Understanding of Global Change Processes Aided by Improved Geodetic Analysis

Frances Boler, P. I. of the ACCESS (Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science) project "Discovery and Delivery of Space Geodetic Data Products from Distributed Archives" reports the development of a new QA (Quality Assurance) product that can lead to improved accuracy of geodetic analyses and ultimately to an improved ITRF (International Terrestrial Reference Frame). The ITRF, an essential component for monitoring global change, is required for the accurate detection and monitoring of sea level change, the distribution of terrestrial water and atmospheric water vapor and other global-change related processes.

The University of Nevada Reno (UNR) developed the new Quality Assurance (QA) product for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) space geodetic data based on post-analysis that augments the widely used prescreening Quality Control (QC). To perform this QA most efficiently UNR utilizes NASA-supported Geodetic Seamless Archive Centers - Web Services (GSAC-WS) technology to access the most complete data sets available from the archives at NASA-GSFC, UNAVCO, and SOPAC (Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center)/UCSD. UNR has finalized the process for production of their QA product and has completed a re-analysis of 15 million daily space geodetic data files.

The GSAC-WS project website is http://facility.unavco.org/data/gsacws/gsacws.html. The website provides improved user discovery and access to a comprehensive catalog of available space geodetic products. This supports the ACCESS objective of enhancing and improving existing components of the distributed and heterogeneous data and information systems infrastructure that support NASA's Earth science research goals.

Frances Boler - PI, UNAVCO