Characterization of site-specific GPS errors using a short-baseline network of braced monuments at Yucca Mountain, southern Nevada

Abstract

We use a short-baseline network of braced monuments to investigate site-specific GPS effects. The network has baseline lengths of ∼10, 100, and 1000 m. Baseline time series have root mean square (RMS) residuals, about a model for the seasonal cycle, of 0.05-0.24 mm for the horizontal components and 0.20-0.72 mm for the radial. Seasonal cycles occur, with amplitudes of 0.04-0.60 mm, even for the horizontal components and even for the shortest baselines. For many time series these lag seasonal cycles in local temperature measurements by 23-43 days. This could suggest that they are related to bedrock thermal expansion. Both shorter-period signals and seasonal cycles for shorter baselines to REP2, the one short-braced monument in our network, are correlated with temperature, with no lag time. Differences between REP2 and the other stations, which are deep-braced, should reflect processes occurring in the upper few meters of the ground. These correlations may be related to thermal expansion of these upper ground layers, and/or thermal expansion of the monuments themselves. Even over these short distances we see a systematic increase in RMS values with increasing baseline length. This, and the low RMS levels, suggests that site-specific effects are unlikely to be the limiting factor in the use of similar GPS sites for geophysical investigations. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.