Studying tectonics with quasar VLBI
DOI: 10.1063/1.2914506
To study the tectonic deformation of the Earth’s crust, geophysicists would like to be able to measure intercontinental distances to within about a centimeter. The long‐term movement of tectonic plates is typically a few centimeters per year. Recent developments in very‐long‐baseline radiointerferometry (VLBI) and laser ranging, using quasars and orbiting satellites as reference markers, appear to be putting these techniques within striking distance of this extraordinary accuracy. By such means one also measures very precisely tidal deformations of the Earth’s crust, and variations in the direction and speed of its rotation.
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