NOAA-NGS CORS Network and its Application to Crustal Deformation
Abstract
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) formed the first public global GPS tracking network CIGNET (Cooperative International GPS Network) in the late 1980s. CIGNET was the model for the International GPS Services for Geodynamics (IGS) network. In 1994 NGS established the CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Station) network using part of the IGS and incorporating sites from private and public, US and foreign, partner organizations. It has grown to its current size of approximately 900 sites and continues to grow in importance as the easiest way for the public to access the US National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). This is done either by users retrieving RINEX data from the NGS CORS server or by submitting their GPS data to NGS's On-line Positioning User Service (OPUS) to obtain a positional coordinate. Although the network was not initially envisaged to be used for crustal deformation studies it is now routinely used to define the motion of North America (e.g. UNAVCO's Stable North America Reference Frame -"SNARF), estimate glacial isostatic adjustment, measure sea-level, and support the ITRF. The network is expected to increase by ~200 stations this year due to the large number of states establishing real time positioning networks and the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO). This rate of growth of CORS will result in a network with site densities upward of 70 km resulting in an unprecedented image of the deformation of the crust, especially within North America. In light of this expansion NGS has recently updated its requirements for establishing CORS sites, improved its tracking of meta data, upgraded its GPS analysis software PAGES and is planning a complete re-analysis of all CORS sites and calculating new orbits in conjunction with IGS.
- Publication:
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AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AGUSM.G41B..04S
- Keywords:
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- 1200 GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 1209 Tectonic deformation (6924);
- 1243 Space geodetic surveys