Abstract
Nowadays, the time evolution of ITRF station positions is described by
piece-wise linear models extended with exponential and logarithmic
functions to account for post-seismic displacements. The ITRF2020 will
also account for seasonal deformation by means of annual and semi-annual
sine waves. However, part of the Earth’s surface deformation is not
captured by those deterministic functions, such as inter-annual
hydrological loading deformation, or high-frequency atmospheric loading
deformation. To account for such aperiodic displacements, a reference
frame in the form of a time series could be considered. This would
require aperiodic motions of the different space geodetic stations to be
tied in a common frame by means of co-motion constraints. The relevance
of such constraints is however debatable. Indeed, common aperiodic
movements between co-located space geodetic stations have thus far not
been evidenced. This presentation describes the comparison of station
position time series from the different space geodetic techniques in
order to highlight whether or not common aperiodic movements can be
detected at co-location sites. Those time series are extracted from the
solutions provided by the techniques international services for the
ITRF2014. They are first carefully aligned to a common reference frame
in order to minimize differential network effect. Then, they are cleaned
from linear, post-seismic and periodic signals (including seasonal
deformation and technique systematic errors). Residual time series from
co-located stations are finally confronted with each other.