Ocean tidal perturbations on the orbit of the satellite “STARLETTE”

A continuous 300-day, world-wide laser-ranging data of the satellite STARLETTE between October 1976 and July 1977 was used to analyse the perturbation of the orbit by ocean tide. The long-period (longer than 20d) perturbations in the orbital inclination by the four main tide components K₁, P₁, K₂, S₂ were clearly identifiable in the maximum entropy power spectrum and periodogram. By comparing orbits including and excluding the tidal terms, the effect of the tide on the position of the satellite over 5 days was found to be of the order of one meter.