ITRF2014 plate motion model

Abstract

For various geodetic and geophysical applications, users need to have access to a plate motion model (PMM) that is consistent with the ITRF2014 frame. This paper describes the approach used for determining a PMM from the horizontal velocities of a subset of the ITRF2014 sites away from plate boundaries, Glacial Isostatic Adjustment regions and other deforming zones. In theory it would be necessary to include in the inversion model a translational motion vector (called in this paper origin rate bias, ORB) that would represent the relative motion between the ITRF2014 origin (long-term averaged centre of mass of the Earth as sensed by SLR) and the centre of tectonic plate motion. We show that in practice, the magnitude of the estimated ORB is strongly dependent on the selection of ITRF2014 sites used for the PMM adjustment. Its Z-component can in particular range between 0 and more than 1 mm yr−1 depending on the station network used, preventing any geophysical interpretation of the estimated value. Relying on rigorous statistical criteria, the site selection finally adopted for the ITRF2014-PMM adjustment leads to a relatively small ORB (0.30 ± 0.18 mm yr−1 in the Z-component), which is statistically insignificant at the 2-sigma level, but also according to an F-ratio test. Therefore we opted for an ITRF2014-PMM without estimating the ORB, which in turn accommodates geodetic applications that require access to the ITRF2014 frame through pure plate rotation poles.