A terrestrial reference frame (TRF), coordinates and velocities for South American stations: Contributions to central andes geodynamics

Abstract

Satellite positioning systems allow the fixing of the location of a point on the Earth's surface with very good precision and accuracy. To do this, however, it is necessary to determine the point coordinates taking account the reference system and the movements that affect them because of tectonic plate movements. These reference systems are materialized by a significant number of continuous measurement stations in South America. In SIRGAS (Sistema de Referencia Geocéntrico para las Américas), there are four Analysis Centers that process the data collected from satellites of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), with the primary purpose to maintain the international terrestrial reference frame through calculation of the coordinates and velocities of the continuous GNSS stations of the SIRGAS-CON Network. In this work, we demonstrate the quality of the solutions from CIMA, one of the SIRGAS official processing centers operating in Mendoza, Argentina, in comparison with other South American processing centers. The importance of precise calculations of coordinates and velocities in a global frame is also shown. Finally, we give estimations of velocities from stations located within deformation zones in the Central Andes.