Pete's Research Page
Areas of interest
- Observing global seasonal deformation caused by
surface mass transfer linked to the global water cycle.
- Self-consistency and mass conservation in global
loading models and the water cycle.
- Direct measurement of ocean tide loading (OTL) and solid
Earth tides
using GPS.
- Monitoring plate tectonic deformation on a
global scale using observations of Global Positioning System
satellites, and
analysis of plate boundary deformation in Greece, Italy and the eastern Mediterranean.
- Geodetic studies of deformation which occurred
during recent large individual earthquakes in Greece
and Turkey,
using GPS, triangulation and also
Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR).
- Inverse methodology for earthquake source
parameter estimation from geodetic data, and formation of a realistic
error
budget in this process.
- Estimating the rheological properties of the
lower and upper crust from geodetic (GPS and InSAR) measurements of
post-seismic deformation following large earthquakes in Greece.
- Measuring tropospheric water vapour with GPS ("GPS
meteorology").
- Applying GPS meteorology observations to the
problem of tropospheric microwave delay which affects InSAR
measurements.
- Monitoring of offshore platform subsidence
during oil and gas extraction.
- Use of low-cost GPS receivers to monitor engineering
structures, coastal
and mining-related deformation, and to determine vehicle position and
attitude.
Collaboration
Prior to my appointment here, I spent six years in the Department of Earth
Sciences at Oxford
University where I was a postgraduate
student (read about my D.Phil.)
and then postdoctoral research fellow. Some of my research is
still linked to the geodesy group there. Much of my more
recent research has been carried out in collaboration with Geoff Blewitt at the University
of Nevada,
Reno,
USA,
David Lavallee at TU Delft, and with Tonie van Dam at the University
of Luxembourg.
Other institutions that I'm currently or recently
collaborating with
include:
- NERC
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory,
Liverpool, UK.
- School
of Geography,
University
of Wales, Swansea, UK.
- Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research,
Department
of Physics, and Cooperative Institute for
Research in Environmental Sciences, University of
Colorado, Boulder, USA.
- NASA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA.
- European Center
for
Geodynamics and Seismology,
Luxembourg.
- Delft Institute for Earth-Oriented Space
Research, Delft
University
of Technology, Netherlands.
- Department
of Geomatic Engineering, University
College
London,
UK.
- Institute for
Engineering Surveying and Space
Geodesy, University of Nottingham,
UK.
- Higher Geodesy Laboratory, National Technical University of
Athens, Greece.
- Départment
de Sismologie, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France.
- Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, ETH Hönggerberg,
Switzerland.
Funding
My work has predominantly been funded by the UK Natural
Environment Research
Council (NERC),
with contributions from the UK Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC),
the European Commission, and industrial
sources. I have been Principal Investigator or
Co-Investigator on the
following major grants:
- Continuous
monitoring of North Sea
oil platform movement using GPS, Shell UK plc, PI, Nov 1998 – Dec 2007
(re-awarded annually, Co-I before 2002).
- Global
geodetic investigation of widespread
intraplate deformation, NERC, PI, Jun 1999 – Jun
2002.
- Correction of tropospheric artefacts in SAR
interferograms using GPS observations, EPSRC, PI, Sep 1999 –
Aug 2002.
- GPS
seismic hazard in Greece,
EC Framework
(sub-contract), PI, Nov 1999 – Dec 2000.
- Synergy of GPS, digital photogrammetry and InSAR
for coastal zone monitoring, EPSRC, Co-I, Apr 2000 – Mar
2003.
- Elastic
and inelastic ocean tide loading
response in the British Isles
from long-term
GPS observations, NERC, PI, Sep 2001 – Sep 2004.
- Solid
Earth deformation and changes in mass
transport in the hydrosphere, NERC, PI, Jun 2002 –
Sep 2005.
- GPS subsidence monitoring at Wytch
Farm, British Petroleum plc, Co-I, Jun 2002 – Sep 2002, Aug
2004 – Sep 2004,
and Jun 2006 – Aug 2006.
- Review
and validation of improvements to GPS
subsidence monitoring at Ekofisk
field, southern
North Sea, ConocoPhillips Norway, PI, Dec 2002 –
Aug 2003.
- Validation
of GRACE gravity field determination
using GPS, NERC, PI, Apr 2003 – Sep 2004.
- Auto-BAHN: towards
millimetre-accurate real time positioning using GNSS,
EPSRC, Co-I, Sep
2004 – Aug 2007.
- Changes
in glacier geometry and extent in Svalbard:
implications for
sea-level rise during the 20th and 21st
centuries, NERC,
Co-I, Nov 2004 – Oct 2007.
- Global
loading at tidal timescales, NERC, PI, Nov
2006 – Oct 2009.
- Permanent
GPS monitoring of BP Shah Deniz
platform, Caspian Sea, Fugro, Co-I, Oct 2005 – Sep
2008.
- Tidal
dynamics of the Filchner-Ronne
and Larsen C ice shelves from GPS observations and model assimilation,
NERC
(AFI), PI, Apr 2007 – Mar 2010.
- The
determination of a new global GPS-derived
surface velocity field and its application to the problem of 20th
century
sea level rise, NERC, Co-I, Sep 2007 – Jun 2011.
- Improved
constraints on global-scale hydrological change by
determining secular geocenter motion and low degrees of the surface
mass load, NERC, PI, Sep 2008 – Feb 2013.
- Consistent multi-technique geodetic estimates of
present-day
contributions to regional sea level change, NERC, PI, Jan 2009
– Jan 2012.
- Improved models of West Antarctic glacial isostatic adjustment
through new crustal motion data, NERC, Co-I, May 2009 – Nov 2014.
Professional affiliations and service
Further details
Last modified 2011-Jun-15 by PJC.