On the Hipparcos Link to the ICRF derived from VLA and MERLIN radio astrometry

Positions and proper motions obtained from observations by the very large array (VLA) and the multi-element radio-linked interferometer network (MERLIN) are used to establish the link of the Hipparcos Celestial Reference Frame (HCRF) to the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF). The VLA and MERLIN data are apparently the latest ones published in the literature. Their mean epoch at around 2001 is about 10 years after the epoch of the Hipparcos catalogue and, therefore, the data are considered suitable to check the Hipparcos link established at epoch 1991.25. The parameters of the link, i.e., the angles of frame orientation and the angular rates of frame rotation, are estimated by fitting these parameters to the differences of the optical and radio positions and proper motions of stars common to the Hipparcos catalogue and the VLA and MERLIN data. Both the estimates of the angles of orientation and the angular rates of rotation show nearly consistent but insignificant results for all samples of stars treated. We conclude that not only the size of the samples of 9–15 stars is too small, but also that the accuracy of the radio positions and, above all, of the radio proper motions is insufficient, the latter being based on early-epoch star positions of low accuracy. The present observational data at epoch 2001 suggest that maintenance of the Hipparcos frame is not feasible at this stage.     

On the precision and accuracy of IGS orbits

In order to explore the precision and accuracy of International GNSS Service (IGS) orbits, we difference geocentric satellite positions midway between successive daily Final orbits for the period starting 5 November 2006, when the IGS switched its method of antenna calibration, through 31 December 2007. This yields a time series of orbit repeatabilities analogous to the classical geodetic test for position determinations. If we compare our average positional discontinuities to the official IGS accuracy codes, root-sum-squared (RSS) for each pair of days, we find the discontinuities are not well correlated with the predicted performance values. If instead the IGS weighted root-mean-square (WRMS) values from the Final combination long-arc analyses are taken as the measure of IGS accuracy, we find the position differences and long-arc values are correlated, but the long-arc values are exaggerated, particularly around eclipses, despite the fact that our day-boundary position differences apply to a single epoch each day and the long-arc analyses consider variations over a week. Our method is not well suited to probe the extent to which systematic effects dominate over random orbit errors, as indicated by satellite laser ranging residuals, but eclipsing satellites often display the most problematic behavior. A better metric than the current IGS orbit accuracy codes would probably be one based on the orbit discontinuities between successive days.     

The impact of the dynamic sea surface topography on the quasi-geoid in shallow coastal waters

In this study, we examine the impact of instantaneous dynamic sea surface topography (DT) corrections to be applied to altimeter-derived sea surface slopes on the quasi-geoid in the shallow and coastal waters of the North Sea. In particular, we investigate the added value of DT corrections obtained from a shallow-water hydrodynamic model. These corrections comprise the contributions of ocean tides, wind- and pressure-driven (surge), and density-driven (baroclinic) water-level variations including the interactions between them. As a reference, we used tidal corrections derived from the global ocean tide model GOT4.7, surge corrections derived from the MOG2D model, and corrections for the time-averaged baroclinic contribution computed as differences between the DTU10 mean sea surface model and the EGG08 quasi-geoid. From a spectral analysis, we found that the baroclinic and surge parts of the DT mainly contribute to improvements in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at longer wavelengths down to $100{-}200~\hbox {km}$ and that the improvements increase towards the southern North Sea. We also found that the shallow-water hydrodynamic model provides better tidal corrections compared to the GOT4.7 global ocean tide model, which are most pronounced in the southern North Sea and affect almost the entire spectrum. Very small differences (mostly below ${\pm } 2~\hbox {cm}$ ) are observed between the quasi-geoid solutions obtained using the different sets of DT corrections. We showed that the variance component estimation provides too optimistic variance factors for the shipboard data set relative to the altimeter-derived quasi-geoid slopes. Hence, the limited impact of DT corrections is due to the fact that altimeter-derived quasi-geoid slopes hardly contribute to the estimated quasi-geoid if shipboard gravity data are included. When computing quasi-geoid solutions without shipboard gravity data, we found that less accurate or incomplete DT corrections may cause errors in the quasi-geoid with systematic spatial patterns. These systematic patterns disappear or are reduced significantly when using the DT corrections provided by the shallow-water hydrodynamic model. The main contributor to this improvement is the better tidal correction provided by the shallow-water hydrodynamic model compared to the GOT4.7 global ocean tide model. Seen the improvements of the global ocean tide models over the last two decades, we expect that in the near future global ocean tide models perform as well as dedicated regional models such as DCSM. Critical issue is, however, access to high-quality local bathymetric data.     

1949．0至1979．0 ILS地极坐标的均匀化

自１９８４年起在天文计算中都采用ＦＫ５基本星表和新天文常数,这些变动直接影响了用天顶仪等光学仪器观测订定的地极坐标。本文论述了基本星表和天文常数变动后,对国际纬度服务（ＩＬＳ）订定的地极坐标的影响。结果表明：１）星表系统差对地极坐标的影响在ｘ和ｙ方向最大,分别约－０．００６”和－０．００４”;２）章动序列变动的影响在ｘ、ｙ方向最大波动分别为０．０１２”和０．０１０”。     

SBAS orbit and satellite clock corrections for precise point positioning

The quality of real-time GPS positions based on the method of precise point positioning (PPP) heavily depends on the availability and accuracy of GPS satellite orbits and satellite clock corrections. Satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) provide such corrections but they are actually intended to be used for wide area differential GPS with positioning results on the 1-m accuracy level. Nevertheless, carrier phase-based PPP is able to achieve much more accurate results with the same correction values. We applied SBAS corrections for dual-frequency PPP and compared the results with PPP obtained using other real-time correction data streams, for example, the GPS broadcast message and precise corrections from the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales and the German Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt. Among the three existing SBAS, the best results were achieved for the North American wide area augmentation system (WAAS): horizontal and vertical position accuracies were considerably smaller than 10 cm for static 24-h observation data sets and smaller than 30 cm for epoch-by-epoch solutions with 2 h of continuous observations. The European geostationary navigation overlay service and the Japanese multi-functional satellite augmentation system yield positioning results with biases of several tens of centimeters and variations larger by factors of 2–4 as compared to WAAS.     

Atmospheric loading corrections at the observation level in VLBI analysis

This paper investigates whether in very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) analysis atmospheric loading corrections should be applied a priori at the observation level or whether it is sufficient to correct for atmospheric loading effects a posteriori by adding constant values per session to the estimated station coordinates. Simulated observations at single stations corresponding to the precise point positioning approach of global navigation satellite systems show that the atmospheric loading effect can be fully recovered by a posteriori corrections, i.e., the height differences between both approaches stay well below 1 mm. However, real global VLBI network solutions with sessions from 1984 to 2008 reveal that the effect of neglected atmospheric loading corrections at the stations is distributed to the other stations in the network, thus resulting in station height differences between solutions with observation level and with a posteriori corrections which can be as large as 10 mm and a ‘damping’ effect of the corrections. As soon as the terrestrial reference frame and the corresponding coordinate time series are determined, it would be conceptually wrong to apply atmospheric loading corrections at the VLBI stations. We recommend the rigorous application of atmospheric loading corrections at the observation level to all stations of a VLBI network because the seven parameters for translation, rotation, and in particular the network-scale of VLBI networks are significantly affected.     

TEQC单点定位的系统性偏差分析

TEQC是由UNAVCO Facility研制的GPS数据预处理软件,可进行单历元C/A码伪距单点定位的计算,获得各历元GPS接收机的WGS84坐标。利用TEQC对大量GPS观测数据的计算表明:TEQC软件的单点定位结果在东坐标和高程方向上带有明显的系统性偏差。作者研制的单点定位软件GPP,由于考虑了地球自转、对流层折射和电离层折射等误差对GPS定位的影响,因此单点定位的结果较为准确,而且对上述系统性偏差产生的原因进行了分析和探讨。     

Impact of loading displacements on SLR-derived parameters and on the consistency between GNSS and SLR results

Displacements of the Earth’s surface caused by tidal and non-tidal loading forces are relevant in high-precision space geodesy. Some of the corrections are recommended by the international scientific community to be applied at the observation level, e.g., ocean tidal loading (OTL) and atmospheric tidal loading (ATL). Non-tidal displacement corrections are in general recommended not to be applied in the products of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, in particular atmospheric non-tidal loading (ANTL), oceanic and hydrological non-tidal corrections. We assess and compare the impact of OTL, ATL and ANTL on SLR-derived parameters by reprocessing 12 years of SLR data considering and ignoring individual corrections. We show that loading displacements have an influence not only on station long-term stability, but also on geocenter coordinates, Earth Rotation Parameters, and satellite orbits. Applying the loading corrections reduces the amplitudes of annual signals in the time series of geocenter and station coordinates. The general improvement of the SLR station 3D coordinate repeatability when applying OTL, ATL and ANTL corrections are 19.5 %, 0.2 % and 3.3 % respectively, w.r.t. the solutions without loading corrections. ANTL corrections play a crucial role in the combination of optical (SLR) and microwave (GNSS, VLBI, DORIS) space geodetic observation techniques, because of the so-called Blue-Sky effect: SLR measurements can be carried out only under cloudless sky conditions—typically during high air pressure conditions, when the Earth’s crust is deformed, whereas microwave observations are weather-independent. Thus, applying the loading corrections at the observation level improves SLR-derived products as well as the consistency with microwave-based results. We assess the Blue-Sky effect on SLR stations and the consistency improvement between GNSS and SLR solutions when ANTL corrections are included. The omission of ANTL corrections may lead to inconsistencies between SLR and GNSS solutions of up to 2.5 mm for inland stations. As a result, the estimated GNSS–SLR coordinate differences correspond better to the local ties at the co-located stations when applying ANTL corrections.     

Error model for geodetic positions derived from Doppler satellite observations

Doppler observations of Navy Navigation Satellites have been used to strengthen and extend many terrestrial geodetic networks. The main sources of errors in positions determined from these observations are random error of observations, random and systematic errors in satellite positions due to uncertainties in the gravity field, and biases in the coordinate system in which the satellite ephemeris is given. Effects of uncertainties in the gravity field on station coordinates computed with respect to a precise satellite ephemeris are reduced to about 70 cm after 20 satellite passes are observed, but systematic effects prevent assurance that additional observations will improve the accuracy further. A one part per million reduction in scale must be applied to positions computed with the ephemeris to obtain agreement with terrestrial and other precise determinations of scale. The origin of the system is coincident with the center of mass of the earth to 1 m accuracy but the polar axis may be tilted three to five meters at the earth's surface with respect to coordinate systems upon which star catalogues are based.     

A novel method for automating the checking and correction of digital elevation models using orthophotographs

This article presents a complete mathematical model, which translates discrepancies between two orthophotographs created from different photographs, into precise corrections of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). These corrections are the differences from the real surface and, if applied over the existing DEM, can produce a more accurate one. The mathematical model is straightforward, and is not approximate, and therefore there is no need for iterations.
Possible applications include checking of automatically created DEMs, refinement of existing DEMs using aerial photographs and update of orthophotographs based on the previous DEM and new imagery.     

非差误差改正信息的大范围单历元网络差分方法

针对网络差分方法多采用双差模型,但双差模型在实现时不够灵活的问题,提出一种基于非差误差改正信息的大范围单历元网络差分方法。此方法能够克服双差网络差分模型的缺点,用户不需要选择一个参考站作为主参考站,更不需要主参考站的观测数据进行双差组合,从而减少了数据传输量,作业方式更加自由、灵活,且算法简单、作业范围大。大范围区域内的流动站用户利用非差误差改正数进行误差改正,然后可实现单历元网络差分定位。实验表明,该方法可完成大范围单历元网络差分定位,并能够得到分米级精度的定位结果。     

L&R海空重力仪测量误差综合补偿方法

为了削弱各类误差源的影响,提出了一种两阶段误差综合补偿方法:第一阶段采用相关分析法对仪器厂家标定的交叉耦合改正(CC改正)的不足进行修正;第二阶段采用测线网平差对各类剩余误差的综合影响进行补偿。实际观测数据处理结果验证了该方法的有效性和可靠性。     

Affine distortion of small GPS networks with large height differences

GPS is a promising tool for real-time monitoring of deformations of slopes or large structures. However, remaining systematic effects in GPS phase observations after double differencing and application of a priori models affect the resulting coordinates. They complicate the proper separation of the actual deformations from pseudo-deformations induced by the systematic effects. This paper shows that for small monitoring networks (baseline lengths <5 km) only affine distortions of the network geometry are generated by the remaining distance dependent systematic effects, e.g. unmodelled tropospheric and ionospheric propagation effects, or satellite orbit errors. Hence, a generic correction model is given by a three-dimensional affine transformation involving a maximum of 12 transformation parameters. For the determination of these parameters, four high quality GPS stations are necessary which are not affected by the actual deformations to be monitored. Based on the analysis of network geometries of synthetic GPS networks with large height differences and considering the physics of the GPS observations it is shown, however, that less than 12 parameters are sufficient for the computation of the corrections. The proposed 8 parameter model was applied to the GPS monitoring network of the Gradenbach landslide. For this small network with large height differences, it was shown that the distortions can be reduced by about 75%.     

南极国际GPS联测的海潮位移改正

根据海洋负荷潮理论,利用CRS4.0全球海潮模型,计算了参加南极国际GPS联测的中国南极长城站和中山站的海潮位移改正,并将海潮位移改正应用到GPS数据处理当中。在GAMIT软件的解算过程中,分别按加入和不加入海潮位移改正,对GPS基线分量进行了计算和比较分析。结果表明,对于南极国际GPS联测,海潮位移改正对GPS基线分量具有不可忽略的影响,数据处理时需要重点考虑。     

Towards a 1 mGal accuracy and 1 min resolution altimetry gravity field

Over the past three decades, radar altimetry has made a significant contribution to marine gravity field modeling. To improve the accuracy and resolution, we propose a new twin-satellite altimetry. Such a system has several advantages. Among others, it provides (i) twice the number of samples per time epoch, and (ii) information about the cross-track surface gradient with high accuracy because most of the environmental and tidal errors will be common to the simultaneous measurements and therefore cancel out when computing the cross-track gradient computation. We describe a rigorous procedure for the deduction of the sea surface gradient at each altimeter observation point (i.e., not only at the crossovers), from the twin-satellite altimetry system. The precision of the gradient will be slightly affected by orbit errors, instrument drift, and inaccuracies in the geophysical corrections to be applied. We also demonstrate that a 1 mGal accuracy and 1 min resolution marine altimetry gravity field can be obtained if certain conditions are met. To achieve the expected goal, we recommend an orbital configuration, phasing two satellites in 4-s time delay such that the Earth rotation creates a natural baseline between the two satellites, and a 18 kHz SAR altimeter.     

基于GNSS的CGCS2000数据处理技术综述

2000国家大地坐标系（CGCS2000）发布后的推广使用不仅涉及大量参心坐标系下的成果转换,同时也涉及基于全球导航卫星系统（Global Navigation Satellite System,GNSS）手段获得的点位坐标的归算。获取GNSS观测数据和将其归算到CGCS2000采用的策略方法不同,如参考站选择原则不同,整网平差前的分区方案不同以及采用不同的方法将位置从当前历元改正到CGCS2000等,将会使最终的CGCS2000系下的坐标差异较大,最大可达到分米级。造成这种结果的原因在于GNSS数据处理的多个环节中依赖数据处理软件操作者的理解,存在人为的选择,换言之,GNSS数据处理缺乏科学的规则为依据。鉴于此,采用一种统计方法,即监督聚类作为参考站选择规则;采用间距分区法进行区域划分;并用板块运动归算方法将当前历元位置改正到CGCS2000。其中基于间距分区方案的站坐标解算精度优于区域划分方案,三维方向的坐标精度优于2 mm。通过以上方案设计,X、Y、Z方向上的速度从0.92、0.72、0.97 mm/a分别降至0.19、0.45、0.32 mm/a,优化和改进了CGCS2000框架维持精度。     

南极国际GPS跟踪站的海潮位移改正 (英文)

This paper describes the ocean loading tides corrections of GPS stations in Antarctica, such as the Great Wall station and Zhongshan station. Based on the theory of ocean loading tides, the displacement corrections of ocean loading tides on GPS stations in Antarctica are calculated by using the CRS4.0 ocean loading tides model. These corrections are also applied to GPS data processing. The GPS data are analyzed by the GAMIT software with and without these corrections. We compared and analyzed the GPS baseline components to get the differences. The results show that the ocean tidal displacement corrections have obvious effects upon GPS baseline components. Therefore, we should not ignore the ocean loading tides corrections of GPS stations in Antarctica to obtain precise and reliable results.     

ITRF2008: an improved solution of the international terrestrial reference frame

ITRF2008 is a refined version of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame based on reprocessed solutions of the four space geodetic techniques: VLBI, SLR, GPS and DORIS, spanning 29, 26, 12.5 and 16?years of observations, respectively. The input data used in its elaboration are time series (weekly from satellite techniques and 24-h session-wise from VLBI) of station positions and daily Earth Orientation Parameters (EOPs). The ITRF2008 origin is defined in such a way that it has zero translations and translation rates with respect to the mean Earth center of mass, averaged by the SLR time series. Its scale is defined by nullifying the scale factor and its rate with respect to the mean of VLBI and SLR long-term solutions as obtained by stacking their respective time series. The scale agreement between these two technique solutions is estimated to be 1.05 ± 0.13 ppb at epoch 2005.0 and 0.049 ± 0.010?ppb/yr. The ITRF2008 orientation (at epoch 2005.0) and its rate are aligned to the ITRF2005 using 179 stations of high geodetic quality. An estimate of the origin components from ITRF2008 to ITRF2005 (both origins are defined by SLR) indicates differences at epoch 2005.0, namely: ?0.5, ?0.9 and ?4.7?mm along X, Y and Z-axis, respectively. The translation rate differences between the two frames are zero for Y and Z, while we observe an X-translation rate of 0.3?mm/yr. The estimated formal errors of these parameters are 0.2?mm and 0.2?mm/yr, respectively. The high level of origin agreement between ITRF2008 and ITRF2005 is an indication of an imprecise ITRF2000 origin that exhibits a Z-translation drift of 1.8?mm/yr with respect to ITRF2005. An evaluation of the ITRF2008 origin accuracy based on the level of its agreement with ITRF2005 is believed to be at the level of 1?cm over the time-span of the SLR observations. Considering the level of scale consistency between VLBI and SLR, the ITRF2008 scale accuracy is evaluated to be at the level of 1.2?ppb (8?mm at the equator) over the common time-span of the observations of both techniques. Although the performance of the ITRF2008 is demonstrated to be higher than ITRF2005, future ITRF improvement resides in improving the consistency between local ties in co-location sites and space geodesy estimates.     

Non-linear station motions in epoch and multi-year reference frames

In the conventions of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (e.g. IERS Conventions 2010), it is recommended that the instantaneous station position, which is fixed to the Earth’s crust, is described by a regularized station position and conventional correction models. Current realizations of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame use a station position at a reference epoch and a constant velocity to describe the motion of the regularized station position in time. An advantage of this parameterization is the possibility to provide station coordinates of high accuracy over a long time span. Various publications have shown that residual non-linear station motions can reach a magnitude of a few centimeters due to not considered loading effects. Consistently estimated parameters like the Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) may be affected if these non-linear station motions are neglected. In this paper, we investigate a new approach, which is based on a frequent (e.g. weekly) estimation of station positions and EOP from a combination of epoch normal equations of the space geodetic techniques Global Positioning System (GPS), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). The resulting time series of epoch reference frames are studied in detail and are compared with the conventional secular approach. It is shown that both approaches have specific advantages and disadvantages, which are discussed in the paper. A major advantage of the frequently estimated epoch reference frames is that the non-linear station motions are implicitly taken into account, which is a major limiting factor for the accuracy of the secular frames. Various test computations and comparisons between the epoch and secular approach are performed. The authors found that the consistently estimated EOP are systematically affected by the two different combination approaches. The differences between the epoch and secular frames reach magnitudes of $23.6~\upmu \hbox {as}$ (0.73 mm) and $39.8~\upmu \hbox {as}$ (1.23 mm) for the x-pole and y-pole, respectively, in case of the combined solutions. For the SLR-only solutions, significant differences with amplitudes of $77.3~\upmu \hbox {as}$ (2.39 mm) can be found.