Italian Geodetic Observatory in Antarctica

The Italian Geodetic Observatory in Antarctica (IGOA) concerns the continuation and maintenance of the existing geodetic infrastructures in Antarctica. IGOA consists in the collection of data by means of permanent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations, of tidal data and gravimetric acquisition. Continuous GNSS acquisition is essential to ensure the continuation of more than 30-year series of data, which have led to the definition of the first geodetic infrastructure across the Northern Victoria Land (NVL). Long-term GNSS measurements will also be carried out on few selected sites belonging to the Victoria Land Network for DEFormation control (VLNDEF) network; VLNDEF comprises 27 stations along Terra Victoria Land, an area extending over 300x500 km.

The activities to be conducted by the geodetic observatory at the Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS) foresee the continuation of the tide gauge records available thanks to the existing pressure sensor that was installed on the seabed facing the MZS; sea tidal data aims to define the absolute altimetric model at local and global scale (geoid). Absolute gravimetric measurements will be acquired, during the Austral summer, in collaboration with international research projects carried out over a wide area of NVL (Jentsch et al, 2014)

The extension of these long time series of measurements, in addition to new planned measurements, and their integration, will be able to provide information on geodetic settings of the investigated area and meaningful input data for global geodetic models and regional geodynamics. 

For years the IGOA has been involved in international programs and projects such as POLar region observation NETwork (POLENET) and Solid Earth Response and Cryosphere Evolution (SERCE) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and is currently included in the Geodetic Infrastructure of Antarctica (GIANT) SCAR Action Group.