At our AAC, we have been analysing DORIS observations for the IDS since 2016. DORIS stands for "Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite" and is one of the four space geodetic techniques. Using DORIS observations, the orbits of satellites equipped with suitable receivers can be determined with high precision. In addition, the positions of the DORIS ground stations on the Earth's surface and global parameters such as the Earth's rotation parameters can be derived.

This involves processing data from a wide range of satellites equipped with DORIS receivers. Most of these are altimetry satellites used to determine sea surface topography. The products resulting from our analyses are made freely available to the scientific community through the ISDC and are also used internally for altimetry applications, for example within our Altimeter Database and Processing System (ADS), where satellite orbits are used to determine regional or global sea level rise. These products also contribute to the improvement of global reference frames, which are a fundamental basis for climate research and Earth observation.

Project partners:

• AIR-CAS (Aerospace Information Research Institute Chinese Acadamy of Sciences, Beijing, China)
• CHALMERS (Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden)
• CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites, Toulouse, France)
• CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales, Toulouse, France)
• DGFI-TUM (Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut - Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany)
• ESA/ESOC (European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany)
• GOP (Geodetic Observatory of Pecny, Ondřejov, Czech Republic)
• IGN (Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière, Saint-Mandé, France)
• INASAN (Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)
• IPGP (Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Paris, France)
• NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA)
• NTUA (National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece)
• TU Delft (Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands)

Project duration:

• Continuous since 2016

Funding:

• GFZ (As part of the Modular Earth Science Infrastructure (MESI)