Sub-daily polar motion from GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo

We derive an empirical model of the sub-daily polar motion (PM) based on the multi-GNSS processing incorporating GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo observations. The sub-daily PM model is based on 3-year multi-GNSS solutions with a 2 h temporal resolution. Firstly, we discuss differences in sub-daily PM estimates delivered from individual GNSS constellations, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and the combined multi-GNSS solutions. Secondly, we evaluate the consistency between the GNSS-based estimates of the sub-daily PM with three independent models, i.e., the model recommended in the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) 2010 Conventions, the Desai-Sibois model, and the Gipson model. The sub-daily PM estimates, which are derived from system-specific solutions, are inherently affected by artificial non-tidal signals. These signals arise mainly from the resonance between the Earth rotation period and the satellite revolution period. We found strong spurious signals in GLONASS-based and Galileo-based results with amplitudes up to 30 mu as. The combined multi-GNSS solution delivers the best estimates and the best consistency of the sub-daily PM with external geophysical and empirical models. Moreover, the impact of the non-tidal spurious signals in the frequency domain diminishes in the multi-GNSS combination. After the recovery of the tidal coefficients for 38 tides, we infer better consistency of the GNSS-based empirical models with the new Desai-Sibois model than the model recommended in the IERS 2010 Conventions. The consistency with the Desai-Sibois model, in terms of the inter-quartile ranges of tidal amplitude differences, reaches the level of 1.6, 5.7, 6.3, 2.2 mu as for the prograde diurnal tidal terms and 1.2/2.1, 2.3/6.0, 2.6/5.5, 2.1/5.1 mu as for prograde/retrograde semi-diurnal tidal terms, for the combined multi-GNSS, GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo solutions, respectively.