Abstract
Many applications in geodesy, geodynamics, astronomy and space navigation depend on the availability of accurate Earth orientation parameters (EOP). EOP are the orientational part of the transformation between terrestrial and celestial reference frames. The conventional EOP refer to conventional frames. The current conventional terrestrial reference frame, ITRF2008, and the attached EOP, IERS 08 C04, have been determined combining the Earth rotation parameters derived from the four observing techniques but keeping the celestial pole offsets obtained by VLBI unchanged. This set of EOP refers to ITRF2008, but it does not directly refer to the current conventional celestial reference frame, ICRF2. Therefore, the conventional reference frames and the IERS 08 C04 are not entirely consistent. In the paper we assess this inconsistency by VLBI data analysis. For test purposes, we have to fix coordinates on the frames. This approach causes small systematics of the EOP. These systematics are interpreted as the uncertainty of our assessment method that is about 30 μas and about 3 μas∕year. The VLBI-only terrestrial reference frame, VTRF2008, is consistent with ICRF2 at the 10 μas level. We thus interpret the differences between EOP based on this frame and EOP based on ITRF2008 as the inconsistency of IERS 08 C04 w.r.t. ICRF2. The largest difference was found for y p being −38.8 μas and −18.6 μas∕year. Applying our method, we also found differences in d U T1 of 11.3 μs when comparing EOP based on ITRF2008 and DTRF2008, an alternative TRF determined at DGFI, Munich. This is astonishing, because both frames are derived from identical input data. The orientation of a terrestrial reference frame depends to a significant part on the choice of stations for the no net rotation constraint. Our conclusion is that a single solution that involves the determination of both fundamental frames, ITRF and ICRF, is the only way to obtain conventional EOP that provide accuracy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Altamimi Z, Collilieux X, Legrand J, Garayt B, Boucher C (2007) ITRF2005: a new release of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame based on time series of station positions and Earth Orientation Parameters. J Geophys Res 112:B09401
Altamimi Z, Collilieux X, Métivier L (2011) ITRF2008: an improved solution of the international terrestrial reference frame. J Geod 85:457–473
Aoki S, Guinot B, Kaplan GH, Kinoshita H, McCarthy DD, Seidelmann PK (1982) The new definition of universal time. Astron Astrophys 105:359–361
Bizouard C, Gambis D (2009) The combined solution C04 for Earth Orientation Parameters, recent improvements. In: Drewes H (ed) Proceedings of the IAG symposium “Geodetic reference frames - REFAG2006”, Munich, Germany, 9–14 October 2006. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 134, pp 265–270
Bloßfeld M, Seitz M, Angermann D (2014) Non-linear station motions in epoch and multi-year reference frames. J Geod 88:45–63
Böckmann S, Artz T, Nothnagel A (2010) VLBI terrestrial reference frame contributions to ITRF2008. J Geod 84:201–219
Fey AL, Ma C, Arias EF, Charlot P, Feissel-Vernier M, Gontier A-M, Jacobs CS, Li J, MacMillan DS (2004) The second extension of the international celestial reference frame: ICRF-Ext.2. Astron J 127:3587–3608
Fey AL, Gordon D, Jacobs CS (eds) (2009) The second realization of the international celestial reference frame by very long baseline interferometry, IERS Technical Note 35, 204. Verlag des Bundesamts für Kartographie und Geodäsie, Frankfurt am Main (2009)
Gambis D (2004) Monitoring earth orientation using space-geodetic techniques: state-of-the-art and prospective. J Geod 78(4–5):295–303
Heinkelmann R, Karbon M, Nilsson T, Raposo-Pulido V, Soja B, Schuh H. Reference frame-induced errors in VLBI Earth orientation determinations. In: Proceedings of the IAG Scientific Assembly, Potsdam, Germany, 1–6 September 2013. International Association of Geodesy Symposia (accepted)
Heinkelmann R, Nilsson T, Karbon M, Liu L, Lu C, Mora-Diaz JA, Parselia E, Raposo-Pulido V, Soja B, Xu M, Schuh H (2014) The GFZ VLBI solution: characteristics and first results. In: Behrend D, Baver KD, Armstrong KL (eds) IVS 2014 General Meeting Proceedings “VGOS: The New VLBI Network”. Science Press, Beijing, pp 330–334
Malkin Z (2013) Impact of seasonal station motions on VLBI UT1 intensives results. J Geod 87:505–514
Petit G, Luzum B (eds) (2010) IERS Conventions (2010), IERS Technical Note 36, 179. Verlag des Bundesamts für Kartographie und Geodäsie, Frankfurt am Main. http://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Publications/TechnicalNotes/tn36.html
Petrov L, Boy J-P (2004) Study of the atmospheric pressure loading signal in very long baseline interferometry observations. J Geophys Res 109:B0340
Seidelmann PK, Kovalevsky J (2002) Application of the new concepts and definitions (ICRS, CIP and CEO) in fundamental astronomy. Astron Astrophys 392:341–351
Seitz M, Heinkelmann R, Steigenberger P, Artz T (2011) Common realization of terrestrial and celestial reference frame. In: Alef W, Bernhart S, Nothnagel A (eds) Proceedings of the 20th meeting of the European VLBI group for geodesy and astrometry, Universität Bonn, Insitut für Geodäsie und Geoinformation, Schriftenreihe 22, ISSN 1864-1113, pp 123–127
Seitz M, Angermann D, Bloßfeld M, Drewes H, Gerstl M (2012) The 2008 DGFI realization of the ITRS: DTRF2008. J Geod 86:1097–1123
Seitz M, Steigenberger P, Artz T (2014) Consistent adjustment of combined terrestrial and celestial reference frames. In: Rizos C, Willis P (eds) Proceedings of the IAG General Assembly, Melbourne, Australia, 28 June - 2 July 2011. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 139 “Earth on the Edge: Science for a Sustainable Planet”, pp 215–221
Acknowledgements
José M. Ferrándiz and Santiago Belda acknowledge partial support of the Spanish MINECO under grants AYA2010-22039-C02-01 and CGL2010-12153-E.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Heinkelmann, R., Belda, S., Ferrándiz, J.M., Schuh, H. (2015). How Consistent are The Current Conventional Celestial and Terrestrial Reference Frames and The Conventional Earth Orientation Parameters?. In: van Dam, T. (eds) REFAG 2014. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 146. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_149
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_149
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-45628-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-45629-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)