Determination of the correlation degree between GNSS stations of Ukraine based on time series

Abstract

Using GNSS for many years is the most common technology for the collection, processing, and interpretation of Earth observation data, in particular for the high-precision study of plate tectonics. The results of GNSS observations, such as coordinate time series, allow us to do continuous monitoring of stations, and modern methods of satellite observation processing provide high-precision results for geodynamic interpretation. The aim of our study is to process the results of observations by DD and PPP methods and determine the degree of correlation between GNSS stations based on coordinate time series. For our study, we selected 10 GNSS stations, which merged into two networks - Lviv (SAMB, STOY, STRY, SULP та ZLRS) and Ukrainian (BCRV, CHTK, CNIV, CRNI, GLSV та SULP). The duration of observations on each of them is about 1.5 years (2019-2020). The downloaded observation files were processed in two software packages: Gamit and GipsyX. After applying the «cleaned» procedures based on the iGPS software package, the residual time series were obtained and the coefficients of the interstation correlation matrices were calculated. After the procedure of "cleaning" the time series, we obtained the RMS value decrease for all components of the coordinates by an average of 7-30%, and some stations by 55%. Based on the obtained RMS values, we can conclude that the influence of unextracted or incorrectly modeled errors can significantly affect the results of satellite observations. The obtained interstation correlation coefficients for both networks show different results depending on the used method for processing satellite observations. The larger correlation values of the DD method can be explained by the fact that the effect of errors is distributed evenly to all network stations, whereas in the PPP method errors for each station are individual. The obtained graphs of the common-mode errors values, after their removal from the residual time series, confirm the more uniform nature of the DD method. The results of our study indicate the feasibility of using the PPP method, as the autonomous processing of stations allows you to see the real geodynamic picture of the studied region.