The Development of the GSFC DORIS Contribution to ITRF2014

The NASA GSFC DORIS analysis center has processed data from January 1993 to December 2014 and provided 1141 weekly solutionsin the form of normal equations for incorporation into the DORIS solution for ITRF2014. The solution time series, designated asgscwd26, were based on tracking data to eleven DORIS satellites divided generally into seven-day arcs. With respect to the ITRF2008 submission (Le Bail et al., 2010), the measurement model was updated to model the beacon frequency variations at certain DORIS sites,to apply the DORIS antenna phase law for the Starec and Alcatel antennae, and to apply the antenna offset corrections in the NASAGSFC orbit determination software rather than using the data-supplied corrections. We show that computing the antenna offset correctionsin the orbit determination software is superior to using the offset corrections that are supplied with the DORIS data, and that thisimproves the RMS of fit for SPOT-2, Envisat, SPOT-4, and SPOT-5. The updates for the force model included: (1) the development of improved nonconservative force modeling for SPOT-2, SPOT-3, SPOT-5, Envisat, and HY-2A, and (2) the application of an updatedstatic gravity model based on GRACE and GOCE data, and weekly models of the variations in the low degree gravity field deducedindependently from tracking by Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and DORIS. The post-ITRF2008 DORIS coordinate WRMS afterthe launch of Envisat and SPOT-5 is improved from 11.20 to 12.45 mm with ITRF2008 (Le Bail et al., 2010), to between 8.50 and9.99 mm with the gscwd26 SINEX solution. The application of the DORIS antenna phase laws shifts the DORIS scale wrt DPOD2008by +6.0 mm from 19930103 to 20020606, and by +11.4 mm from 20020613 to 20111030. The application of more detailed models of time-variable gravity reduces the slopes in the Helmert transformation parameters Tx, and Ty (w.r.t. DPOD2008) after 2005. The annual amplitude in these parameters is reduced from 3.2 mm (for Tx), 4.1 mm (for Ty), to 1.7 mm (for Tx) and 2.8 mm (for Ty)