Geodetic Research on Deception Island

Abstract

Deception Island (62.93° S, 60.57°W) is one of the few active volcanoes in the Antarctica, whose most recent eruptions took place in 1842, 1967, 1969 and 1970. In the following paper geodetic investigations carried out in this area during the last years are described. During the continuous Spanish campaigns in Antarctica, several scientific groups have developed different projects in order to control deformation the island suffers as a result of its volcanic activity. With this purpose, a geodetic network has been designed and improved. Nowadays, the network consists of twelve stations around Port Foster which are provided with WGS-84 geodetic coordinates with respect to the ITRF2000, and another station at the Spanish Base Juan Carlos I on Livingston Island. Time analysis of these coordinates will lead us to get the horizontal deformation model. On the other hand, a levelling network has been designed to obtain the vertical deformation model. This network is denser in those areas where the volcanic activity is stronger, as at Fumarole Bay and the Hill of Obsidians. GPS, levelling and gravimetric measurements have also been collected in secondary points to obtain an experimental geoid model which makes possible an adequate reference frame for physical applications.

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