Nontectonic signals in reprocessed continuous GPS position time series of CMONOC

Abstract

The nearly nine-year continuous GPS data collected since 1 March 1999 from the Crustal Motion Observation Network of China (CMONOC) were consistently analyzed. Most of the nonlinear movements in the cumulative position time series produced by CMONOC data center disappeared; and more accurate vertical terms and tectonic signals were extracted. Displacements caused by atmospheric pressure loading, nontidal ocean loading, soil moisture mass loading, and snow cover mass loading using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Reanalysis I/II models and Estimation of the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) data can explain most of the vertical annual terms at many stations, while only parts can be explained at Lhasa and southern coastal sites, indicating that there are some deformation mechanisms that are still unknown or not modeled accurately. The remarkable differences in vertical position time series for short-baseline sites reveal that GPS stations can be greatly affected by local factors; and attention should be paid when explaining observed GPS velocity vectors. © 2011 Wuhan University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.