Inclusion of GPS clock estimates for satellites Sentinel-3A/3B in DORIS geodetic solutions

Abstract

A unique architecture of Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B satellites includes the shared ultra-stable oscillator (USO) by the DORIS and GPS receivers. This concept enables to apply onboard GPS clock estimates in the DORIS processing substituting the DORIS polynomial clock model by the GPS epoch-wise model, together with a DORIS-specific clock offset. Such an approach is particularly profitable for the mitigation of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) effect affecting the short-term frequency stability of the USO oscillator in the South America and South Atlantic region. The GPS clock behavior precisely maps the SAA effect and enables us to demonstrate a difference of the USO sensitivity to the SAA for Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B. We present world grid maps of clock time derivatives for both Sentinels, displaying a different sign of the direct effect and other differences in the USO memory/recovery effect. Moreover, we present the impact of SAA on 3D positioning where the largest SAA-related bias reaches several centimeters. We also determine an effect of the precise clock modeling on the Earth rotation parameter estimates. In addition to these improvements, the elimination of the SAA effect gives us an opportunity to get an almost SAA-free DORIS solution from Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B satellites. Using the combined solution of both Sentinels as a reference, we estimate the SAA effect on the DORIS beacon positions also for satellites Jason-2, Jason-3, Saral, Cryosat-2 and Hy-2A and find significant positioning biases for all the recent satellites except Saral.