Ocean Mass Redistribution & Corresponding Frequency Offsets for Precise Timing Applications

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ocean mass redistribution due to tides affects Earth's gravitational potential and atomic clock frequencies, providing a quantification of the resulting tiny frequency offsets relevant for precise timing.

Contribution

It introduces a model to quantify the relativistic frequency offsets caused by ocean mass redistribution, which has not been thoroughly analyzed before.

Findings

Predicted fractional frequency offset is around 10-19.

The effect is currently too small to detect.

Future advancements may enable observation of this effect.

Abstract

The relativistic timing affects of tidally redistributed ocean mass are investigated. The Sun, Moon, and Earth hurl through space, and their gravitational fields cause the tides which is a slight redistribution of ocean mass. This redistributed mass perturbs the Earth's gravitational potential affecting atomic clocks. The magnitude of this perturbation will be quantified, correcting for this effect. The predicted fractional frequency offset (10-19) is too small to be detected, but this effect may become visible in the future.