Space Geodesy

SPACE GEODESY*

USE SPACE-BASED SYSTEMS TO FIND PLATE MOTIONS OVER A FEW YEARS, FOR COMPARISON WITH NUVEL-1 AND SIMILAR GLOBAL RELATIVE PLATE MOTION MODELS THAT DESCRIBE AVERAGE PLATE MOTIONS OVER THE PAST 3 MILLION YEARS

USE EXTRATERRESTRIAL SOURCES AND SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY TO MEASURE POSITIONS OF A MONUMENT (BENCHMARK) TO ACCURACY OF 1/4″ (FEW MM) PER YEAR OR BETTER

CAN MEASURE PLATE MOTIONS AND SEE GEOLOGIC PROCESSES IN HUMAN TIME

VLBI – VERY LONG BASELINE RADIO INTERFEROMETRY

SLR- SATELLITE LASER RANGING

GPS – GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM SATELLITES

*GEODESY IS THE SCIENCE OF THE EARTH’S SHAPE (SURVEYING)