Precision differential GPS for cryospheric applications

申请资金用于购买一套Leica Geosystems VIVA GNSS差分GPS测量系统，以取代徕卡不再支持的Leica system 500 GPS。新的VIVA GPS系统将主要用于支持NSERC资助的Martin Sharp博士的冰川学研究项目，该项目侧重于确定加拿大北极冰川变化的速率、原因和机制，以及它们对全球海平面的影响。它还将用于NSERC资助的Duane Froese博士（专注于育空地区的永久冻土特征）和Jeffrey Kavanaugh博士（专注于阿拉斯加和不列颠哥伦比亚省冰川动力学的基于过程的研究）的项目。System 500 GPS接收机已成为我们研究的重要工具，自2001年以来已广泛用于阿尔伯塔大学7个pdf和13名研究生的研究。2009年，徕卡发布了一个固件更新，使系统500在GPS标准更改后继续运行，但宣布这将是最后一次提供这样的更新。由于System 500硬件无法跟上全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）整体架构的变化，徕卡决定停止支持该设备。下次我们遇到设备故障或GPS标准发生变化时，它将无法使用。全球导航卫星系统正处于扩展和成熟阶段。它不再仅仅由美国的NAVSTAR GPS卫星系统组成。另外三个机构正在部署导航卫星星座：俄罗斯（GLONASS）、欧盟（伽利略）和中国（COMPASS）。GNSS的扩展将提高位置测量的精度，并减少测量时间。要获得这些优势，需要更新硬件，能够利用扩展的GNSS星座的数据。我们迫切需要更换现有设备，因为我们面临着完全失去GPS测量能力的严重风险，而且拟议中的新设备将提供实质性的性能改进，从而提高我们现场项目的效率，并产生更高质量的测量结果。

Funds are requested to purchase a Leica Geosystems VIVA GNSS differential GPS surveying system to replace a Leica System 500 GPS that Leica will no longer support. The new VIVA GPS system will be used primarily to support the NSERC funded glaciological research program of Dr Martin Sharp, which focuses on determining the rates, causes and mechanisms of glacier change in Arctic Canada, and their consequences for global sea level. It will also be used in the NSERC funded programs of Drs Duane Froese (focused on permafrost characterization in the Yukon) and Jeffrey Kavanaugh (focused on process-based studies of glacier dynamics in Alaska and British Columbia). The System 500 GPS receivers have become essential tools for our research, having been used extensively in the research of 7 PDFs and 13 graduate students at the University of Alberta since 2001. In 2009, Leica released a firmware update that enabled the System 500 to continue functioning after changes were made to the GPS standard, but announced that this would be the last such update offered. As the System 500 hardware can no longer keep up with changes to the overall Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) architecture, Leica have decided to stop supporting this equipment. It will become unusable the next time we have an equipment failure or there is a change in the GPS standard. The GNSS is undergoing a phase of expansion and maturation. It no longer consists solely of the United States NAVSTAR GPS satellite system. Three other agencies are deploying constellations of navigation satellites: Russia (GLONASS), the European Union (Galileo), and China (COMPASS). This expansion of GNSS will both improve the accuracy of position measurements, and reduce measurement times. Access to these benefits requires updated hardware capable of utilizing the data from the expanded GNSS constellation. We urgently need to replace our existing equipment both because we are at serious risk of losing our GPS surveying capability completely, and because the proposed new equipment will offer substantial performance improvements that will increase the efficiency of our field programs and produce higher quality survey results.