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Some Considerations in the Use of Very-Long-Baseline-Interferometry to Establish Reference Coordinate Systems for Geodynamics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Douglas S. Robertson
Douglas S. Robertson*
Affiliation:
National Geodetic Survey, National Ocean Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20852U.S.A.

Abstract

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Present knowledge of the number, distribution, proper motion and structures of extragalactic radio sources indicates that there should be no problem in defining a celestial reference frame with stabilities of a few milliseconds of arc over time spans of the order of a decade. One of the limiting factors appears to be the structure of the sources. By measuring and monitoring these structures, the stability could probably be improved by as much as one or two orders of magnitude. Even without this improvement, a network of properly distributed fixed observatories making regular interferometric observations of these radio sources could be used to define a terrestrial coordinate system that could be maintained at the few centimeter level over indefinitely long time periods. Such a stable terrestrial reference system would be useful for a host of modern geodetic and geodynamic applications, including, in particular, studies of the time varying deformations and relative motions of lithospheric plates. The National Geodetic Survey has already begun work on a three station base network of permanent observatories under project POLARIS as a first step toward implementing the new celestial and terrestrial reference frames. It is hoped that others will join in the effort and make the new reference frames a reality by the middle of this decade.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 56: Reference Coordinate Systems for Earth Dynamics , August 1980 , pp. 205 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1981

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