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Self-consistent treatment of tidal variations in the geocenter for precise orbit determination

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Abstract

We show that the current levels of accuracy being achieved for the precise orbit determination (POD) of low-Earth orbiters demonstrate the need for the self-consistent treatment of tidal variations in the geocenter. Our study uses as an example the POD of the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite altimeter mission based upon Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data. Current GPS-based POD solutions are demonstrating root-mean-square (RMS) radial orbit accuracy and precision of \({<}1\) cm and 1 mm, respectively. Meanwhile, we show that the RMS of three-dimensional tidal geocenter variations is \({<}6\) mm, but can be as large as 15 mm, with the largest component along the Earth’s spin axis. Our results demonstrate that GPS-based POD of Earth orbiters is best performed using GPS satellite orbit positions that are defined in a reference frame whose origin is at the center of mass of the entire Earth system, including the ocean tides. Errors in the GPS-based POD solutions for OSTM/Jason-2 of \({<}4\) mm (3D RMS) and \({<}2\) mm (radial RMS) are introduced when tidal geocenter variations are not treated consistently. Nevertheless, inconsistent treatment is measurable in the OSTM/Jason-2 POD solutions and manifests through degraded post-fit tracking data residuals, orbit precision, and relative orbit accuracy. For the latter metric, sea surface height crossover variance is higher by \(6~\hbox {mm}^{2}\) when tidal geocenter variations are treated inconsistently.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We thank Richard Ray for providing us with the GOT4.8 ocean tide model, and AVISO for providing us with the FES2004 and FES2012 ocean tide models. We thank Felix Landerer for providing us with the JPLRL05M time-varying gravity model determined from the GRACE mission. Feedback from Geoffrey Blewitt and an anonymous reviewer are appreciated and served to improve this paper.

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  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 238-600, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA

    Shailen D. Desai, Willy Bertiger & Bruce J. Haines

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  1. Shailen D. Desai
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  2. Willy Bertiger
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Correspondence to Shailen D. Desai.

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Desai, S.D., Bertiger, W. & Haines, B.J. Self-consistent treatment of tidal variations in the geocenter for precise orbit determination. J Geod 88, 735–747 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-014-0718-8

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