A Dense Global Velocity Field Based on GNSS Observations: Preliminary Results

Abstract

In a collaborative effort with the regional sub-commissions within IAG sub-commission 1.3 “Regional Reference Frames”, the IAG Working Group (WG) on “Regional Dense Velocity Fields” (see http://epncb.oma.be/IAG) has made a first attempt to create a dense global velocity field. GNSS-based velocity solutions for more than 6,000 continuous and episodic GNSS tracking stations, were proposed to the WG in reply to the first call for participation issued in November 2008. The combination of a part of these solutions was done in a two-step approach: first at the regional level, and secondly at the global level. Comparisons between different velocity solutions show an RMS agreement between 0.3 and 0.5 mm/year resp. for the horizontal and vertical velocities. In some cases, significant disagreements between the velocities of some of the networks are seen, but these are primarily caused by the inconsistent handling of discontinuity epochs and solution numbers. In the future, the WG will re-visit the procedures in order to develop a combination process that is efficient, automated, transparent, and not more complex than it needs to be.