The SLR stations coordinates determined from monthly arcs of lageos-1 and lageos-2 laser ranging in 1999–2001

Abstract

Determination of the stations coordinates and control of their stability is one of the most important tasks of the satellite geodesy and geodynamics. The paper is a continuation of earlier works on the stability of coordinates of the laser stations in the years 1999 and 2000 and reports the position determinations of all SLR stations active in the years 1999–2001 calculated in the ITRF2000 system on the basis of observations of LAGEOS-1 and LAGEOS-2 satellites. The calculations were made using the NASA GEODYN-II orbital program. The station coordinates were determined from the monthly arcs separately for each station. RMS of all 36 month arcs was stable and equal to 17 mm on average. The final stability of the SLR stations coordinates in the three years varied from 4 mm for the most stable station to a few centimetres for less stable ones. Real shifts in the positions of the stations Tateyama and Arequipa were detected.