Preliminary Approach to the Plate Motion by Means of LLR Data

In this paper, the possibility of detecting the plate motion by means of the LLR data now available is discussed, and the annual variations in the baseline lengths are calculated to research the plate motion by using the data obtained at three LLR stations from 1983 to 1988. The authors recognize that it is not long since the world's LLR network was set up, the observed lunar distance has been accurate within 5 cm since 1986 and the available LLR data are not enough to be used to detect the plate motion. But the UT1-UTC in the earth rotation parameters can be calculated by means of the LLR data obtained at a single station. The sequences of the solutions of the UT1-UTC obtained by using the LLR data of the stations are compared with those of the synthetic solutions issued by BIH(or IERS from 1988), and then the longitudinal motions of the stations are indirectly detected, within an accuracy of the order of centimeter. The results are in accordance with the predicted values obtained according to the AM_1-2 plate motion model.