The International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF2005)

Abstract

The International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) is intended to be the standard reference for all geodetic and Earth science applications, ranging from national geodetic datums to Earth rotation, satellite navigation and geophysical interpretation of crustal deformation and tectonic plate motion. The ITRF is under the responsibility of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). It is constructed upon combination of station positions and velocities of geodetic markers and instrument reference points, as determined by space geodesy techniques such as VLBI, SLR, GPS and DORIS. Since the creation of the IERS in 1988, more than 10 versions of the ITRF were determined, the up to date version is being the ITRF2005. Unlike the previous ITRF versions, the ITRF2005 is based on input data under the form of time series (weekly for satellite techniques, and daily for VLBI) of station positions and daily Earth Orientation Parameters (EOPs). This short paper briefly summarizes the contribution to the ITRF of the international technique services, the ITRF history and ITRF2005 main results. It also provides the reader a selected list of a certain number of publications related to the ITRF and ITRF2005 in particular.