A new, comprehensive dataset on the displacement of the Earth's crust in Antarctica has now been published in the journal Earth System Science Data. TUD scientists from the Chair of Geodetic Earth System Research played a key role in analysing measurement data from geodetic GNSS stations in the Antarctic. These stations record the signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) with the help of special antennas and receivers, which are then analysed in post-processing.

The aim of the research is to better understand geophysical processes such as plate tectonics, earthquake deformations and, in particular, the so-called glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA) - i.e. the slow deformation of the Earth's crust following the retreat or advance of glaciers and thus the change in mass of the entire Antarctic ice sheet. The result of the current work is a new, freely available data product of coordinate time series with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. It provides an important basis for climate research and more accurate projections of sea level rise, as GIA corrections are crucial for the interpretation of satellite data on the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet.
 

© Buchta et al. 2025

For the first time, measurements from all available GNSS stations distributed across the Antarctic over a period from 1995 to 2021 were analysed and used for the published study. TUD scientist Mirko Scheinert, together with Matt King from the University of Tasmania in Hobart (Australia), initiated the Geodynamics In ANTarctica based on REprocessing GNSS dAta INitiative (GIANT-REGAIN), supported by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and its expert group Geodetic Infrastructure in Antarctica (EG GIANT). The success of the project was only possible because of this excellent international cooperation within SCAR, which made the measurement data available from the many different national Antarctic programmes.

Four analysis centres - TU Dresden, University of Tasmania (Australia), Ohio State University (USA) and Newcastle University (UK) - initially analysed the data independently of each other using different software, but according to uniform rules, before a joint, combined solution was derived. The most important product of the study are time series of point coordinates with north, east and vertical components for 286 stations, which can be freely downloaded from PANGAEA, the German repository for georeferenced Earth system research data.

Contact:
Dr. Mirko Scheinert
TU Dresden
Chair of Geodetic Earth System Research

Tel.: +49 351 463 33683