Comparison of site velocities derived from collocated GPS, VLBI and SLR techniques at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (Comparison of site velocities)

Abstract

Space geodetic techniques provide highly accurate methods for estimating bedrock stability at subcentimetre level. We utilize data derived from Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) techniques, collocated at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, to characterise local plate motion and compare the solutions from the three techniques. Data from the GNSS station were processed using the GAMIT/GLOBK (version 10.4) software, data from the SLR station (MOBLAS-6)were processed using the Satellite Laser Ranging Data Analysis Software (SDAS) and the VLBI data sets were processed using the Vienna VLBI Software (VieVS) software. Results show that there is a good agreement between horizontal and vertical velocity components with a maximum deviation of 1.7 mm/yr, 0.7 mm/yr and 1.3 mm/yr between the North, East and Up velocity components respectively for the different techniques. At HartRAO there is no significant trend in the vertical component and all the techniques used are consistent with the a-priori velocities when compared with each other. This information is crucial in monitoring the local motion variations since geodetic instruments require a very stable base to minimise measurement errors. These findings demonstrate that station coordinate time-series derived with different techniques and analysis strategies provide comparable results.