Construction of models of temperature dependent variations in the heights of permanently operating IGS stations

Abstract

Based on a study of the behavior of several permanently operated stations of the IGS network, the impact of ambient temperature on the heights of these stations is tested and assessed. The studies used relative GNSS determinations of very short baselines, which have very high sensitivity and are also insensitive to the influence of almost all known sources of seasonal variations in the position of stations. The following tasks were solved in this work: it was shown that the observed seasonal variations in the heights of stations possess properties characteristic of thermal deformations of antenna monuments, which testifies in favor of the effects of their thermal compression and expansion; the performed assessment of the actual values of seasonal deformations of several monuments of different types and sizes provides an idea of the typical level of values of these deformations; several methods for rigorous assessment and elimination of the influence of deformations of this type are proposed, the principle of their operation is considered and the performance of these methods is demonstrated using real examples.