Regional integration of long-term national dense GNSS network solutions

A Kenyeres ,J Legrand,I Georgiev,M Weber,C Bruyninx,A Caporali,Anne Duret ,Oddvar Tangen ,Lennard Huisman ,D Mesmaker,Branislav Droščák ,Xanthos Papanikolaou ,Jaroslav Nagl ,Lotti Jivall ,P Franke,M Ryczywolski,Sonja Lahtinen ,Filip De Doncker ,Marcelino Valdés ,Soner Mehmet Özdemir ,Katerīna Morozova ,Karin Kollo ,Bálint Magyar ,Ali Kurt ,G Stangl,J G Bellet,J Zurutuza,R M Bingley ,Eimuntas Paršeliūnas ,O Khoda

doi:10.1007/s10291-019-0902-7

Abstract

The EUREF Permanent Network Densification is a collaborative effort of 26 European GNSS analysis centers providing series of daily or weekly station position estimates of dense national and regional GNSS networks, in order to combine them into one homogenized set of station positions and velocities. During the combination, the station meta-data, including station names, DOMES numbers, and position offset definitions were carefully homogenized, position outliers were efficiently eliminated, and the results were cross-checked for any remaining inconsistencies. The results cover the period from March 1999 to January 2017 (GPS week 1000-1933) and include 31 networks with positions and velocities for 3192 stations, well covering Europe. The positions and velocities are expressed in ITRF2014 and ETRF2014 reference frames based on the Minimum Constraint approach using a selected set of ITRF2014 reference stations. The position alignment with the ITRF2014 is at the level of 1.5, 1.2, and 3.2 mm RMS for the East, North, Up components, respectively, while the velocity RMS values are 0.17, 0.14, and 0.38 mm/year for the East, North, and Up components, respectively. The high quality of the combined solution is also reflected by the 1.1, 1.1, and 3.5 mm weighted RMS values for the East, North, and Up components, respectively.

Highlights

Introduction and historyThe campaign-style and continuously operating GNSS reference station (CORS) networks are the main interdisciplinary tools of modern earth sciences exploited for reference frame maintenance, geokinematics, ionospheric studies or meteorology
We present a review of the GNSS product combination approaches, discuss the rigorous long-term position combination technique in detail, and introduce the creation of a unique, unprecedented multi-year GNSS combination for Europe delivering a homogenized position and velocity solution incorporating most of the European CORS networks, which offered as reference for national and large-scale studies
In the presented solution the weekly position SINEX input from almost all national dense GNSS networks is successfully integrated, a solution including more than 3100 GNSS stations is produced and expressed in the ITRF2014 and ETRF2014 reference frames

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and historyThe campaign-style and continuously operating GNSS reference station (CORS) networks are the main interdisciplinary tools of modern earth sciences exploited for reference frame maintenance, geokinematics, ionospheric studies or meteorology. Fields in the ITRF” (2011–2015) (Legrand et al 2014) first attempted to create a dense global velocity field by combining multi-year GNSS position/velocity solutions with full variance–covariance information, available in SINEX format from different continents. We present a review of the GNSS product combination approaches, discuss the rigorous long-term position combination technique in detail, and introduce the creation of a unique, unprecedented multi-year GNSS combination for Europe delivering a homogenized position and velocity solution incorporating most of the European CORS networks, which offered as reference for national and large-scale studies.

Results

Conclusion