Abstract
Scientific applications critically depend on the ITRF and impose the most stringent requirements on terrestrial reference frame accuracy and long-term stability. A recent US National Research Council report (Minster et al., Precise geodetic infrastructure: national requirements for a shared resource. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2010) found that the applications demanding the highest accuracy and long-term stability were sea level, geodynamics from vertical land motion and large-scale horizontal deformation, and decadal satellite survey missions. A key recommendation was to make a long-term commitment to maintain the ITRF to ensure its continuity and stability, so as to provide a foundation for Earth system science and studies of global change. In this paper, we focus on characteristics of the ITRF that have demands placed upon them by these most stringent scientific users. We consider in detail each characteristic in terms of what the user needs, and provide examples of how such needs can be met, and identify factors that strengthen or weaken terrestrial reference frames from a user’s perspective. We find the most important feature of a terrestrial reference frame is “predictability”, the ability of the frame to predict future positions of stations in a multi-technique network to support science. Specifically, the key requirement of the ITRF, in order to support the most demanding scientific applications with large societal impacts, is to provide access to station coordinates that have secular predictability at the level of 1 mm per decade (0.1 mm/year).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Altamimi Z, Collilieux X, Métivier L (2011) ITRF2008: an improved solution of the international terrestrial reference frame. J Geod 85:457–473. doi:10.1007/s00190-011-0444-4
Amos C, Audet P, Hammond WC, Burgmann R, Johanson IA, Blewitt G (2014) Uplift and seismicity driven by groundwater depletion in central California. Nature 509:483–486. doi:10.1038/nature13275
Blewitt G, Altamimi Z, Davis JL, Gross R, Kuo C-Y, Lemoine FG, Moore AW, Neilan RE, Plag H-P, Rothacher M, Shum CK, Sideris MG, Schöne T, Tregoning P, Zerbini S (2010) Geodetic observations and global reference frame contributions to understanding sea-level rise and variability. In: Church J, Woodworth PL, Aarup T, Wilson S (eds) Understanding sea-level rise and variability. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, pp 256–284. ISBN 978-1-443-3451-7
Blewitt G, Kreemer C, Hammond WC, Goldfarb JM (2013) Terrestrial reference frame NA12 for crustal deformation studies in North America. J Geodyn 72:11–24. doi:10.1016/j.jog.2013.08.004
Brunini C, Sánchez L (2013) Geodetic reference frame for the Americas. GIM Int 27(3):26–31, ISSN: 1566–9076
Bruyninx C, Baire Q, Legrand J, Roosbeek (2012) The EUREF permenant network (EPN): recent developments and key issues. Proceedings of the EUREF 2011 symposium. http://www.epncb.oma.be/_documentation/papers/
Cerri L, Berthias JP, Bertiger WI, Haines BJH, Lemoine FG, Mercier F, Ries JC, Willis P (2010) Precision orbit determination standards for the Jason series of altimeter missions. Mar Geod 33:379–418. doi:10.1080/01490419.2010.488966
IERS Conventions (2010) In: Petit G, Luzum B (eds) IERS Technical note: 36. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag des Bundesamts für Kartographie und Geodäsie, p 179. ISBN 3-89888-989-6
Davis JL, Wernicke B, Tamisea M (2012) On seasonal signals in geodetic time series. J Geophys Res 117:1403. doi:10.1029/2011JB008690
Kreemer C, Lavallée DA, Blewitt G, Holt WE (2006) On the stability of a geodetic no-net-rotation frame and its implication for the international terrestrial reference frame. Geophys Res Lett 33(17). doi:10.1029/2006GL027058
Minster JB, Altamimi Z, Blewitt G, Carter WE, Cazenave A, Dragert H, Herring TA, Larson KM, Ries JC, Sandwell DT, Wahr JM, Davis JL (2010) Precise geodetic infrastructure: national requirements for a shared resource. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, p 142. ISBN 10-309-15811-7
Nerem RS, Chambers DP, Choe C, Mitchum GT (2010) Estimating mean sea level change from the TOPEX and Jason altimeter missions. Mar Geod 33(S1):435–446. doi:10.1080/01490419.2010.491031
Plag H-P, Pearlman M (2009) Global geodetic observing system. Springer, Berlin
Rebischung P, Griffiths J, Ray J, Schmid R, Collilieux X, Garayt B (2012) IGS08: the IGS realization of ITRF2008. GPS Solutions 16:483–494. doi:10.1007/s10291-011-0248-2
Santamaría-Gómez Á, Gravelle M, Collilieux X, Guichard M, Martin Miguez B, Tiphaneu P, Woppelmann G (2012) Mitigating the effects of vertical land motion in tide gauge records using a state-of-the-art GPS velocity field. Global Planet Change 98–99:6–17. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.07.007
Steigenberger P, Rothacher M, Dietrich R, Fritsche M, Rülke A, Vey S (2006) Reprocessing of a global GPS network. J Geophys Res 111(B5). doi:10.1029/2005JB003747
Watson CS, White NJ, Church JA, King MA, Burgette RJ, Legresy B (2015) Unabated global mean sea-level rise over the satellite altimeter era. Nat Clim Change Lett. doi:10.1038/nclimate2635
Acknowledgments
I am grateful for the careful reviews of Zuheir Altimimi and two anonymous reviewers, who have helped to improve the manuscript. This research was supported by NASA grants NNX12AK26G, NASA subaward 1551941 through the University of Colorado, and NSF grant EAR-1252210.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Blewitt, G. (2015). Terrestrial Reference Frame Requirements for Studies of Geodynamics and Climate Change. In: van Dam, T. (eds) REFAG 2014. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 146. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_142
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_142
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-45628-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-45629-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)