The History, State, and Future of the Argentine Continuous Satellite Monitoring Network and Its Contributions to Geodesy in Latin America

Abstract

Since its creation in 1998, the Argentine Continuous Satellite Monitoring Network (Red Argentina de Monitoreo Satelital Continuo [RAMSAC]) has grown to include more than 100 continuously operating Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) stations in Argentina. RAMSAC Receiver Independent Exchange Format (RINEX) data and their derived positioning products (e.g., Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol [NTRIP] streams and time series) have been used in more than 20 peer-reviewed publications studying the inter-, co-, and postseismic geodynamic evolution of the subduction interface between the South America and Nazca plates. Most of this research has focused on the deformation associated with the near-field megathrust earthquake cycle. Nevertheless, many authors have begun to include in their analyses far-field GNSS observations, which in general do not follow the elastic/viscoelastic deformation predicted by current models. We review the contribution of RAMSAC to scientific knowledge of earthquake elastic deformation and associated phenomena. We also describe the future plans for RAMSAC and the societal impact beyond geodetic and geophysical science.

Temporal and Spatial Variations of Total Electron Content Enhancements During a Geomagnetic Storm on 27 and 28 September 2017

“…The number of GNSS stations reached more than 8,600 in January 2019. These GNSS observation data were provided by the National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (ftp://igs.ensg.ign.fr/pub/igs/data), University Navstar Consortium (UNAVCO; ftp://data-out.unavco.org/pub/rinex/obs), Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS; ftp://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/gps/data/daily), Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC; ftp://garner.ucsd.edu/pub/rinex), REseau NAtional GPS permanent (RENAG; ftp://renag.unice.fr/data), Système d'Observation du Niveau des Eaux Littorales (SONEL; ftp://ftp.sonel.org/gps/data), TrigNet Web Application in South Africa (ftp://ftp.trignet.co.za), Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (ftp://geoftp.ibge.gov.br/informacoes_sobre_posicionamento_geodesico/rbmc/dados), SWEPOS–Sweden (ftp://ftp-sweposdata.lm.se:21/Rinex-data/Rinex2/se_swepos_daily), Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA; ftp://ftp.statkart.no/rnx2/24hour/30sec), Can‐Net Virtual Reference Station Network (ftp://gpsweb.can-net.ca/RINEX), Red Argentina de Monitoreo Satelital Continuo (RMSAC) (ftp://ramsac.ign.gob.ar) (Piñón et al, 2018), and other global and regional data centers (a total of more than 50 data providers; Tsugawa et al, 2018; Shinbori et al, 2018).…”

First Report of an Eclipse From Chilean Ionosonde Observations: Comparison With Total Electron Content Estimations and the Modeled Maximum Electron Concentration and Its Height

“…Access to the ionograms from Jicamarca was provided by DIDbase (https://ulcar.uml.edu/DIDBase/). Access to the GPS data was kindly provided by the International GNSS Service (IGS, http://www.igs.org, Dow et al, 2009), by the Centro Sismológico Nacional (CSN) of the Universidad de Chile (http://www.sismologia.cl), by the Red Argentina de Monitoreo Satelital Continuo (RAMSAC) of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional de la República Argentina (http://www.ign.gob.ar, Piñón et al, 2018), by the Rede Brasileira de Monitoramento Contínuo dos Sistemas GNSS (RBMC) of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (http://www.ibge.gov.br), by the Red Geodésica Nacional Activa (REGNA) of the Instituto Geográfico Militar del Uruguay (ftp://pp.igm.gub.uy), and by Marco Geocentrico Nacional de Referencia (MAGNA) of the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi, Colombia (https://geoportal.igac.gov.co/). M. Bravo acknowledges the support by CONICYT/FONDECYT POSTDOCTORADO 3180742.…”

“…The RINEX files were obtained from the Chilean network of GNSS receivers set up by the CSN, the International GNSS Service (IGS) network (Dow et al, 2009), the Argentine network (RAMSAC, Piñón et al, 2018), the Brazilian network (RBMC, www.ibge.gov.br), the Uruguayan network (REGNA, ftp://pp. igm.gub.uy), and the Colombian network (MAGNA, https://geportal.igac.gov.co/).…”

Deep Transient Slow Slip Detected by Survey GPS in the Region of Atacama, Chile

“…The Central Andes GPS Project (Brooks et al, ) and South America Geodynamic Activities (Klotz et al, ) GPS marks in the area were remeasured at the same time to gather a data set of almost 70 survey points, measured at least 3 times and up to 7 times (see Table S1 and Klein et al, , for more details about the network and measurements). The sGPS data set is augmented by observations from recently installed cGPS stations operated by the Centro Sismologico Nacional de Chile (CSN; Báez et al, ), together with a selection of well‐distributed permanent stations across the South American continent (International GPS Service; Beutler et al, ), ( Red Argentina de Monitoreo Satelital Continuo ; Piñón et al, ), and Rede Brasileira de Monitoramento Contínuo networks. This data set is processed using a differential approach (GAMIT/GLOBK software), following methods outlined in Herring et al (, ) and with the same approach used by previous studies in Central North Chile (Klein et al, ; Métois et al, ; Vigny et al, ).…”