American Geological Institute

Government Affairs Program

NRC Report "The Global Positioning System for the Geosciences"

The National Research Council (NRC) recently released a workshop report entitled "The Global Positioning System for the Geosciences." The workshop was held in response to a request by the National Science Foundation and other agencies on March 11-12, 1996 at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Approximately 75 representatives from government, academia, and industry attended. The report contains four chapter summarizing the themes of the workshop presentations, poste r papers, and working group discussions, which are networks and data sources, remote sensing of the atmosphere, dynamic positioning and navigation, and static positioning. It also includes papers presented by workshop speakers on those topics.

Discussion centered around five main themes:

• Synergism Among Application
  A synergy exists between the use of GPS for atmospheric remote sensing and its use for positioning and navigation in the geosciences, which can be better exploited by co-locating reference stations.

• Optimizing Network and Reference Site Positioning Accuracy
  Further analysis is necessary to fully understand the relationship between GPS positioning accuracy, data sampling rates, data latency, and sources of error.

• Data Dissemination
  Real-time dissemination is necessary for some uses, including weather forecasting and earthquake monitoring. For other purpose, such as long-term geophysical study, delayed access is acceptable.

• Network Coordination
  To maximize the value of the sites to many different users, some level of standardization and coordination will be necessary.

• Communication Between Users and Network Operators
  Creating a "catalog" of GPS networks and their technical characteristics, as well as instructions for accessing related data and information systems, would be useful to users. Communication between networks users and operations can be facilitated by foru ms and public meetings.

The report was prepared by the Steering Committee on Improving the Differential GPS Infrastructure for Earth and Atmospheric Science Applications, which was chaired by Randolph H. Ware from the University Navstar Consortium. For information on additional NRC boards and publications, visits the National Research Council. Additional information and order forms are available from the National Academy Press at 800-624-6242 and on the NAP web site.

Contributed by Kasey Shewey, AGI Government Affairs.
Last updated December 19, 1997

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