Project Highlights 2006 - Summit Camp Permanent RTK Station Installation, Greenland

A permanent GPS base station was installed at Summit Camp with real-time kinematic (RTK) surveying capability. Summit Camp is a research station located at the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet, and supports a variety of multinational research, including atmospheric and snow chemistry studies, and deep ice core drilling operations. Funding was obtained from the NSF Office of Polar Progams for this station, which will serve the growing scientific and operational requirements of the research and logistics communities.

The system consists of a continuously operating base receiver and a roving receiver. In addition to providing precision mapping and topographic surveying capability, the system will also allow measurement of ice motion and yield data for atmospheric studies. While on-site, UNAVCO engineers also performed two short surveys to update the position of the aircraft skiway and measure snow accumulation along a previously surveyed transect.

UNAVCO will archive and make publicly available the base station data, and will continue to provide operational support and training to users of the system. UNAVCO will also perform yearly site visits for surveying and periodic updating of the base station coordinates as the ice sheet moves. A GPS monument was also installed on the GISP2 borehole casing to provide a reference point which is fixed to the underlying ice.