UNAVCO
Encyclopedia
UNAVCO is a non-profit membership-governed university consortium that facilitates geoscience research and education using geodesy. The UNAVCO academic and research community shares a collective vision to transform human understanding of the changing Earth by enabling the integration of innovative technologies, open geodetic observations, and research, from pole to pole.
The UNAVCO Facility, located in Boulder, Colorado, supports geoscience investigations of solid earth deformations (associated with earthquakes and volcanoes), of changes in ice masses such as ice sheets and glaciers, and of changes in land surface properties forced by geological, ecological and hydrological processes. Funded by the US National Science Foundation, UNAVCO provides community coordination, field engineering, data services, technology innovation, and instrument testing, acquisition, and deployment. It maintains and enhances state-of-the-art high-precision global geodetic infrastructure that is often developed and operated through international collaborations, including continuous GPS sites in NASA's Global GPS network, many of which contribute to the International GNSS Service (IGS) global network.
In the US, UNAVCO operates the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) as the geodetic component of the US EarthScope
program. The PBO network covers much of the US, with a deliberate focus on active regions of the western US. Increasingly, the western PBO precision GPS sites offer fast (1 Hz or better) data available in real-time. Again with funding from the US National Science Foundation, UNAVCO works with partners throughout the Caribbean region to install and upgrade a new high-precision network - GPS in that region has applications to geology (earthquakes, volcanos), oceanography (sea level) and meteorology (tropical storms) as well as to local navigation and surveying. UNAVCO offers free and open access to all its data.
• UNAVCO manages a community pool of Terrestrial Lidar Scanners suitable for precise geodetic imaging of Earth and ice surfaces.
• UNAVCO acquires, archives, and/or distributes a number of community data sets including GPS, strainmeter, borehole seismometer, tilt meter, and geodetic imaging with radar and lidar, as part of EarthScope’s Plate Boundary Observatory.
• UNAVCO engineers provide classroom and in-the-field training, project design and implementation, field engineering, TLS or GPS network operations, and technology development for GPS, TLS and other applications.
• UNAVCO provides data archiving and distribution for GPS data collected by researchers in campaigns and continuous networks. GPS data are available both via ftp and via a data-mining interface: http://facility.unavco.org/data/dai2/app/dai2.html. In a collaborative project, UNAVCO is developing Seamless Archive Centers (GSAC) for sharing of meta data with GPS archives at Scripps Oceanographic Institution (SOPAC) and Goddard Space Flight Center (CDDIS).
• UNAVCO’s Education and Outreach (E&O) portfolio includes short courses and workshops for professional development, research, and education, strategic support for investigators in developing broader impacts, in-residence programs for geodesy science community members and educators, professional development in geosciences for K-12 faculty, and RESESS student internships to encourage broader participation in geosciences.
led to dramatic growth in the UNAVCO Consortium.
A Board of Directors is charged with UNAVCO oversight and governance, and is elected by designated representatives of UNAVCO member institutions. The Board works with the science community to promote a broad interdisciplinary research agenda based on applications of geodetic technology, to identify investigator needs for infrastructure support, to develop proposals to appropriate sponsors to maintain that infrastructure capability, and to ensure that UNAVCO and its activities provide high quality, cost-effective, and responsive support. UNAVCO also undertakes community-wide activities, including science planning, development and distribution of community data sets for geodesy, professional development for faculty and students, structured student internships for diversity, and related activities.
The UNAVCO Facility, located in Boulder, Colorado, supports geoscience investigations of solid earth deformations (associated with earthquakes and volcanoes), of changes in ice masses such as ice sheets and glaciers, and of changes in land surface properties forced by geological, ecological and hydrological processes. Funded by the US National Science Foundation, UNAVCO provides community coordination, field engineering, data services, technology innovation, and instrument testing, acquisition, and deployment. It maintains and enhances state-of-the-art high-precision global geodetic infrastructure that is often developed and operated through international collaborations, including continuous GPS sites in NASA's Global GPS network, many of which contribute to the International GNSS Service (IGS) global network.
In the US, UNAVCO operates the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) as the geodetic component of the US EarthScope
Earthscope
EarthScope is an earth science program using geological and geophysical techniques to explore the structure and evolution of the North American continent and to understand the processes controlling earthquakes and volcanoes. Thousands of geophysical instruments will comprise a dense grid covering...
program. The PBO network covers much of the US, with a deliberate focus on active regions of the western US. Increasingly, the western PBO precision GPS sites offer fast (1 Hz or better) data available in real-time. Again with funding from the US National Science Foundation, UNAVCO works with partners throughout the Caribbean region to install and upgrade a new high-precision network - GPS in that region has applications to geology (earthquakes, volcanos), oceanography (sea level) and meteorology (tropical storms) as well as to local navigation and surveying. UNAVCO offers free and open access to all its data.
UNAVCO Tools and Services
• UNAVCO manages a community pool of high accuracy portable GPS receiver systems that can be used for a range of applications. These complete systems – receivers, antennas, mounts, power and optional communications - can be deployed for days in episodic campaigns or for many months in more protracted deployments. Systems are also available for precision mapping applications.• UNAVCO manages a community pool of Terrestrial Lidar Scanners suitable for precise geodetic imaging of Earth and ice surfaces.
• UNAVCO acquires, archives, and/or distributes a number of community data sets including GPS, strainmeter, borehole seismometer, tilt meter, and geodetic imaging with radar and lidar, as part of EarthScope’s Plate Boundary Observatory.
• UNAVCO engineers provide classroom and in-the-field training, project design and implementation, field engineering, TLS or GPS network operations, and technology development for GPS, TLS and other applications.
• UNAVCO provides data archiving and distribution for GPS data collected by researchers in campaigns and continuous networks. GPS data are available both via ftp and via a data-mining interface: http://facility.unavco.org/data/dai2/app/dai2.html. In a collaborative project, UNAVCO is developing Seamless Archive Centers (GSAC) for sharing of meta data with GPS archives at Scripps Oceanographic Institution (SOPAC) and Goddard Space Flight Center (CDDIS).
• UNAVCO’s Education and Outreach (E&O) portfolio includes short courses and workshops for professional development, research, and education, strategic support for investigators in developing broader impacts, in-residence programs for geodesy science community members and educators, professional development in geosciences for K-12 faculty, and RESESS student internships to encourage broader participation in geosciences.
History
Since April 2001, UNAVCO has been an independent, Colorado non-profit, 501((c)(3)) corporation with 58 member and 42 associate member institutions including most major U.S. universities and research laboratories involved in Earth deformation research. In 2003, the UNAVCO Facility moved from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, where it had been hosted for 10 years, to independent management under UNAVCO, Inc. This move, precipitated by the need for UNAVCO’s leadership in the EarthScope initiative, resulted in greater involvement and direction from the Earth science community UNAVCO serves and hasled to dramatic growth in the UNAVCO Consortium.
Organisation
UNAVCO Members are educational or nonprofit institutions chartered in the United States (US) or its Territories with a commitment to scholarly research involving the application of high precision geodesy to Earth science or related fields. Members must also be willing to make a clear and continuing commitment to active participation in governance and science activities. Associate Membership is available to organizations other than U.S. educational institutions, when those organizations share UNAVCO’s mission and otherwise meet the qualifications for membership.A Board of Directors is charged with UNAVCO oversight and governance, and is elected by designated representatives of UNAVCO member institutions. The Board works with the science community to promote a broad interdisciplinary research agenda based on applications of geodetic technology, to identify investigator needs for infrastructure support, to develop proposals to appropriate sponsors to maintain that infrastructure capability, and to ensure that UNAVCO and its activities provide high quality, cost-effective, and responsive support. UNAVCO also undertakes community-wide activities, including science planning, development and distribution of community data sets for geodesy, professional development for faculty and students, structured student internships for diversity, and related activities.