical harmonic coefficient recovery. Both methods (least squares error analysis and full recovery) are based on a semi-analytical approach. The results compare very well in spectral and spatial domains. Thus, it is demonstrated that, besides being fast, the least squares error analysis is a reliable premission error assessment tool.