Antarctic Geodesy Field Report 2006-2007 - N Brown and A Woods

Taken from sections of the report: In recent years, Geoscience Australia (GA) has increased its capability on the Antarctic continent with the installation of Continuous Global Positioning System (CGPS) sites in the Prince Charles Mountains and Grove Mountains. Over the course of the 2006/07 Antarctic summer, Alex Woods and Nick Brown from Geoscience Australia (GA) collaborated with Dan Zwartz of the Australian National University (ANU) to install new CGPS sites at the Bunger Hills and Richardson Lake and perform maintenance of the CGPS sites at the Grove Mountains, Wilson Bluff, Daltons Corner and Beaver Lake. The primary aim of the CGPS sites is to provide a reference frame for Antarctica, which is used to determine the long-term movement of the Antarctic plate. Data from Casey, Mawson and Davis is supplied to the International GPS Service (IGS) and in turn used in the derivation of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). The sites also open up opportunities for research into post-glacial rebound and plate tectonics. In many respects CGPS sites in Antarctica are still in their infancy. Since the mid 1990's Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University have been testing new technology and various methods to determine the most effective way of running a CGPS site in Antarctica. A more detailed review of Australia's involvement in Antarctic GPS work can be found in (Corvino, 2004) In addition, a reconnaissance survey was undertaken at Syowa Station to determine whether a local tie survey could be performed on the Syowa VLBI antenna in the future. Upgrades were made to the Davis and Mawson CGPS stations and geodetic survey tasks such as reference mark surveys, tide gauge benchmark levelling and GPS surveys were performed at both Davis and Mawson stations. In addition, work requested by Geoscience Australia's Nuclear Monitoring Project, the Australian Government Antarctic Division (AGAD) and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) were completed. The 2006/07 Geoscience Australia Antarctic expedition proved to be one of the most successful Antarctic seasons by geodetic surveyors from Geoscience Australia. All intended field locations were visited and all work tasks were completed. Background The primary aim of the CGPS sites is to provide a reference frame for Antarctica, which is used to determine the long-term movement of the Antarctic plate. Data from Casey, Mawson and Davis is supplied to the International GPS Service (IGS) and in turn used in the derivation of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). The sites also open up opportunities for research into post-glacial rebound and plate tectonics. In many respects CGPS sites in Antarctica are still in their infancy. Since the mid 1990's Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University have been testing new technology and various methods to determine the most effective way of running a CGPS site in Antarctica. Dr John Gibson from The University of Tasmania requested that Alex Woods and Nick Brown collect moss samples from any locations visited during the Antarctic summer field season. While working in the field only a few moss specimens were found. No moss or lichen specimens were observed at locations such as Wilson Bluff, Dalton Corner, Beaver Lake or the Grove Mountains. Moss samples were collected at Richardson Lake and Mawson Station and these samples were frozen after collection and returned to Australia. This work contributed towards AAS (ASAC) project 1159.