Celestial pole offsets are the displacements between the observed position of the Earth’s spin axis in space and its position predicted by the adopted models of precession and nutation. At present, the models are IAU2006 and IAU 2000, respectively. The celestial pole offsets are regularly measured by Very Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), the observations being coordinated and published by the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS). These offsets contain a mixture of several effects: the unpredictable free term, Free Core Nutation (FCN) that is due to the presence of the outer fluid core of the Earth, forced motions excited by the motions in the atmosphere and oceans, and also imperfections of the adopted precession-nutation models. The geophysical excitations are also available, as determined by several atmospheric and oceanographic services. The aim of this paper is to compare the time series of these integrated excitations with the observed celestial pole offsets and estimate the level of coherence between them., Cyril Ron and Jan Vondrák., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Recently we derived a new star catalog EOC-4 that contains not only the mean positions and linear proper motions, but also periodic changes, due to orbital motions, for double and multiple star systems. The catalog contains 4418 stars that were observed in programs monitoring Earth orientation by optical astrometry during the 20th century. 599 stars of the catalog have significant periodic components. This catalog is now used, as a basic celestial frame, to obtain the Earth orientation parameters from optical astrometric observations of latitude/universal time/altitude in the interval 1899.7-1992.0. Polar motion is determined in 5-day steps for the whole interval studied, Universal time covers the interval 1956.0-1992.0 (i.e., after the invention of atomic clocks) also in 5-day steps, and celestial pole offsets (with respect to recent IAU2000 and IAU2006 models of nutation and precession) are modeled by second-order polynomials of time. In addition to these, a combination of Love and Shida numbers for each observing site is computed., Jan Vondrák, Cyril Ron and Vojtěch Štefka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Three variants of geophysical excitations and seven different VLBI solutions of celestial pole offsets (CPO) are used to determine period and Q-factor of Free Core Nutation (FCN). Brzeziński’s broad-band Liouville equations (Brzeziński, 1994) are numerically integrated to derive geophysical effects in nutation in time domain. Possible effect of geomagnetic jerks (GMJ) is also considered. Best-fitting values of FCN parameters are estimated by least-squares fit to observed CPO, corrected for the differences between the FCN parameters used in IAU 2000 model of nutation and newly estimated ones; MHB transfer function is used to compute these corrections. It is demonstrated that different VLBI solutions lead to FCN parameters that agree on the level of their formal uncertainties, but different models of geophysical excitations change the results more significantly. Using GMJ excitations always brings improvement of the fit between integrated and observed CPO. The obtained results show that the best fit is achieved when only GMJ excitations are used. Our conclusion is that GMJ are very probably more important for exciting FCN than the atmosphere and oceans. Empirical Sun-synchronous correction, introduced in the present IAU 2000 nutation model, cannot be explained by diurnal atmospheric tidal effects., Jan Vondrák and Cyril Ron., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The periodic motion of the Earth's spin axis in space (nutation) is dominantly forced by external torques exerted by the Moon, Sun and planets. On the other hand, long-periodic geophysical forces (with periods longer than several days), mostly caused by the changes in the atmosphere and oceans, have dominant effects in polar motion (in terrestrial frame) and Earth's speed of rotation. However, even relatively small short-periodic (near-diurnal) motions of the atmosphere and oceans can also have a non-negligible influence on nutation, thanks to the resonance that is due to the existence of a flattened outer fluid core. The retrograde period, corresponding to this resonance, is roughly equal to 430 days in non-rotating quasi-inertial celestial reference frame, or 23h 53min (mean solar time) in the terrestrial frame rota ting with the Earth. The aim of the present study is to use the geophysical excitations in the vicinity of this resonance to estimate their influence on nutation, based on recent models of atmospheric and oceanic motions. To this end, we use the numerical integration of Brzezinski's broad-band Liouville equations and compare the results with VLBI observa tions. Our study shows that the atmospheric plus oceanic effects (both matter and motion terms) are capable of exciting free core nutation; both its amplitude and phase are compatible with the observed motion. Annual and semi-annual geophysical contributions of nutation are of the order of 100 microarcseconds. They are slightly different for different at mospheric/oceanic models used, and they also differ from the values observed by VLBI - the differences exceed several times their formal uncertainties., Jan Vondrák and Cyril Ron., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The motion of Earth’s spin axis in space is monitored by Very Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), and since 1994 also its rate is measured by Global Positioning System (GPS). From the direct analysis of the combined VLBI/GPS solution in the interval 1994.3-2004.6 we recently found that the apparent period of the Retrograde Free Core Nutation (RFCN) grew from original 435 days to 460 days during the past ten years, but the resonance effects yielded a stable period of about 430 days. Now we repeat the same study with VLBI-only data, covering much longer interval (1982.4 - 2005.6). Direct analysis shows again a substantial increase of the apparent period during the last decade or so. The resonant period is given by internal structure of the Earth (mainly by the flattening of the core), so it is highly improbable that it is so much variable. From the same observations we derive corrections of certain nutation terms. A subsequent study of indirect determination of resonance RFCN period from the observed forced nutation terms through the resonance effects proves that the natural resonance period remains stable and is equal to 430.32±0.07 solar days. From this follows that an excitation by outer layers of the Earth (atmospheric, oceanic) should exist, with a terrestrial frequency close to that of RFCN (of about -1.0050 cycles per solar day, i.e. with period of -23h53m mean solar time), invoking the apparent changes of the directly observed RFCN period. Thanks to a close proximity of the resonance, any excitation with this period is extremely amplified so that the excitation necessary to explain the difference can be very small. The atmosphere alone contains enough power to excite the observed changes., Jan Vondrák and Cyril Ron., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The bicentennial varia tions of the Earth rotation consist of several oscill ations with most known periods 178.7a (Jose cycle), 210a and 230a (de Vries cycle); they are driven by the solar cycles which affect climatic variations, followed by global environmental changes. These periods are close to the higher harmonics of millennial Hallstatt cycle (2300a), so the proper separation between the indi vidual bicentennial cycles needs time series longer than 2300a. The bicentennial variations of the Universal Time (UT1) in relation to the Terrestrial Time (TT) are investigated using reconstructed time series of the Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) for the last 9300a. A linear regression model of TSI influe nce on the UT1 and the Mean Sea Level (MSL) bicentennial variations are created. The parameters and time series of the bicentennial UT1-TT oscillations for the last 9300a are determined., Cyril Ron, Yavor Chapanov and Jan Vondrák., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
In our study we find, from the analysis of VLBI observations, small quasi-periodic fluctuations of the period and quality factor of retrograde Free Core Nutation (FCN), ranging mainly between 429.8 to 430.8 days and 17000 to 21000, respectively. To this end, we use resonant effects in several dominant forced nutation terms to calculate the period and quality factor of FCN in running 6-year intervals. We also recently demonstrated that the atmospheric and oceanic excitations are capable of exciting FCN. Both amplitude and phase of the geophysically excited motion are consistent with the values observed by VLBI, in the interval of tens of years. The geophysical excitations are now numerically integrated, using Brzeziński’s broadband Liouville equations, and removed from the observed celestial pole offsets. The remaining part is then used to derive the period and quality factor of FCN in running intervals, and to study the temporal stability of these important Earth parameters. It is demonstrated that the observed quasi-periodic variations of both parameters are probably not caused by these geophysical excitations., Jan Vondrák and Cyril Ron., and Obsahuje bibliografii