Antarctic ice sheet velocities from GPS locations logged by seismic stations
---Seismic station movement with underlying ice.

More than 97% of Antarctica is covered by ice, most inland seismic stations in Antarctica must be deployed on moving ice sheets. Seismic stations can operate for multiple years and routinely log their geographic positions and time using stand-alone, navigation-grade, single-frequency GPS receivers.

We used these location data to track the movements of the stations situated on moving ice. The results [An et al., 2015] indicate that several months of navigation-grade GPS measurements provide reliable measures of ice sheet movement of >=1 m/yr. These results with an uncertainty of ~0.3–1 m/yr resolve both very slow ice velocities near dome A, East Antarctica, and velocities of >100 m/yr, on Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica [An et al., 2015].


Figure 1. Ice-flow velocities over the whole of Antarctica. Colors denote the ice-flow rates from Rignot et al. [2011]. Arrows represent the average velocities of seismic stations measured from seismic-station GPS, which are from Table 1. Seismic stations are of GAMSEIS/AGAP and ANET/POLENET. Download PDF.

Table 1. Velocities of ice at seismic stations

Station Net Date of Data Used Position Mean Mean of Velocities in intervals Average Velocity
From Until Longitude
(°) 		Latitude
(°) 		Alti.
(m) 		Azimuth
(°) 		Rate
(m/yr) 		Uncertainty
(m/yr) 		Azimuth
(°) 		rate
(m/yr) 		Uncertainty
(m/yr)
DT154 CHN 17/02/2009 13/10/2009 77.02610 -74.58247 2717 -67 11.6 2.0 -73 13.3 0.5
14/10/2009 22/01/2011 77.02558 -74.58242 2719 -67 12.9 1.7 -71 13.2 0.2
EAGLE CHN 04/01/2008 30/01/2010 77.04759 -76.41537 2833 -64 12.7 1.1 -63 13.3 0.1
EAGLE2 CHN 31/01/2010 19/01/2011 77.04491 -76.41543 2833 -70 14.0 2.4 -63 13.6 0.3
CHNB CHN 08/02/2009 29/01/2010 76.97587 -77.17438 2960 -30 19.4 1.4 -31 20.3 0.3
DOMEA CHN 14/01/2009 08/01/2011 77.10463 -80.42197 4089 -142 0.4 1.7 165 0.1 0.1
AGO1 AGAP 15/12/2007 27/12/2009 129.61212 -83.85959 2837 86 7.3 1.4 87 7.3 0.4
29/12/2009 14/12/2012 129.61428 -83.86145 2833 92 7.9 1.3 87 7.6 0.3
AGO3 AGAP 07/01/2010 02/12/2012 28.58188 -82.75411 2932 -112 9.3 1.3 -111 9.1 0.3
GM01 AGAP 15/12/2007 15/11/2009 104.72914 -83.98585 3274 111 4.1 1.3 111 3.6 0.5
GM02 AGAP 24/12/2008 12/09/2011 97.58153 -79.42513 3723 134 0.5 1.1 153 0.9 0.3
GM03 AGAP 05/01/2009 22/12/2009 85.94388 -80.21687 3917 147 1.0 1.8 147 1.0 1.1
GM04 AGAP 27/12/2007 17/12/2009 61.11243 -82.99971 3768 -151 1.7 1.6 -141 1.9 0.5
GM05 AGAP 29/12/2008 23/12/2010 51.15872 -81.18411 3774 -128 0.3 1.3 -95 0.6 0.5
GM06 AGAP 05/01/2009 25/12/2009 44.31474 -79.33282 3741 -84 0.7 1.8 131 0.2 1.0
GM07 AGAP 05/01/2009 04/01/2010 39.61321 -77.31360 3827 -167 0.8 1.8 -177 0.7 1.0
N100 AGAP 02/01/2010 14/12/2012 122.59074 -81.65175 2956 95 3.5 1.0 98 3.1 0.3
N124 AGAP 05/02/2008 21/12/2009 107.64052 -82.07447 3356 118 2.6 1.3 116 2.2 0.5
N132 AGAP 23/12/2008 21/12/2009 101.95344 -82.07511 3444 136 4.3 1.8 136 4.3 1.1
N140 AGAP 04/02/2008 27/12/2009 96.76923 -82.00860 3570 120 2.4 1.3 121 2.3 0.5
28/12/2009 26/12/2012 96.75565 -82.01039 3569 115 2.5 1.0 127 2.4 0.3
N148 AGAP 24/12/2008 21/12/2009 91.50757 -81.86250 3697 138 0.9 1.8 133 1.0 1.0
N156 AGAP 29/12/2007 21/12/2009 86.50448 -81.67256 3845 95 1.9 1.4 121 1.7 0.5
N165 AGAP 27/12/2008 23/12/2009 81.76038 -81.40835 3969 130 0.9 1.8 133 0.9 1.1
N173 AGAP 19/12/2007 19/12/2009 77.47358 -81.11223 4063 -6 0.7 1.6 31 0.5 0.4
N182 AGAP 29/12/2008 19/12/2009 73.18979 -80.73628 4050 -105 0.6 1.8 -108 0.6 1.1
N190 AGAP 24/12/2008 23/12/2009 69.43101 -80.32749 3925 -19 0.6 1.8 -19 0.6 1.1
N198 AGAP 16/12/2007 27/12/2009 65.96070 -79.85968 3781 -26 2.4 1.2 -27 2.4 0.5
N206* AGAP 02/01/2009 21/12/2009 62.85557 -79.39470 3663 -17 3.8 1.8 -18 3.8 1.1
P061 AGAP 26/12/2007 18/12/2009 77.22381 -84.49961 3515 140 1.3 1.3 142 1.8 0.5
05/01/2010 23/12/2011 77.22420 -84.49966 3517 158 2.2 1.3 158 1.9 0.5
P080 AGAP 18/12/2007 21/12/2009 77.36403 -82.80542 3810 148 1.5 1.3 142 1.5 0.5
P090 AGAP 05/01/2009 23/12/2009 77.31422 -81.93605 4015 -179 0.6 1.8 -160 0.5 1.0
P116 AGAP 26/12/2008 23/12/2009 77.04506 -79.56690 3931 5 0.8 1.8 5 0.9 1.1
P124 AGAP 27/12/2008 05/01/2010 77.65704 -78.87184 3609 27 2.4 1.8 27 2.4 1.0
SWEI AGAP 13/01/2012 25/12/2012 129.36078 -86.98585 3032 28 3.3 1.8 27 3.3 1.1
BEAR POLENT 14/01/2011 02/12/2012 -111.85114 -74.54758 381 30 1.1 1.3 124 0.2 0.5
BENN POLENT 17/12/2010 30/12/2012 -117.38989 -84.57310 1307 -81 17.2 1.2 -81 17.2 0.4
BYRD POLENT 13/01/2010 12/12/2012 -119.47384 -80.01703 1518 -137 11.7 1.2 -140 11.7 0.3
DNTW POLENT 03/01/2010 27/12/2010 -107.78011 -76.45663 1038 8 327.2 1.8 8 327.2 1.1
28/12/2010 10/12/2012 -107.77658 -76.45073 1031 9 333.7 1.4 9 333.4 0.5
KOLR* POLENT 18/01/2010 13/01/2013 -120.72698 -76.15436 1887 40 11.3 1.1 39 10.9 0.3
SIPL POLENT 07/12/2008 30/12/2012 -148.95533 -81.64047 647 159 0.5 0.9 109 0.8 0.2
UPTW POLENT 26/01/2011 07/11/2012 -109.03833 -77.57885 1333 16 115.9 1.4 16 117.1 0.5
WAIS* POLENT 06/02/2009 27/12/2011 -111.77773 -79.41809 1801 -158 2.1 1.1 -143 2.0 0.3
28/12/2011 02/12/2012 -111.77794 -79.41805 1799 -130 4.4 1.8 -129 4.3 1.1
WNDY POLENT 27/01/2010 15/12/2010 -119.41369 -82.36950 946 -96 24.0 1.8 -96 24.1 1.2
CLRK POLENT 06/01/2010 24/12/2012 -141.84851 -77.32312 1041 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
DEVL POLENT 17/12/2008 31/01/2013 161.97301 -81.47549 98 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
DUFK POLENT 16/01/2008 30/09/2011 -53.20067 -82.86189 967 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
FISH POLENT 29/12/2009 24/12/2012 -143.62838 -85.30662 288 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
HOWD POLENT 10/01/2008 23/11/2011 -86.76933 -77.52857 1497 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
LONW POLENT 31/01/2008 02/02/2013 152.73504 -81.34659 1547 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
MECK POLENT 09/01/2008 25/11/2011 -72.18498 -75.28081 1084 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
MILR POLENT 11/02/2008 07/02/2013 156.25173 -83.30628 1902 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
MPAT POLENT 19/12/2007 18/01/2012 -155.02206 -78.02974 540 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
PECA POLENT 18/01/2008 02/12/2012 -68.55254 -85.61237 1510 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
SILY POLENT 06/01/2010 16/12/2012 -125.96603 -77.13319 2090 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
SURP POLENT 10/02/2008 16/01/2012 -171.20171 -84.71988 408 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
THUR POLENT 19/01/2011 05/10/2012 -97.56062 -72.53009 236 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
WHIT POLENT 19/01/2010 07/12/2011 -104.38675 -82.68226 2341 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)
WILS POLENT 11/01/2008 23/12/2010 -80.55867 -80.03962 694 (on rock or stationary snow near a nunatak)

Note: * No ice-flow information at the position of the station is available in previous InSAR-based measurements in Rignot et al [2011].

References:

An Meijian, Douglas Wiens, An ChunLei, Shi GuiTao, Zhao Yue, Li YuanSheng, 2015, Antarctic ice velocities from GPS locations logged by seismic stations. Antarctic Sci., 27(2), 210-222, doi:10.1017/S0954102014000704. [Full text]. [FirstView PDF]

Rignot, E., Mouginot, J. & Scheuchl, B. 2011. Ice Flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science, 333, 1427-1430, doi:10.1126/science.1208336.