Strategy for the detection of vertical movements in historical environments from fast high-precision GPS measurements

A continuous global positioning system station (CGPS) provides accurate coordinate time series, while episodic GPS stations (EGPSs), which operate throughout short measurement sessions, are generally used to improve the monitoring spatial density. In an urban environment, EGPSs are typically equipped with removable mounts (topographical tripod or bipod). In this paper, a method is proposed to evaluate vertical surface motions by means of differential measurements of removable mount EGPSs with respect to a nearby reference CGPS. For each day, the correct position of this CGPS is used as reference for the quick differential EGPS measurements to allow the correction of their positions. The method is applied to evaluate subsidence in the centre of Bologna, which is characterized by significant vertical movements, probably related to seasonal climatic effects, and where these movements differ significantly even among closely spaced locations. © 2012 Nanjing Geophysical Research Institute.