Abstract We describe results from two decades of monitoring vertical seafloor motion at the Harvest oil platform, NASA’s prime verification site for the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason series of reference altimeter missions. Using continuous GPS observations, we refine estimates of the platform subsidence—due most likely to fluid withdrawal linked to oil production—and describe the impact on estimates of stability for the altimeter measurement systems. The cumulative seafloor subsidence over 20yrs is approximately 10cm, but the rate does not appear constant. The apparent non-linear nature of the vertical motion, coupled with long-period GPS errors, implies that the quality of the seafloor motion estimates is not uniform over the 20-yr period. For the Jason-1 era (2002–2009), competing estimates for the subsidence show agreement to better than 1mmyr−1. Longer durations of data are needed before the seafloor motion estimates for the Jason-2 era (2008–present) can approach this level of accuracy.


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    Title :

    GPS monitoring of vertical seafloor motion at Platform Harvest


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Advances in Space Research ; 51 , 8 ; 1369-1382


    Publication date :

    2012-01-01


    Size :

    14 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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