Comparison of Pole Positions from MEDOC and DMA Observations of Navy Navigation Satellites.
Abstract
The position of the earth's spin axis with respect to the crust (polar motion) has been determined from Doppler observations of Navy Navigation Satellites by the Naval Surface Weapons Center and by the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) since 1969. An international program to perform such computations was organized by the Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) in 1977 using somewhat different observing sites and computational procedures. Studies show that the observing locations used by the CNES are not adequate to determine pole position to an accuracy comparable to the DMA determinations. The use of the DMA station network results in a significantly improved determination of polar motion over the network used in CNES computations. An even greater improvement over CNES results is seen with the use of the DMA gravity field. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA122075
Entities
People
- M. Wendel Gouldman
- Richard J. Anderle
Organizations
- Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division