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The AUSTRAL VLBI observing program
Citation
Plank, L and Lovell, JEJ and McCallum, JN and Mayer, D and Reynolds, C and Quick, J and Weston, S and Titov, O and Shabala, SS and Bohm, J and Natusch, T and Nickola, M and Gulyaev, S, The AUSTRAL VLBI observing program, Journal of Geodesy, 91, (7) pp. 803-817. ISSN 0949-7714 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.1007/s00190-016-0949-y
Abstract
The AUSTRAL observing program was started in 2011, performing geodetic and astrometric very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) sessions using the new Australian AuScope VLBI antennas at Hobart, Katherine, and Yarragadee, with contribution from the Warkworth (New Zealand) 12 m and Hartebeesthoek (South Africa) 15 m antennas to make a southern hemisphere array of telescopes with similar design and capability. Designed in the style of the next-generation VLBI system, these small and fast antennas allow for a new way of observing, comprising higher data rates and more observations than the standard observing sessions coordinated by the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS). In this contribution, the continuous development of the AUSTRAL sessions is described, leading to an improvement of the results in terms of baseline length repeatabilities by a factor of two since the start of this program. The focus is on the scheduling strategy and increased number of observations, aspects of automated operation, and data logistics, as well as results of the 151 AUSTRAL sessions performed so far. The high number of the AUSTRAL sessions makes them an important contributor to VLBI end-products, such as the terrestrial and celestial reference frames and Earth orientation parameters. We compare AUSTRAL results with other IVS sessions and discuss their suitability for the determination of baselines, station coordinates, source coordinates, and Earth orientation parameters.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | geodesy, very long baseline interferometry, VLBI, celestial reference frame, CRF, terrestrial reference frame, TRF, AUSTRAL |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Geophysics |
| Research Field: | Geophysics not elsewhere classified |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Plank, L (Dr Lucia McCallum) |
| UTAS Author: | Lovell, JEJ (Dr Jim Lovell) |
| UTAS Author: | McCallum, JN (Dr Jamie McCallum) |
| UTAS Author: | Shabala, SS (Dr Stas Shabala) |
| ID Code: | 112772 |
| Year Published: | 2017 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
| Deposited By: | Mathematics and Physics |
| Deposited On: | 2016-11-28 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-07-30 |
| Downloads: | 33 View Download Statistics |
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