A New Datum-Controlled Tide Gauge Record for Sea Level Studies in the South Atlantic Ocean: King Edward Point, South Georgia Island

In 2008 a new pressure tide gauge with Global Sea Level Observing System Number 187 was installed at King Edward Point (KEP), South Georgia Island, South Atlantic Ocean. This installation was carried out as part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current Levels by Altimetry and Island Measurements (ACCLAIM) programme. In 2013 the KEP Geodetic Observatory was established in support of various scientific applications including the monitoring of vertical land movements at KEP. Currently, the observatory consists of two state-of-the-art Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations with local benchmark networks. In 2014 a tide board was added to the tide gauge, which, together with the measurements from the KEP Geodetic Observatory, now enables a calibration of the tide gauge. This will make it possible to include the KEP tide gauge in the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) database and make it available for future sea level studies.
In this study, we will present the GNSS and levelling observations from the KEP Geodetic Observatory for the period from February 2013 to May 2015 used for the calibration of the tide gauge. While it is still too early to obtain accurate vertical land movement estimates from the GNSS data, the levelling campaigns in 2013 and 2014 indicated 7-9 mm of subsidence near the tide gauge. For the computation of the new height datum, geoid undulations derived from a seamless combination of the latest Gravity Observation Combination (GOCO) and Earth Gravitational Model (EGM) 2008 models were used. The use of this combined gravity model introduced a datum shift of approximately -24 cm compared to the previous datum.