Determination of seasonal geocenter variations from DORIS, GPS.pptVIP

Determination of seasonal geocenter variations from DORIS, GPS and SLR data The ITRF origin has attracted increasing attention for several reasons: 1) as more scientists study the dynamic deformation on seasonal and shorter timescales, the stability of the ITRF on those timescales becomes critical; 2) many studies require comparison between space geodetic solutions and solutions from other geophysical data or models ( atmosphere, oceans, etc.). Consistency between the ITRF origin and the origins of other reference frames must be taken into account; 3) True geocenter variations can be detected by space geodesy and can be quantitatively compared with geophisical model predictions. 4) The dual character of the ITRF origin can easily cause confusion (desired nature of the ITRF2000 origin is CM. The realized nature of the ITRF2000 becomes CM in the long term, but CF on seasonal and short timescales). There are three commonly adopted origins of the terrestrial reference frames: a) the center of mass the whole Earth, including atmosphere, oceans and surface groundwater (CM) - it is commonly used in space geodesy because satellite dynamics are sensitive only to CM; b) the center of mass the solid Earth without mass load (CE) - it is used in certain theoretical geophysics studies (e.g., of the load Love numbers); c) the center of figure of the outer surface of the solid Earth (CF). CF frame is often used in ground survey related disciplines, where the geometry between ground sites is the only measurable quantity. Geocenter motion - this is vector offset of CF relative to CM. Observational approach of the Geocenter Motion There are two approaches to monitor the motion of the geocenter with space geodesy. The geometric approach was historically the first one to be used. The geometric approach consists of a direct comparison of short-term estimates of the network positions (e.