A global Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) is fundamental for monitoring the Earth's rotation in space, and to many Earth science applications that need absolute positioning and precise orbit determination of near-Earth satellites. An accurate and stable TRF is especially needed for the quantification of global change phenomena such as sea level rise and current ice melting. This session generally welcomes contributions on both the computation and use of TRFs.
The computation of TRFs relies on space geodetic observations acquired by ground networks of stations and requires the estimation of a large number of parameters including station positions and Earth Orientation Parameters. Nowadays, measurement biases and imperfect background models are the main factors limiting the accuracy of TRFs. This session therefore welcomes contributions that develop strategies to overcome systematics in space geodetic observing systems such as long-term mean range biases in SLR observations, gravitational deformation of VLBI antennas, GNSS antenna phase patterns, etc.
The second objective of this session is to bring together contributions from individual technique services, space geodetic data analysts, ITRS combination centers and TRF users to discuss the TRF solutions produced by different groups, with a special focus on their comparison, evaluation and updates. The understanding of the discrepancies between the terrestrial scale observed by the different space geodetic techniques, the determination of new local tie vectors at co-location sites, the improvement of geocentre motion determination and the assessment of observed non-linear station motions by comparison with physics-based deformation models are of particular interest. Finally, with the development of the GENESIS mission, contributions on the handling and the impact of co-located instruments of individual techniques onboard satellite missions (space ties) for TRF realization are also highly welcome.
In general, presentations regarding any type of development that could improve future TRF solutions are warmly encouraged.