Alicante IVS Analysis Center

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a highly accurate method, used since the 1970s in astrophysics as well as in geodesy. It contributes significantly to the global international terrestrial reference frame (ITRF) and is the only space geodetic technique able to realize the international celestial reference frame (ICRF) as well as to observe the full set of Earth orientation parameters (EOP: polar motion, universal time, precession / nutation). The IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry) analysis center in Alicante UAVAC (University of Alicante VLBI) was established as an associate AC in 2018 at the department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Alicante, within the research group of space geodesy and space dynamics. Further, we have a close partnership with the IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional) and RAEGE (Red Atlántica de Estaciones Geodinámicas y Espaciales / Rede Atlântica de Estações Geodinâmicas e Espaciais). In the first quarter of 2022 we started with the first steps to become an operational AC, with the final goal to be a full contributor to future ICRF and ITRF realizations, as well as operational products like the IVS combined EOP products. In this report we introduce the community to our group, our technical setups in terms of hard- and soft-ware, as well as our preliminary products. We present the first results based on our reanalysis of the IVS-archives (1979-12.2022) using VieVS 3.2 (one of several software we plan on using), and show the main geodetic products, i.e. EOP, CRF and TRF.

Maria Karbon[1], Santiago Belda[1], Esther Azcue[2], Juan Antonio Martinez Marin[1], Mariana Moreira[3], Victor Puente García[2], J. Manuel Ferrándiz[1]

Type Poster

Event IAG Scientific Assembly 2021 (June 2021)

[1] Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad de Alicante, Spain

[2] National Geographic Institute of Spain, Madrid, Spain

[3] Estação RAEGE de Santa Maria, Associação RAEGE Açores, Santa Maria – Azores, Portugal