SUN-INDUCED VARIATIONS IN TIME IN THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

Sun-induced effects on the measurement and transfer of time information reported by orbiting satellites are reexamined. The problem of transforming the frequency of coherent radio signals to the Geocentric Inertial Coordinate frame (as required during the transfer of time information) involves an implicit, dependence on earth-sun-clock orientation that has been omitted, except in Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) studies. This known VLBI effect leads to an important second order Doppler effect. The effect explains systematic deviations between the time reported by satellites in the Global Positioning System (GPS) relative to Universal Time (UT) and can be used to improve existing bounds for the validity of the equivalence principle.