In geodesy and astrometry, earth orientation parameters (EOP) describe irregularities in the rotation of planet Earth. EOP provide the rotational transform from the

International Terrestrial Reference System The International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) describes procedures for creating reference frames suitable for use with measurements on or near the Earth's surface. This is done in much the same way that a physical standard might be descri ...

(ITRS) to the

International Celestial Reference System The International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) is the current standard celestial reference system adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Its origin is at the barycenter of the Solar System, with axes that are intended to "sh ...

(ICRS), or vice versa, as a function of time. Earth's rotational velocity is not constant over time. Any motion of mass in or on Earth causes a slowdown or speedup of the rotation speed, or a change of rotation axis. Small motions produce changes too small to be measured, but movements of very large mass, like

sea current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, ...

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s, or those resulting from

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s, can produce discernible changes in the rotation and can change very precise astronomical observations. Global simulations of atmosphere, ocean, and land dynamics are used to create effective angular momentum (EAM) functions that can be used to predict changes in EOP.

Components

Universal time

Universal time Universal Time (UT or UT1) is a time standard based on Earth's rotation. While originally it was mean solar time at 0° longitude, precise measurements of the Sun are difficult. Therefore, UT1 is computed from a measure of the Earth's angle wit ...

(

UT1 Universal Time (UT or UT1) is a time standard based on Earth's rotation. While originally it was mean solar time at 0° longitude, precise measurements of the Sun are difficult. Therefore, UT1 is computed from a measure of the Earth's angle with ...

) tracks the Earth's rotation in time, which performs one revolution in about 24 hours. The Earth's rotation is uneven, so UT is not linear with respect to

atomic time International Atomic Time (abbreviated TAI, from its French name ) is a high-precision atomic coordinate time standard based on the notional passage of proper time on Earth's geoid. TAI is a weighted average of the time kept by over 450 atomic ...

. It is practically proportional to the sidereal time, which is also a direct measure of Earth rotation. The excess revolution time is called length of day (LOD). The absolute value of

can be determined using space geodetic observations, such as

Very Long Baseline Interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telescopes on Earth or in space. T ...

and Lunar laser ranging, whereas LOD can be derived from satellite observations, such as

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

GLONASS GLONASS (russian: ГЛОНАСС, label=none, ; rus, links=no, Глобальная навигационная спутниковая система, r=Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, t=Global Navigation Satellite System) is ...

, Galileo and

Satellite laser ranging In satellite laser ranging (SLR) a global network of observation stations measures the round trip time of flight of ultrashort pulses of light to satellites equipped with retroreflectors. This provides instantaneous range measurements of milli ...

to geodetic satellites. LOD is changing due to gravitational effects from external bodies and geophysical processes occurring in different Earth layers. Then, the LOD prediction is extremely difficult due to extreme events such as El Niño which demonstrated themselves in the LOD signals.

Coordinates of the pole

Due to the very slow pole motion of the Earth, the Celestial Ephemeris Pole (CEP, or

celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently directly overhead to observers a ...

) does not stay still on the surface of the Earth. The Celestial Ephemeris Pole is calculated from observation data, and is averaged, so it differs from the instantaneous rotation axis by quasi-diurnal terms, which are as small as under 0.01" (see ). In setting up a coordinate system, a static terrestrial point called the IERS Reference Pole, or IRP, is used as the origin; the x-axis is in the direction of IRM, the

IERS Reference Meridian The IERS Reference Meridian (IRM), also called the International Reference Meridian, is the prime meridian (0° longitude) maintained by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). It passes about 5.3 arcseconds east ...

; the y-axis is in the direction 90 degrees

West longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another Celestial navigation, celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually exp ...

. x and y are the coordinates of the CEP relative to the IRP. Pole coordinates can be determined using various space geodesy and satellite geodesy techniques, e.g.,

, however, the most accurate techniques are

, and Galileo.

Celestial pole offsets

Celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently directly overhead to observers a ...

offsets are described in the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

Precession Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In oth ...

and

Nutation Nutation () is a rocking, swaying, or nodding motion in the axis of rotation of a largely axially symmetric object, such as a gyroscope, planet, or bullet in flight, or as an intended behaviour of a mechanism. In an appropriate reference frame ...

models. The observed differences with respect to the conventional celestial pole position defined by the models are monitored and reported by the IERS. Celestial pole offsets can only be obtained by the VLBI. The observed CPO can quantify the deficiencies of the IAU2006/2000A precession–nutation model, including the astronomically forced nutations and a component of nutation that is considered unpredictable. Some studies indicate that substantial FCN amplitude and phase disturbances occurred at the epochs close to the revealed GMJ events. {{cite journal , last1=Malkin, first1=Zinovy, last2=Belda, first2=Santiago, last3=Modiri, first3=Sadegh , title=Detection of a New Large Free Core Nutation Phase Jump , journal=Sensors , date=August 2022 , volume=22, issue=16 , pages=5960 , doi=10.3390/s22165960, doi-access=free

References

External links

* http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc/ * http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/earth-orientation * https://web.archive.org/web/20130802032453/http://maia.usno.navy.mil/ * http://www.iers.org/ Dynamics of the Solar System Rotation Astrometry Geodesy