CARIB18: A Stable Geodetic Reference Frame for Geological Hazard Monitoring in the Caribbean Region

Abstract

We have developed a Stable Caribbean Reference Frame 2018 (CARIB18) using long-term continuous observations from 18 continuously operating Global Positioning System (GPS) stations fixed on the margins of the stable portion of the Caribbean plate. The frame stability of CARIB18 is approximately 0.7 mm/year in the horizontal direction and 0.9 mm/year in the vertical direction. A method that employs a total of seven parameters for transforming positional time series from a global reference frame (IGS14) to a regional reference frame is introduced. The major products from this study include the seven parameters for realizing CARIB18 coordinates and three-component site velocities of 250 continuous GPS stations (>3 years) with respect to CARIB18. Geological hazard monitoring using GPS has traditionally been performed using the carrier-phase differential method that requires single or multiple reference stations to be simultaneously operated in the field. CARIB18 allows for precise geological hazard monitoring using stand-alone GPS, which substantially reduces field costs and simplifies logistics for long-term geological hazard monitoring. Applications of CARIB18 in plate motion, post-seismic, and volcano monitoring and research are demonstrated in this article. The regional reference frame will be periodically updated every few years with more reference stations and longer periods of observations to mitigate the degradation of the frame over time and will be synchronized with the updates of the International GNSS Service (IGS) IGS reference frame.