GEODYNAMIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE LITHOSPHERE, CRYOSPHERE, ATMOSPHERE AND HYDROSPHERE, AS REVEALED BY MODERN SPACE GEODESY

Transformational scientific discoveries stem from the recent growth of integrated geophysical observatories and networks that are operated by facilities on behalf of US university consortia. UNAVCO is one such consortium, facilitating geoscience research and education using geodesy. The technology revolution yields increasingly sophisticated and precise geodetic techniques.

Individually and through partnerships such as with those EarthScope and JPL, UNAVCO operates geodetic networks around the world with core sponsorship from NSF and NASA. The geodetic component of EarthScope, the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), is an integrated network of complementary geodetic techniques that sample at seconds (GPS and strain meters) to millennia (geodetic imaging). Other integrated, open geodetic data sets are emerging from around the world: Greenland, Antarctica, Latin America, and Africa.

The international research community actively mines and integrates open archives and data sets to support new applications and discoveries, advancing understanding of the complex interactions that drive geodynamics. Ocean loading effects detected by GPS constrains refinements to mantle structure and rheology on the US Pacific seaboard, integration of GPS and accelerometer records yield full displacement seismograms, atmospheric pressure correlates to near-fault deformation in Taiwan, ocean and solid Earth tides modulate slow slip events in Cascadia, the Tohoku tsunami of 2011 registered on strain meters across the Pacific, combinations of GPS and InSAR provide deeper insights into earthquake and volcano deformation than previously possible, annual and inter-annual structure in the GPS time series can now be strongly correlated to ground deformation related to changes in snow load, aquifers, and surface water reservoirs.

This synthesis of recent community science contributions reveals the influence of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and tides in modulating tectonic and glacial processes that are fundamental to understanding natural hazards.