South Africa - Inkaba.org
South Africa - Inkaba.org
South Africa - Inkaba.org
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A proposal for the determination of intercontinental plate velocities in<br />
<strong>Africa</strong> to support the establishment of the <strong>Africa</strong>n Geodetic Reference<br />
Frame (AFREF)<br />
C. Munghemezulu 1 1, 2<br />
, W. L. Combrinck<br />
1. Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Africa</strong>,<br />
s27201211@tuks.co.za<br />
2. Space Geodesy Programme, Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Africa</strong>,<br />
Ludwig@hartrao.ac.za<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
We propose to derive a velocity field map over the <strong>Africa</strong>n continent derived from Global Navigation Satellite<br />
System (GNSS) station coordinates as determined in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame. Such a velocity<br />
field map will contribute towards a better understanding of the current intercontinental sub-plate movement and<br />
will therefore support the future establishment and maintenance of a unified geodetic reference frame for <strong>Africa</strong>.<br />
This work will be incorporated into the <strong>Africa</strong>n Geodetic Reference Frame (AFREF) project as supported at<br />
HartRAO; it will entail densification of the GNSS network in <strong>Africa</strong>, data processing, archiving, GNSS station<br />
metadata log files maintenance and development of a software system for managing these activities. Data will be<br />
processed with the GAMIT GPS software and estimated parameters will be utilised to describe crustal motion as a<br />
function of time to enable the development of datum transformation parameters for different countries on the<br />
<strong>Africa</strong>n continent.<br />
KEYWORDS: Global Navigation Satellite Systems, geodetic reference frames.<br />
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