| Session Details | |
| Section | SE - Solid Earth Sciences |
| Session Title | Expansion of Geodetic Technology in Space and on the Earth |
| Main Convener | Dr. Michael Pearlman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, United States) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Harald Schuh (Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany) Prof. Cheinway Hwang (National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan) Prof. Toshimichi Otsubo (Hitotsubashi University, Japan) |
| Session Description | The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) was established by the IAG to integrate the three fundamental areas of geodesy (Earth’s shape, gravity field, and rotation), to encourage products & services with the geodetic accuracy and robustness necessary to address important geophysical questions and societal needs. GGOS is constituted mainly from the IAG Services (ILRS, IVS, IGS, IDS, IGFS, etc.) and relies on the evolution of ground station technologies and the refreshing and updating of the space missions. The main focus at the moment is the International Terrestrial Reference Frame, but other products such as precision orbit determination, gravity field, etc. are essential to Earth sensing metric products. The ground-based technologies (SLR, VLBI, GNSS, and DORIS) are undergoing rapid updating of their technologies and operational procedures, targeting the 1 mm accuracy requirement for GGOS. Efforts are underway to help better integrate gravity field data products with those from the geometric services. Measurements from space are complemented by terrestrial and aerial gravity observations to increase spatial and temporal resolution. Several recent, operational, or planned satellite missions provide enhanced instrument capability for metric Earth sensing. The LARES mission has been added to the geodynamic constellation to enhance the reference frame. SLR tracking of the GNSS satellites has increased to begin using the GNSS constellation for distribution of the reference frame. Many current and planned LEO satellites such as the Jason series, HY-2 Series, SARAL, and ICESat -2, are focused on altimeters and SAR measurements to study the oceans and ice budget. Others such as GRACE-FO, and potentially GRACE-2 and XGRACE will provide a significant improvement in the gravity field through strengthening coverage and monitoring temporal variations. This will help to better understand the mass distribution and redistribution and to contribute to the development of a unified Earth Height system. Several new participants and mission partnerships in the Asia Oceania regions have helped to broaden the field with missions such as the HY series, SARAL, KOMPSAT, STSat -2C, and COSMIC. This session will provide an opportunity for the ground-based measurement techniques to discuss the transition from legacy to the new technologies, for current and planned satellite missions and observation programs to give an update on their status and plans, and for presentation of recent results with improving capability. Presentations are welcome that deal with terrestrial and space geodetic techniques as well as with the complementary satellite missions mentioned above. |