Expanding TRANS4D’s Scope to Include 3D Crustal Velocity Estimates for a Neighborhood of the Caribbean Plate
Publication: Journal of Surveying Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper introduces Version 0.3 of the TRANS4D software, where TRANS4D is short for Transformations in Four Dimensions. TRANS4D enables geospatial professionals and others to transform three-dimensional (3D) positional coordinates across time and among several popular terrestrial reference frames. Version 0.3 includes a crustal velocity model for a neighborhood of the Caribbean plate in the form of 3D crustal velocity estimates at the nodes of a two-dimensional (grid in latitude and longitude. This velocity model supplements existing TRANS4D velocity models for the continental United States and for parts of Alaska and Canada. This paper also introduces a terrestrial reference frame, called the Caribbean Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2014 (CATRF2014), which was derived from horizontal crustal velocities for 25 geodetic stations. These stations are considered to be “stable” relative to one another, because each has a horizontal velocity whose magnitude is less than relative to CATRF2014. This new reference frame is defined in terms of a three-parameter transformation from the International Global Navigation Satellite System Service 2014 (IGS14) reference frame, which can be considered identical to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2014 (ITRF2014). These three parameters correspond to the Euler-pole parameters that hopefully quantify the motion of the stable interior of the Caribbean plate. However, the location of this stable interior is not well known because most of it resides underwater.
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Data Availability Statement
The TRANS4D (Version 0.3) software is written in FORTRAN-90. This software, together with its associated data files and user’s guide, may be obtained by contacting the corresponding author.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the many people and institutions that were involved in collecting and/or processing the geodetic data included in this study. The authors also thank Daniel Gillins and two anonymous reviewers for suggestions that improved the presentation of this paper. This paper was supported, in part, by the National Geodetic Survey. The figures have been drawn using Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel and Smith 1998).
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Published In
Journal of Surveying Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 4 • November 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 26, 2021
Accepted: Jul 1, 2021
Published online: Sep 15, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 15, 2022
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