LOVE NUMBERS FOR A ROTATING SPHEROIDAL EARTH - NEW DEFINITIONS AND NUMERICAL VALUES

For an oceanless, elastic, spheroidal, rotating and nutating Earth, we present new definitions for the latitude-dependent Love numbers and g ravimetric constant which are free of certain drawbacks of the definit ions currently in use, and make the computation of quantities of obser vational interest simpler and more direct. Numerical values, computed for an Earth model characterised by ''modified PREM'' parameters, are also presented. This model is designed to have the value estimated fro m VLBI data for the eigenfrequency of the Nearly Diurnal Free Wobble ( NDFW), and assures thus an accurate representation of the NDFW resonan ce in the Earth tides. To achieve current and future accuracy goals, t he Love number values used must fully correspond to the definitions em ployed-a requirement not consistently met in some existing programs fo r analysis of space-geodetic data.