UNAVCO Community and Facility Support: Geodesy Advancing Earth Science Research

This Cooperative Agreement supports the continued management and operation of the UNAVCO Global Positioning System (GPS) and geodetic technology support facility over a five-year period. UNAVCO is a non-profit corporation governed by a Board of Directors elected by the UNAVCO member institutions, which are comprised predominantly of U.S. academic institutions with active research programs in geodesy. There are currently over 100 member institutions. The UNAVCO mission is to advance high-precision techniques for the measurement of crustal deformation. The facility is supported by NSF Division of Earth Sciences, Office of Polar Programs and NASA (through annual agency transfers) for responsibilities including: 1) maintenance of a pool of state-of-the-art GPS equipment available to NSF-supported scientists; 2) provision of personnel dedicated to NSF- and NASA-funded GPS and geodetic technologies project planning, logistics and field engineering support; 3) maintenance of the NASA Global GPS Network (GGN) that provides crucial data to the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) needed for International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) solutions; 4) development and maintenance of a GPS data archive; 5) planning and coordination of various geodetic community activities (e.g., scientific workshops, steering committee meetings); 6) development and evaluation of new commercial GPS technology; 7) ensuring a representative and responsive governance process on behalf of the U.S. academic research community using precision geodetic techniques; and 8) provision of education and outreach to students and the public about precision geodetic research applications, the Earth sciences, and UNAVCO. Funding provides salary support for a staff of over 25 full time scientists, engineers and associated business support staff. Dense GPS observations in space and time have resulted in fundamental new discoveries in the Earth sciences that have had a significant impact on our understanding of the Earth system and the complex interplays between the Earth's interior dynamics, tectonic, magmatic, seismic and surface processes, and the global climate system. UNAVCO makes key contributions to the science and public policy enterprise through facilitating advances in understanding and responding to seismic, volcanic and coastal margin hazards and the effects of climate dynamics on the Earth's cryosphere and hydrosphere.