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Upgrades to a Global Network: Maintaining the GGN

August 28, 2018

UNAVCO, in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the 57 permanent GNSS stations that comprise the NASA Global GNSS Network (GGN) (Figure 1). The GGN is NASA's contribution to the International GNSS Service (IGS). UNAVCO staff monitor station network connections, ship new equipment to site operators as necessary, and construct new permanent stations as directed by JPL. UNAVCO staff work closely with local collaborators at each station for routine maintenance as well as troubleshooting when data flow is interrupted; they also perform routine field maintenance and upgrades.

Join UNAVCO at GSA

October 19, 2018

Come find us at Booth #706 in Indianapolis at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America. Our booth is staffed by UNAVCO staff from all groups within the organization, as well as by 2018 and alumni interns from our three internship programs.

NSF Awards the Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE) to UNAVCO

September 20, 2018

Five-year funding authorization for UNAVCO’s proposal to manage geodetic facilities was approved by the National Science Board on July 18, 2018. UNAVCO's service to the geodetic community continues under "Enabling Discoveries in Multiscale Earth System Dynamics: Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of GEoscience (GAGE)". The National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Division, Office of Polar Programs and NASA will continue support for researchers and educators who rely on geodetic networks and instrumentation, data services, and community engagement services.

Monitoring a Shifting Earth ... In Seattle

September 01, 2018

The UNAVCO interactive science exhibit, Monitoring a Shifting Earth, is now on display at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. PSC receives more than 1 million visitors a year; a significant portion of these visitors are expected to also view the UNAVCO exhibit. This exhibit raises public awareness about earthquake and tsunami hazards of the Pacific Northwest and the geodetic technologies used to measure and monitor them.

SCIENCE SNAPSHOTS

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Probabilities of Large Earthquakes in Alaska

February 28, 2018

A crustal deformation model for the Western United States fits geodetic and geologic observations and shows where major changes in the crust are occurring. Such modeling is critical for earthquake hazard assessments and for understanding Earth processes.

Stable North American Plate Bending and Moving After Ice Loss According to GPS

September 17, 2018

Analysis of thousands of GPS observations over decades shows the upward bending of the stable North American plate due to ice loss and horizontal contraction, mostly due to higher than expected inward velocities around the edges of the former ice sheets.

Looking for Dark Matter Passing Through the GPS Constellation

November 21, 2017

The Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation can be used to detect dark matter. Sixteen years of ground-based GPS receiver observations were utilized to look for dark matter passing near Earth. Although no dark matter was detected, the results refine the properties of the universe, the accuracies of atomic clocks and future searches for dark matter.

GPS Weighing the Loss of Antarctic Ice and the Squishy Mantle Beneath

October 26, 2018

GPS measurements in the Amundsen Sea Embayment show a rapid rise of as much as 41 millimeters per year. One reason for the rapid rise is a softer, more pliant mantle beneath the land surface. This may have implications for global sea level change forecasts.

Measuring Vegetation Health Through a California Drought with Geodetic Techniques

August 8, 2018

The health of wild vegetation during the California drought of 2012 to 2014 was measured with microwave-wavelength reflected Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements from hundreds of sites that are part of the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory. The geodetic data is compared to optical-wavelength measurements at collocated sites. The observations and comparisons show that three years of drought stunted growth and reduced the growing season with the late precipitation in the third year of the drought being particularly devastating to vegetation. These methods can help gauge future conditions and inform environmental impacts on humans and nature.

Tsunami Hazards in Central America

November 8, 2017

Central America faces tsunami threats along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts and at the shores of large lakes. Large earthquakes caused the most damaging tsunamis, however, landslides or volcanic eruptions can cause tsunamis around large lakes. Warning systems rely on seismic and geodetic observations. The Central American Tsunami Advisory Center (CATAC) will use these observations to help reduce losses.

Testing Geodetic Observations for Earthquake Early Warning in Alaska

August 31, 2017

An analysis of the 2016 Iniskin earthquake shows how GPS sites in Alaska may augment earthquake early warning. For a large magnitude earthquake that originates at a shallow depth, information from GPS can provide some warning before the shaking arrives in populated areas such as Anchorage. The geodetic data can rapidly and precisely define the earthquake properties to help with response and triggered hazards such as landslides and tsunamis.

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