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Antarctic ice velocities from GPS locations logged by seismic stations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2014

Meijian An ,
Douglas Wiens ,
Chunlei An ,
Guitao Shi ,
Yue Zhao  and
Yuansheng Li
Meijian An*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Douglas Wiens
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Washington University, St Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA
Chunlei An
Affiliation:
Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China
Guitao Shi
Affiliation:
Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China
Yue Zhao
Affiliation:
Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yuansheng Li
Affiliation:
Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China
*
meijianan@live.com
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Abstract

In 2007–08, seismologists began deploying passive seismic stations over much of the Antarctic ice sheet. These stations routinely log their position by navigation-grade global positioning system (GPS) receivers. This location data can be used to track the stations situated on moving ice. For stations along the traverse from Zhongshan station to Dome A in East Antarctica and at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide the estimated velocities of the ice surface based on positions recorded by navigation-grade GPS are consistent with those obtained by high-accuracy geodetic GPS. Most of the estimated velocities have an angle difference of <28° with the steepest downhill vector of the ice surface slope at the stations. These results indicate that navigation-grade GPS measurements over several months provide reliable information on ice sheet movement of ≥1 m yr-1. With an uncertainty of ~0.3–1 m yr-1, this method is able to resolve both very slow ice velocities near Dome A and velocities of >100 m yr-1 on Thwaites Glacier. Information on ice velocity at three locations for which no data from satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar are available have also been provided using this method.

Keywords

GAMSEISglacier movementnavigation-grade GPSPOLENET
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 27 , Supplement 2 , April 2015 , pp. 210 - 222
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Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2014 

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