Effects of adopting new precession, nutation and equinox corrections on the terrestrial reference frame

Abstract

First, the paper is devoted to the effects of adopting new definitive precession and equinox corrections on the terrestrial reference frame: The effect on polar motion is a diurnal periodic term with an amplitude increasing linearly in time; on UT1 it is a linear term. Second, general principles are given the use of which can determine the effects of small rotations (such as precession, nutation or equinox corrections) of the frame of a Conventional Inertial Reference System (CIS) on the frame of the Conventional Terrestrial Reference System (CTS). Next, seven CTS options are presented, one of which is necessary to accommodate such rotations (corrections). The last of these options requiring no changes in the origin of terrestrial longitudes and in UT1 is advocated; this option would be maintained by eventually referencing the Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time to a fixed point on the equator, instead of to the mean equinox of date, the current practice. Accommodating possible future changes in the astronomical nutation is discussed in the last section. The Appendix deals with the effects of differences which may exist between the various CTS's and CIS's (inherent in the various observational techniques) on earth rotation parameters (ERP) and how these differences can be determined. It is shown that the CTS differences can be determined from observations made at the same site, while the CIS differences by comparing the ERP's determined by the different techniques during the same time period.