Determination of the Motion of the Pole, and Comparison with Astrometry
Abstract
The Doppler tracking of artificial satellites can provide the coordinates of the pole relative to the Earth, as shown by Anderle: using this method, firstly, the Naval Weapons Laboratory and, subsequently, the U.S. Defense Mapping Agency produced a series of coordinates of the pole since 1967. Apart from the classical astrometric method, the Doppler method is currently the only one that is used on a regular basis. The comparison with astrometry since 1972 shows that the random uncertainties of the Doppler system are currently half those of astrometry, while its systematic errors seem much smaller. Some irregularities of the motion of the pole are found both in Doppler and astrometric observations. Some possible improvements of the Doppler determinations of the pole are considered.
- Publication:
-
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A
- Pub Date:
- January 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1098/rsta.1980.0039
- Bibcode:
- 1980RSPTA.294..329G
- Keywords:
-
- Astrometry;
- Doppler Radar;
- Polar Wandering (Geology);
- Radar Tracking;
- Satellite Tracking;
- Annual Variations;
- Geodetic Coordinates;
- Irregularities;
- Geophysics