Lunar tidal acceleration from Earth satellite orbit analyses

We present results for the M₂ and O₁ ocean tides based on the Starlette satellite orbit analyses from which the tidal acceleration of the moon is derived. The solution for M₂ is consistent with previous satellite solutions; for O₁ we find a phase lag which is approximately zero. The uncertainty is still large, but there is an indication that the tidal dissipation at the O₁ frequency is small. Using the weighted mean value of the best satellite solutions gives = −21.32 ± 1.25 arc sec/(century)² for the total dissipation in the earth at the M₂ frequency. In principle, comparison between derived from satellite solution and derived from numerical models gives the amount of dissipation in the solid earth, but uncertainties are still too large to give a reliable estimate of the tidal mantle Q.