Space Geodesy Project
- Visualizations by:
- Trent L. Schindler
- Scientific consulting by:
- Stephen Merkowitz
- Produced by:
- Katie Jepson
- View full credits
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.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizer
- Trent L. Schindler (USRA) [Lead]
Scientist
- Stephen Merkowitz (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
Producer
- Katie Jepson (KBRwyle) [Lead]
Datasets used in this visualization
LAGEOS-1, LAGEOS-2 60-day geocenter estimate (A.K.A. Degree-1 coefficients) (Collected with the SLR sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://download.csr.utexas.edu/pub/slr/geocenter/
See more visualizations using this data setITRF2014
Dataset can be found at: https://itrf.ign.fr/
See more visualizations using this data setNote: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
The Geocenter of the Earth Is Changing (And Why That Matters)
March 29, 2022, 7 a.m.
Read moreStock Footage: Pond5Universal Production Music: Kinda Frantic by Steve Rucker [ASCAP]This video can be freely shared and downloaded. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, some individual imagery provided by pond5.com is obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.htmlComplete 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.