Analyses of Continuous GPS Data from the Western Canada Deformation Array

Xin Chen

Abstract:	The southwest region of British Columbia comprises one of the most active seismic areas within Canada. To help in the monitoring of crustal deformation which accumulates before large earthquakes, the Geological Survey of Canada established a network of continuous GPS tracking stations, called the Western Canada De- formation Array (WCDA), in this region in the fall of 1992. Daily 24hour data sets spanning the past 17 months have been processed using the CGPS22 soft- ware package, EMR SP3 precise orbits, and a parti- cular strategy for estimating the optimal baseline so- lutions. Repeatabilities of several millimetres for both horizontal and vertical components of baselines rang- ing in length from 300 to 630 kilometres are routinely achieved. This high level of precision allows the resolu- tion of horizontal strain of the order of a few ppb with just one year of tracking data using linear regression on the daily solutions. This paper outlines the main features of the processing software and presents the strategy used for baseline estimation. The results of analyzing 17 months of continuous data are given. A preliminary spectral analysis of the WCDA solutions was conducted and revealed a dominant nearly annual period in the horizontal and length components of the baselines of the order of a few millimeters.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 7th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1994) September 20 - 23, 1994 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	1339 - 1348
Cite this article:	Chen, Xin, "Analyses of Continuous GPS Data from the Western Canada Deformation Array," Proceedings of the 7th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1994), Salt Lake City, UT, September 1994, pp. 1339-1348.
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