Surface ice flow velocity and tide retrieval of the amery ice shelf using precise point positioning

Five days of continuous GPS observation data were collected in the frontal zone of the Amery ice shelf and subsequently post-processed using precise point position (PPP) technology based on precise orbit and clock products from the International GNSS service. The surface ice flow velocity of the observed point was derived from PPP to be 2.25 m/day toward the northeast with an azimuth of 41 degrees.

Major semi-diurnal and diurnal oceanic tide constituents could be recovered from the 5 days of PPP-derived height variations and compared well with a hydrodynamic ocean tide model. The PPP technique can replace double-difference GPS positioning in remote or hostile environments, and be used to retrieve the surface ice flow velocity without any reference station.

Furthermore, the solution can be derived epoch-by-epoch with accuracy in the centimeters to decimeter range.