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Compared to the Chandler and annual wobbles, the higher-frequency components of polar motion (PM) have substantially smaller amplitudes. Therefore, their study has had to wait until higher-quality time series with high temporal resolution, as measured by space geodetic techniques, have become available. Based on the combined Earth orientation series SPACE99 computed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1976 to 2000 at daily intervals, the periodic PM terms, in particular at the quasi-biennial, 300-day, semi-Chandler, semi-annual, 4-month, 90-day, 2-month and 1.5-month periods, have been separated by band-pass filtering and it has been found that the persistence of oscillations becomes less with increasing frequency. In order to quantify and better describe the parameter variability of these PM components over time, the radii, direction angles and period lengths were computed from the periodic terms filtered out from the time series. The results clearly show the characteristics and time evolution of the periodic PM components. The largest elliptic oscillation is the semi-annual wobble with a maximum semi-major axis of up to 13 mas (milliarc seconds). The other wobbles are smaller. They have maximum semi-major axes of between 3 and 8 mas. If the oscillations have period lengths of 4 months and less, then they are elapsed not only progradly, but also retrogradly.

Abstract.:  The annual and semiannual residuals derived in the axial angular momentum budget of the solid Earth–atmosphere system reflect significant signals. They must be caused by further excitation sources. Since, in particular, the contribution for the wind term from the atmospheric layer between the 10 and 0.3 hPa levels to the seasonal variations in length of day (LOD) is still missing, it is necessary to extend the top level into the upper stratosphere up to 0.3 hPa. Under the conservation of the total angular momentum of the entire Earth, variations in the oceanic angular momentum (OAM) and the hydrological angular momentum (HAM) are further significant excitation sources at seasonal time scales. Focusing on other contributions to the Earth's axial angular momentum budget, the following data are used in this study: axial atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) data derived for the 10–0.3 hPa layer from 1991 to 1997 for computing the missing wind effects; axial OAM functions as generated by oceanic general circulation models (GCMs), namely for the ECHAM3 and the MICOM models, available from 1975 to 1994 and from 1992 to 1994, respectively, for computing the oceanic contributions to LOD changes, and, concerning the HAM variations, the seasonal estimates of the hydrological contribution as derived by Chao and O'Connor [(1988) Geophys J 94: 263–270]. Using vector representation, it is shown that the vectors achieve a close balance in the global axial angular momentum budget within the estimated uncertainties of the momentum quantities on seasonal time scales.

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Abstract.: Recently, effective atmospheric-angular-momentum (AAM) functions as calculated from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) (formerly National Meteorological Center, NMC) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Reanalyses have become available for the years 1958 to 1998. Concerning the wind terms, the top level in the atmosphere used here is 10 hPa. Compared with earlier NMC model versions, which incorporate wind fields up to 100 hPa since 1976 and up to 50 hPa since 1981, the reanalyses have produced improved data series over a longer period than before. The axial AAM component χ3 is associated with changes in length of day (LOD). Motivated by better quality and continuity of the series AAM (NCEP) Reanalysis, the problem of the seasonal imbalances in the solid Earth–atmosphere axial angular momentum budget is re-examined. To assess better the estimates of the annual and semiannual oscillations in LOD and AAM and of the residual oscillations derived as difference series between LOD and AAM, the series of LOD data from three analysis centers [International Earth Rotation Service (IERS), GeoForschungZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena (JPL)] and of AAM data in terms of χ3(W), χ3(P) and χ3(P+IB) from four meteorological centers [NCEP, Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the UK Meteorological Office (UKMO)] are used in this study. The main analysis steps were removing gaps, filtering out the seasonal oscillations, calculating optimal estimates of the parameters of the oscillations and calculating the difference series between the LOD and AAM systems as well as the residuals in the axial angular momentum budget in the LOD–AAM systems. The results derived as difference series between the different LOD, AAM and LOD–AAM systems show to what extent the variations reflect systematic differences and significant signals, respectively, which is important for future activities in this field.

Zur Erzeugung von Pseudozufallszahlen mit stückweise stetiger Verteilungsfunktion, die endlich viele Sprungstellen besitzen darf und in jedem Stetigkeitsintervall durch lineare Funktionen dargestellt werden kann, wird mit Hilfe der Transformationsmethode unter Benutzung eines Zufallsgenerators mit Gleichverteilung ein neuer Algorithmus hergeleitet, der verschiedene praktische Anwendungen gestattet.