The MM5 and plate tectonics: The atmosphere's role in solid earth science

Type: Article

Venue: 6th WRF/15th MM5 Users' Workshop

Citation:

Leidner, S. M., A. Neill and J. Henderson, 2005: The MM5 and plate tectonics: The atmosphere's role in solid earth science. Preprints, 6th WRF/15th MM5 Users' Workshop, Boulder, CO., NCAR, CD-ROM, 3.32.

Resource File: Leidner MM5 plate tecton WRF workshop.pdf

Space geodesy provides valuable information about Earth's reference frame, including Earth rotation, the motion of the pole, and the movement of plates on the Earth's surface. One of the principal space geodetic techniques is called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Given two radio telescopes that measure incoming signals from the same radio source in the sky at the same time, the arrival of these signals at one station will be delayed relative to the other due to the differing distances along the ray emanating from the radio source, and hence the phase of the signal at the radio telescope stations. Correlation of the group delay measured over a day from difference radio sources can be used to infer the separation (or baseline length) between the two telescopes.