ITRF coordinates and plate velocities from repeated GPS campaigns in Antarctica - an analysis based on different individual solutions

The GPS campaigns of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) between 1995 and 1998 provide a valuable data set which is used to link Ant arctica with the ITRF (International Terrestrial Reference Frame), and to g ain the first detailed insights into the tectonic behaviour of the Antarcti c plate. The data analysis is based on seven individual solutions with four different software packages (Bernese, GAMIT/GLOBK, GIPSY/OASIS II, GEONAP) , and provides the possibility to study the existing software noise. The co mbined solution yields an accuracy of I cm for the horizontal and 2 cm for the vertical coordinate components within ITRF96. Based on repeated observa tions during a total time span of three years, it is possible to determine detailed regional deformations in the area of the Antarctic Peninsula and t o obtain an estimate for the rotation vector of the whole Antarctic plate. The main findings of a very comprehensive project of, in total, seven worki ng groups are summarized and presented for the first time. The main emphasi s is on the geodetic aspects of the project, i.e. the analysis of the same data set with different software packages, and on the final results from re peated observations, namely station coordinates and horizontal velocities i n TTRF96.