DEPARTMENT FOR SPACE GEODYNAMICS

The Department for Space Geodynamics was founded by Ya. S. Yatskiv in 1979 on the basis of the Laboratory of the Earth's Rotation. The methods proposed by E. P. Fedorov, Member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, for the analysis of polar motion and latitude variations and their geophysical interpretation are successfully developed in the Department. Beginning with 1970, new methods for the determination of the parameters of Earth rotation (laser ranging, VLBI observations, radio observations of the navigation satellites GPS, GLONASS, etc.) and their analysis were elaborated. Programme complexes KIEV-GEODYNAMICS and SteelBrees were created, and the Department became one of the centres in the International Earth Rotation Service. The Satellite Laser Ranging stations in Kyiv and Poltava were modernized, and the work is in progress on creating a fundamental network of stations for observations of the navigation satellites GPS and GLONASS. The permanent GPS station is in operation at the Observatory from 1998.

The investigations of the Department are concerned with a wide range of fundamental and applied problems in astrometry and global geodynamics, from the theory of Earth's rotation to the creation of coordinate systems for the Earth and space.

The Department takes part in the state programme of creation and development of the State Service of the Unified Time and Standard Frequency, it is the Ukrainian Centre for determination of Earth orientation parameters (headed by Dr.Sci., Member of NAS of Ukraine Ya. S. Yatskiv, till 2010 - Ph.D. O. V. Bolotina). The Department took part in various national and international programmes - MERIT (1981-1984), WEGENER (1993), GEODUK (1993-1995), etc.

The Department for Space Geodynamics includes the Laboratory for Laser Observations (headed by Ph.D. M. M. Medvedsky).

The staff of the department is involved into scientific researches of theoretical aspects of the irregular Earth's rotation, application of modern space techniques, such as Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Very Long Base Interferometry (VLBI), Global Positioning System (GPS), to derive the Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP), tracking stations coordinates and velocities, to obtain realizations of the local geodetic networks and global terrestrial reference frames, and to disseminate this information among users in Ukraine and abroad.

MAIN FIELDS OF ACTIVITIES:

• Study of the rotation of the Earth and global geodynamics by space geodesy techniques (SLR, VLBI, GPS).

• Definition and establishment of terrestrial and celestial reference frames.

• Development of respective software and mathematical processing of observational data.

• Production of the EOP Bulletins: Ukrainian centre of the Earth orientation parameters.

STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR SPACE GEODYNAMICS:

MAIN SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT DURING THE LAST TEN YEARS (1992-2002)

General aspects

• A conception of the National Space Activity in Ukraine for five year period (1992-1997) was developed (Ya. Yatskiv, 1992).

• A conception of Time service in Ukraine was proposed (Ya. Yatskiv, M. Mironov, 1992).

• A conception of definition and establishment of celestial reference frames (Ya. Yatskiv, A. Kur'yanova).

• Ukrainian Centre of Earth Orientation Parameters was founded (Ya. Yatskiv, A. Korsun, 1995).

Theoretical studies

• Chandler motion of the Earth pole has been studied using linear and non-linear models (Ya. Yatskiv, O. Kudlay, 1996).

• Analysis of the longperiodic, secular and nonpolar variations of Earth rotation (A. Korsun', Ya. Yatskiv, 1999).

GPS

• Participation in collaboration with foreign and national institutions in the observation campaigns:

  • international GPS campaign EUREF-POL'92 (1992);

  • international GPS campaign PEKA-93 (1993) in the framework of WEGENER project - observations in Simeiz, Katsively, Feodosia, Evpatoria, Simpheropol;

  • the first international GPS campaign "Geodynamics of the Ukrainian Carpathians" (GEODUC-93) (1993);

  • international GPS campaign PEKA-94 (1994) - observations in Simeiz, Katsively;

  • the second international GPS campaign "Geodynamics of the Ukrainian Carpathians" (GEODUC-95) (1995);

  • international GPS campaign EUREF-UKR'95 (1995) - observation at KIEA point;

  • international GPS campaign EUVN'97 (1997) - observation at KIEA point;

  • GPS campaigns at Observatory's local test area (1997 and 2000).

• Processing of GPS observations using Bernes GPS Software v.4.2 (Contact Ph.D. Oleg Khoda for more details) and GAMIT software.

• Maitanance of the permanent GPS stations (Contact Ph.D. Oleg Khoda for more details):

  • Kiev / Golosiiv (GLSV,IGS and EPN station);

  • Uzhgorod (UZHL, IGS and EPN station);

  • Evpatoria (EVPA);

  • Kharkiv (KHAR).

SLR

• "Kiev-Geodynamics-5" version of the software for analysis of precise SLR data has been elaborated (V. Tarady, V. Salyamov, A. Emets, S. Rudenko, 1992-2001). The software is used to derive time series of the Earth rotation parameters, SLR station coordinates and velocities. (Contact Ph.D. Olga Bolotina for more details.)

• Golosiiv SLR station in Kiev performs regular observations. (Contact Ph.D. Mikhail Medvedsky for more details.)

• Experimental observations of some low orbiting geodynamic satellites have been started at SLR station in Poltava, Ukraine (1995-1996).

VLBI

• Software "SteelBreeze" for secondary processing of VLBI observations has been elaborated (1994-1996). It is used to derive time series of the Earth orientation parameters, VLBI station coordinates and radio sources positions. The results are annually submitted to the Central Bureau of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). (Contact Ph.D. Sergei Bolotin for more details.)

• VLBI observation station was created in Simeiz on the basis of RT-22 telescope of Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in 1994, in cooperation with Institute of Applied Astronomy (St.-Petersburg) and Institute for Space Research (IKI) (Moscow). The scientists of the department participated in the international observation campaigns (1994-1996). (Contact Prof. Yaroslav Yatskiv and Ph.D. Mikhail Medvedsky for more details.)

SOME USEFUL LINKS

• IERS: International Earth Rotation Service (Paris, France)

• ITRF & IERS: International Terrestrial Reference Frame

• IGS: International GPS Service for Geodynamics

• IUGG: International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics