A First Realization of a GPS Reference Frame in Brazil

Abstract

The International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) has organized the First IERS and Geodynamics Experiment (GIG’91) from January 22 through February 13, 1991 under the coordination of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). In Brazil seven stations have been occupied under the coordination of the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). Three of them, CURITIBA, FORTALEZA, BRASILIA and CUIABA, form a part of the primary GIG network. The stations RIO DE JANEIRO and RECIFE have been added during the complete observation period. The South American base station CHUA has been included with three days of observations, in order to provide a good connection to the South American Datum (SAD 69). The primary goal of the project is to establish a first realization of the GPS reference frame in one part of Brazil. Taking into account the global nature of the IERS-GIG campaign and the simultaneously observed reference stations in the neighboring countries, this data set could serve as a reference frame for the total region. The paper describes the observation campaign and gives a first analysis of the data.