Long-Term Stability Of Geoidal Geopotential FromTopex/Poseidon Satellite Altimetry 1993–1999

The TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) satellite altimeter data from January 1, 1993to October 24, 1999 (cycles 11–261) was used for investigating thelong-term variations in the geoidal geopotential W₀ and/orin the geopotential scale factor R₀ = GM/W₀ (GM is theadopted geocentric gravitational constant). The mean valuesdetermined for the whole period covered are: W₀ =(62 636 856.161 ± 0.002) m² s^-2, R₀ =(6 363 672.5448 ± 0.0002) m. The actual accuracy is limited bythe altimeter calibration error (2–3 cm) and it isestimated to be about ± 0.5 m² s^-2 (± 5 cm).The yearly variations of the above mean values are at the formalerror level. No long-term trend in W₀, representing the oceanvolume change, was found for the seven years period 1993–9 on thebasis of T/P altimeter (AVISO) data. No sea surface topography modelwas used in the solution. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Geoidal curvature radii from satellite data for different degrees of smoothing

Summary Radii of curvature and their anomalies of a smoothed geoidal surface are computed using Stokes's constants J _n ^(k) , S _n ^(k) of the Earth's body, obtained from satellite orbit dynamics[2]. Different degrees n of smoothing are used (n = 8, 12, 21). The notations are the same as in[4, 5].     

Equations of motion of the moon retaining higher harmonics in the force function

u u u u uu smu um ¶rt;um ¶rt; a, s¶rt;a ¶rt;a ¶rt;u suu (n — mn, k — n¶rt;): saumauo n u: n=2, k=0; n=2, k=2; n=3, k=0, 1, 2, 3; n=4, k=0; n=4, k=3; saumau n : n=2, k=0; n=2, k=2; saumau n a: n=2, k=0.

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Dedicated to Prof. RNDr. Emil Buchar, DrSc., Corresponding Member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, on the Occasion of His 75^th Birthday     

Expansion of a function given over an equipotential surface into spherical harmonics

¶rt;m ¶rt; uuauu uum auu uu, a¶rt;a a nmunmuaa, ¶rt; n uu u. aa, m u u ¶rt;um nmu, uu n¶rt; m nm, u aaaa u aa m nmua.     

The rotation of the earth between 1955.5 and 1976.5

Summary The difference between the rotational time UT1 and atomic time scale AT was analysed in order to find the secular and periodic variations in the rotational velocity of the Earth. It was found that the length of the mean solar day was increasing by 12.8 ms per century in the interval discussed. As a whole, eleven periodic terms were found, the most significant having the periods of 0.5, 1.0, 6.7 and 11.9 y. The correlation between the long period changes in the Earth's rotation and relative sunspot numbers is shown.     

Variations in the Earth's rotation and crustal deformations

a mmuu ¶rt; ¶rt;au nm u , a auauu ma mu au u. aamuam m¶rt; a, ma u mua mu ¶rt;au u ¶rt;aa u uma a; m a mu ¶rt;auu m ¶rt;muam 10% m ¶rt;au, a u nuuau m .     

Expansion of geoid heights into a spherical harmonic series

Summary An algorithm is derived to compute the coefficients of a spherical harmonic series for the geoid radius vector that are a solution to a system of linear equations, containing Stokes' constants of the geopotential.