The Geocenter of the Earth Is Changing (And Why That Matters)
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- Visualizations by:
- Trent L. Schindler
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Stephen Merkowitz
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- Produced by:
- Katie Jepson
- View full credits
Stock Footage: Pond5
Universal Production Music: Kinda Frantic by Steve Rucker [ASCAP]
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Complete transcript available.
At the foundation of virtually all airborne, space-based and ground-based Earth observations is the TRF, or Terrestrial Reference Frame. The TRF relies on an accurate calculation of the geocenter of the Earth (the center mass of the Earth). However, one complication is that the geocenter is constantly changing with respect to the Earth’s surface. By using a network of ground stations equipped with telescopes and lasers that fire pulses at specific satellites, scientists can calculate where the geocenter of the Earth is at any given time to a few millimeters to ensure our Earth observations are accurate.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Visualizer
- Trent L. Schindler (USRA) [Lead]
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Editor
- Katie Jepson (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Scientist
- Stephen Merkowitz (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
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Producer
- Katie Jepson (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
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Narrator
- Katie Jepson (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related Pages
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ID: 4986 Visualization
Space Geodesy Project
Read moreNASA's Space Geodesy Project (SGP) uses a variety of space- and land-based techniques to determine the precise shape, position, and orientation of the Earth with respect to the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) and Earth orientation parameters (EOP). This visualization presents a summary of these techniques.The visualization begins with a shot of natural-looking Earth, then transitions to a view that shows the orbital components of the SGP, which include global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), satellite laser ranging (SLR) and Doppler Orbitography by Radiopositioning Integrated on Satellite (DORIS). The view then moves to the surface of the Earth, showing the positions and direction of the motion of ground stations as measured by these techniques, as well by ground-based very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), which uses the radio emissions of distant quasars to determine geodetic measurements.We then zoom into the center of the Earth to show the consequence of these surface motions: the movement of the geocenter, which these techniques can determine to within millimeters. ||
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