| 1. |
- Amin, Hadi, et al.
(author)
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A global vertical datum defined by the conventional geoid potential and the Earth ellipsoid parameters
- 2019
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 93:10, s. 1943-1961
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The geoid, according to the classical Gauss–Listing definition, is, among infinite equipotential surfaces of the Earth’s gravity field, the equipotential surface that in a least squares sense best fits the undisturbed mean sea level. This equipotential surface, except for its zero-degree harmonic, can be characterized using the Earth’s global gravity models (GGM). Although, nowadays, satellite altimetry technique provides the absolute geoid height over oceans that can be used to calibrate the unknown zero-degree harmonic of the gravimetric geoid models, this technique cannot be utilized to estimate the geometric parameters of the mean Earth ellipsoid (MEE). The main objective of this study is to perform a joint estimation of W0, which defines the zero datum of vertical coordinates, and the MEE parameters relying on a new approach and on the newest gravity field, mean sea surface and mean dynamic topography models. As our approach utilizes both satellite altimetry observations and a GGM model, we consider different aspects of the input data to evaluate the sensitivity of our estimations to the input data. Unlike previous studies, our results show that it is not sufficient to use only the satellite-component of a quasi-stationary GGM to estimate W0. In addition, our results confirm a high sensitivity of the applied approach to the altimetry-based geoid heights, i.e., mean sea surface and mean dynamic topography models. Moreover, as W0 should be considered a quasi-stationary parameter, we quantify the effect of time-dependent Earth’s gravity field changes as well as the time-dependent sea level changes on the estimation of W0. Our computations resulted in the geoid potential W0 = 62636848.102 ± 0.004 m2 s−2 and the semi-major and minor axes of the MEE, a = 6378137.678 ± 0.0003 m and b = 6356752.964 ± 0.0005 m, which are 0.678 and 0.650 m larger than those axes of GRS80 reference ellipsoid, respectively. Moreover, a new estimation for the geocentric gravitational constant was obtained as GM = (398600460.55 ± 0.03) × 106 m3 s−2.
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| 2. |
- Bergstrand, Sten, et al.
(author)
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A gravitational telescope deformation model for geodetic VLBI
- 2019
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 93:5, s. 669-680
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have measured the geometric deformations of the Onsala 20 m VLBI telescope utilizing a combination of laser scanner, laser tracker, and electronic distance meters. The data put geometric constraints on the electromagnetic raypath variations inside the telescope. The results show that the propagated distance of the electromagnetic signal inside the telescope differs from the telescope’s focal length variation, and that the deformations alias as a vertical or tropospheric component. We find that for geodetic purposes, structural deformations of the telescope are more important than optic properties, and that for geodetic modelling the variations in raypath centroid rather than focal length should be used. All variations that have been identified as significant in previous studies can be quantified. We derived coefficients to model the gravitational deformation effect on the path length and provide uncertainty intervals for this model. The path length variation due to gravitational deformation of the Onsala 20 m telescope is in the range of 7–11 mm, comparing elevation 0$$^{\circ }$$∘and 90$$^{\circ }$$∘, and can be modelled with an uncertainty of 0.3 mm.
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| 3. |
- Bergstrand, Sten, et al.
(author)
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Quantifying errors in GNSS antenna calibrations : Towards in situ phase center corrections
- 2020
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 94:10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We evaluated the performance of GNSS absolute antenna calibrations and its impact on accurate positioning with a new assessment method that combines inter-antenna differentials and laser tracker measurements. We thus separated the calibration method contributions from those attainable by various geometric constraints and produced corrections for the calibrations. We investigated antennas calibrated by two IGS-approved institutions and in the worst case found the calibration’s contribution to the vertical component being in excess of 1 cm on the ionosphere-free frequency combination L3. In relation to nearby objects, we gauge the 1 σ accuracies of our method to determine the antenna phase centers within ±0.38 mm on L1 and within ±0.62 mm on L3, the latter applicable to global frame determinations where atmospheric influence cannot be neglected. In addition to antenna calibration corrections, the results can be used with an equivalent tracker combination to determine the phase centers of as-installed individual receiver antennas at system critical sites to the same level without compromising the permanent installations. © 2020, The Author(s).
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| 4. |
- Corbin, A., et al.
(author)
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Combinatorial optimization applied to VLBI scheduling
- 2020
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 94:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Due to the advent of powerful solvers, today linear programming has seen many applications in production and routing. In this publication, we present mixed-integer linear programming as applied to scheduling geodetic very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. The approach uses combinatorial optimization and formulates the scheduling task as a mixed-integer linear program. Within this new method, the schedule is considered as an entity containing all possible observations of an observing session at the same time, leading to a global optimum. In our example, the optimum is found by maximizing the sky coverage score. The sky coverage score is computed by a hierarchical partitioning of the local sky above each telescope into a number of cells. Each cell including at least one observation adds a certain gain to the score. The method is computationally expensive and this publication may be ahead of its time for large networks and large numbers of VLBI observations. However, considering that developments of solvers for combinatorial optimization are progressing rapidly and that computers increase in performance, the usefulness of this approach may come up again in some distant future. Nevertheless, readers may be prompted to look into these optimization methods already today seeing that they are available also in the geodetic literature. The validity of the concept and the applicability of the logic are demonstrated by evaluating test schedules for five 1-h, single-baseline Intensive VLBI sessions. Compared to schedules that were produced with the scheduling software sked, the number of observations per session is increased on average by three observations and the simulated precision of UT1-UTC is improved in four out of five cases (6μs average improvement in quadrature). Moreover, a simplified and thus much faster version of the mixed-integer linear program has been developed for modern VLBI Global Observing System telescopes.
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| 5. |
- Diamantidis, Periklis, 1988, et al.
(author)
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Combining VGOS, legacy S/X and GNSS for the determination of UT1
- 2022
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 96:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We perform a combination on the observation level (COL) between VLBI and co-located GNSS in the context of VLBI intensive sessions. Our approach revolves around an estimation procedure which uses 3 h of GNSS data that uniformly encapsulate the 1-h VLBI data, in order to provide consistent troposphere information. We test this approach on both VGOS and Legacy S/X using the VGOS-B and concurrently observed INT1 sessions. The COL strategy is found to increase the precision by 15 % over both session types and leads to an increase of 65 % in the agreement between the sessions when estimating tropospheric gradients every 3 h. A more frequent estimation of the gradients every 1 h, which can be rigorously pursued with the utilization of multi-GNSS, results in a further convergence of the two session types by 30 %. The COL-aided length-of-day (LOD) products also show a 55 % better agreement to external GNSS-derived LOD. In the light of the increasing precision of broadcast GNSS orbits and clocks, this COL strategy can be used to derive rapid UT1-UTC products.
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| 6. |
- Ellmann, Artu
(author)
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Two deterministic and three stochastic modifications of Stokes’s formula : A case study for the Baltic countries
- 2005
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 79:1-3, s. 11-23
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In regional gravimetric geoid determination, it is customary to use the modified Stokes formula that combines local terrestrial data with a global geopotential model. This study compares two deterministic and three stochastic modification methods for computing a regional geoid over the Baltic countries. The final selection of the best modification method is made by means of two accuracy estimates: the expected global mean square error of the geoid estimator, and the statistics of the post-fit residuals between the computed geoid models and precise GPS-levelling data. Numerical results show that the modification methods tested do not provide substantially different results, although the stochastic approaches appear formally better in the selected study area. The 2.8-5.3 cm (RMS) post-fit residuals to the GPS-levelling points indicate the suitability of the new geoid model for many practical applications. Moreover, the numerical comparisons reveal a one-dimensional offset between the regional vertical datum and the geoid models based upon the new GRACE-only geopotential model GGM01s. This gives an impression of a greater reliability of the new model compared to the earlier, EGM96-based and somewhat tilted regional geoid models for the same study area.
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| 7. |
- Eriksson, David, 1982, et al.
(author)
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Continental hydrology loading observed by VLBI measurements
- 2014
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 88:7, s. 675-690
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Variations in continental water storage lead to loading deformation of the crust with typical peak-to-peak variations at very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) sites of 3-15 mm in the vertical component and 1-2 mm in the horizontal component. The hydrology signal at VLBI sites has annual and semi-annual components and clear interannual variations. We have calculated the hydrology loading series using mass loading distributions derived from the global land data assimilation system (GLDAS) hydrology model and alternatively from a global grid of equal-area gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) mascons. In the analysis of the two weekly VLBI 24-h R1 and R4 network sessions from 2003 to 2010 the baseline length repeatabilities are reduced in 79 % (80 %) of baselines when GLDAS (GRACE) loading corrections are applied. Site vertical coordinate repeatabilities are reduced in about 80 % of the sites when either GLDAS or GRACE loading is used. In the horizontal components, reduction occurs in 70-80 % of the sites. Estimates of the annual site vertical amplitudes were reduced for 16 out of 18 sites if either loading series was applied. We estimated loading admittance factors for each site and found that the average admittances were 1.01 0.05 for GRACE and 1.39 0.07 for GLDAS. The standard deviations of the GRACE admittances and GLDAS admittances were 0.31 and 0.68, respectively. For sites that have been observed in a set of sufficiently temporally dense daily sessions, the average correlation between VLBI vertical monthly averaged series and GLDAS or GRACE loading series was 0.47 and 0.43, respectively.
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| 8. |
- Forkman, Peter, 1959, et al.
(author)
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Water vapour radiometry in geodetic very long baseline interferometry telescopes: assessed through simulations
- 2021
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 95:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The accuracy of geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is affected by water vapour in the atmosphere in terms of variations in the signal propagation delay at the different stations. This “wet” delay may be estimated directly from the VLBI data, as well as from independent instruments, such as collocated microwave radiometers. Rather than having stand-alone microwave radiometers we have, through simulations, evaluated the possibility to use radiometric data from the VLBI receiver in the VGOS telescopes at the Onsala Space Observatory. The advantage is that the emission from water vapour, as sensed by the radiometer, originates from the same atmospheric volume that delays the VLBI signal from the extra-galactic object. We use simulations of the sky brightness temperature and the wet delay together with an assumption of a root-mean-square (rms) noise of the receiver of 1 K, and observations evenly spread between elevation angles of 10∘–90∘. This results in an rms error of the estimated equivalent zenith wet delay of the order of 3 mm for a one frequency algorithm, used under cloud free conditions, and 4 mm for a two frequency algorithm, used during conditions with liquid water clouds. The results exclude rainy conditions when the method does not work. These errors are reduced by a factor of 3 if the receiver error is 0.1 K meaning that the receivers’ measurements of the sky brightness temperature is the main error source. We study the impact of ground-noise pickup by using a model of an existing wideband feed. Taking the algorithm uncertainty and the ground noise pickup into account we conclude that the method presented will be useful as an independent estimate of the wet delay to assess the quality of the wet delays and linear horizontal gradients estimated from the VLBI data themselves.
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| 9. |
- Geremia-Nievinski, F., et al.
(author)
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SNR-based GNSS reflectometry for coastal sea-level altimetry: results from the first IAG inter-comparison campaign
- 2020
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 94:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is quickly maturing toward the objective of becoming a viable alternative for operational coastal sea-level (SL) altimetry in a geocentric reference frame. SL has immense societal implications related to climate change. Of particular interest is the exploitation of existing coastal GNSS sites for reflectometry by means of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) observables. We report results from the first inter-comparison campaign on SNR-based GNSS-R. The goal was to cross-validate retrieval solutions from independent research groups under comparable conditions. This action was an initiative of the International Association of Geodesy working group 4.3.9 (2015–2019 term). Data collected at the Onsala Space Observatory for a 1-year period (2015–2016) were compared to a co-located tide gauge (TG). SNR data for the GPS L1-C/A signal were processed by four groups, in Sweden, Luxembourg/Brazil, Germany, and the UK. Semidiurnal tidal constituents showed good agreement between TG and all GNSS-R groups. SL variations at diurnal and longer periods were also well captured by all series. Most GNSS-R solutions exhibited spurious tones at integer fractions of one sidereal day, the satellite revisit time of the particular GNSS constellation employed (GPS). Band-pass filtering between 3 h and 30 h confirmed that the dominant tidal components were well captured by most GNSS-R solutions. Higher-frequency SL variations (periods < 3 h) are poorly represented by GNSS-R as a consequence of its low temporal resolution. The solution with the worst agreement neglects a correction associated with the rate of change in sea level and uses narrower satellite elevation ranges per retrieval. Overall, there was excellent agreement, with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9 and RMSE smaller than 5 cm.
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| 10. |
- Haas, Rüdiger, 1966, et al.
(author)
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Ultra-rapid earth rotation determination with VLBI during CONT11 and CONT14
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geodesy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-7714 .- 1432-1394. ; 91:7, s. 831-837
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present earth rotation results from the ultra-rapid operations during the continuous VLBI campaigns CONT11 and CONT14. The baseline Onsala--Tsukuba, i.e., using two out of the 13 and 17 stations contributing to CONT11 and CONT14, respectively, was used to derive UT1-UTC in ultra-rapid mode during the ongoing campaigns. The latency between a new observation and a new UT1-UTC result was less than 10 min for more than 95{\%} of the observations. The accuracy of the derived ultra-rapid UT1-UTC results is approximately a factor of three worse than results from optimized one-baseline sessions and/or complete analysis of large VLBI networks. This is, however, due to that the one-baseline picked from the CONT campaigns is not optimized for earth rotation determination. Our results prove that the 24/7 operation mode planned for VGOS, the next-generation VLBI system, is possible already today. However, further improvements in data connectivity of stations and correlators as well in the automated analysis are necessary to realize the ambitious VGOS plans.
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