Polar Services - WAIS Divide Base Station - Base Equipment

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WAIS Base Equipment

A geodetic quality GPS base station is located at the WAIS Divide Camp. Base station WAIS consists of a Trimble NetRS GPS receiver, a Trimble Zephyr Geodetic antenna, and a computer for data downloading and backup. The receiver memory is partitioned to record both low-rate (15 second) and high-rate (1 second) GPS data files. Communication between the receiver and computer is accomplished with a pair of Intuicom wireless ethernet modems. The system is considered a permanent base station, and is not intended to be moved or disconnected.

Inventory of WAIS Base Station Components

A coordinate for the WAIS base station is given below. These coordinates were obtained using the Canadian Spatial Reference System (CSRS) online service with a 24-hour data file from December 1, 2005. Users should be aware that due to motion of the underlying ice, base station WAIS moves approximately 3 meters horizontally and -0.5 meters vertically per year.

Base Station WAIS Coordinates (bottom of antenna mount) December 1, 2005:

Latitude	79° 28' 02.8023" S	ITRF-00
Longitude	112° 03' 13.1710" W	ITRF-00
Height above ellipsoid (HAE)	1767.244m	ITRF-00
Elevation	1804.732m	EGM96

ITRF: For precise geodesy, the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) is used. Unlike NAD-83, WGS-84, and other datums, ITRF also incorporates tectonic plate velocities. Therefore, when referring to ITRF coordinates, one must also provide the date that the coordinates refer to.

See the on-line NGS calculator for reference frame transformations.

Interface Computer

A dedicated PC (Windows XP) is available for system users for downloading and backup of base station data. Communication to the base receiver is accomplished with a pair of Intuicom wireless ethernet modems. System documentation, including an instruction manual, is available on this computer.

Last modified Friday, 30-Mar-2007 00:27:42 UTC