Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T10:50:04.578Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Path length variations due to changes in tropospheric refraction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

Allen Joel Anderson
Allen Joel Anderson*
Affiliation:
Department of Solid Earth Physics Box 556 S-751 22 UPPSALA Sweden

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An experiment is described in which microwave Doppler is used to determine very small changes in path length to spacecraft tracked by the Deep Space Tracking Network (DSN). The experiment was carried out to test the detection capabilities of the DSN system to gravitational radiation of very low frequency (10−2–10−4 Hz). In this work spectral analysis of Doppler variations were performed for periods over 4 hours and more.

These results indicated that one of major sources of noise was due to rapid variations in tropospheric refraction. The results obtained a differential path length variation, ΔL/L, of 1 part in 1014 for periods between 100 and 1 000 seconds.

Doppler spectra are shown and a general discussion of the experiment is given.

Type
Research Article
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 89: Refractional Influences in Astrometry Andgeodesy , 1979 , pp. 157 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1979 

References

1. Anderson, A. J. (1971) Probability of long period gravitational radiation, Nature, 229, 547–548.Google Scholar
2. Anderson, A. J. (1974) A study of the anomalous effects in the spectra of Doppler from the DSN, JPL MEM, 391–560.Google Scholar
3. Anderson, A. J. (1977) Detection of gravitational waves by spacecraft Doppler data, in Experimental Gravitation, 35–246.Google Scholar
4. Callahan, P. S. (1978) A first look at errors from small scale tropospheric fluctuations. JPL IOM 315, 1–272.Google Scholar
5. Hargrave, P. L. and Shaw, L. J. (1978) Large-scale tropospheric irregularities and their effect on Radio Astronomy seeing. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 182, 233.Google Scholar
6. Moran, J. M. and Penfield, H. (1976) Test and evaluation of water vaper radiometers and determination of their capability to measure tropospheric propagation path length. Final Report, Smithsonian Astrophysical Obs., Cambridge, Mass. Google Scholar
7. Thompson, M. C., Wood, L. E., Janes, H. B., and Smith, D. (1975) Phase and Amplitude Scintillations in the 10 to 40 GHz Band. IEEE Trans. on Ant. and Prop. 23, 190.Google Scholar