Doppler — European Datum transformation parameters for the North Sea

Abstract

The positioning of platforms and other constructions at distances greater than 100 km offshore is usually carried out by using the Navy Navigation Satellite System (N. N. S. S.) if high absolute accuracy is required. For legal and technical reasons, these positions must be related to the local onshore geodetic datum, usually European Datum 1950 (ED 50). The relation between satellite datum, World Geodetic Datum 1972, and ED 50 must therefore be determined with adequate accuracy. When accuracies of better than 5 m are required, inconsistencies occur owing to a systematic deviation between the British and Norwegian primary order triangulation. This paper gives a review of existing parameters, mainly for the Norwegian side, and describes how they were determined, how they should be used and how errors can be avoided.