Introduction to the GNSS geodetic infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico Region

Abstract

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology has been frequently applied to coastal hazards studies. Some such hazards include sea-level rise, subsidence, coastal erosion, flooding and faulting. This study summarised the current GNSS geodetic infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region, which consists of three fundamental components: (1) a dense Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network that is open to the public, (2) a stable regional reference frame that is tied to the International GNSS Service reference frame of 2008 (IGS08) and (3) sophisticated software packages for GNSS data post-processing that are freely available to the academic community. There are over 780 CORS in the GOM region as of 2014. Approximately, 350 of those CORS have a history longer than 5 years. The long-term accumulation of continuous GNSS observations makes it possible to establish a regional reference frame for precisely and coherently delineating minor ground deformations over time and space. This study established a stable Gulf of Mexico reference frame (SGOMRF14) using GNSS data up to the end of 2014. The GIPSY-OASIS software package (V6.3) developed and maintained by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was used to calculate daily positions in this study. GIPSY-OASIS employs the single-receiver phase ambiguity fixed precise point positioning method, which resulted in 2–3 mm horizontal and 7–8 mm vertical repeatability within the GOM region. Applications of the GOM GNSS geodetic infrastructure in monitoring plate motions, land subsidence and sea-level rise are illustrated in this paper.