Foreword

This publication is a thesis submitted to the University of Iceland for the degree of Master of Science in Geophysics. The project was supervised by: Þóra Árnadóttir at the Nordic Volcanological Institute, Páll Einarsson at the Science Institute, University of Iceland, and Freysteinn Sigmundsson at the Nordic Volcanological Institute. I thank my supervisors for their excellent support and guidance during the work. The thesis was written in early 2002 but is published in March 2003. A few changes were made to the original paper to account for different circumstances, but all data processing and scientific results are left as they were written originally.

The Icelandic continuous GPS network (ISGPS) is a cooperation project between the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), Nordic Volcanological Institute (NORDVULK), Science Institute, University of Iceland (SIUI) and University of Savoie (LGCA), France. Ragnar Stefánsson (IMO), Freysteinn Sigmundsson (NORDVULK), Þóra Árnadóttir (NORDVULK) and Páll Einarsson (SIUI) got the ISGPS project started. The initial design of the ISGPS quadripod monument and technical aspects of the station setup came from Halldór Ólafsson (NORDVULK) and Bergur H. Bergsson (formerly at IMO). I wish to thank these people for being the driving force to initiate the ISGPS network.

I wish to thank all who have participated in the installation, operation and development of the ISGPS network: Bergur H. Bergsson, Halldór Ólafsson, Jósef Hólmjárn (IMO), Erik Sturkell (IMO), Thierry Villemin (LGCA), Antoine Berger (LGCA), Pálmi Erlendsson (IMO), Kristín Jónsdóttir (IMO), Sighvatur K. Pálsson (IMO), Haukur Brynjólfsson (SIUI), Ólafur Eggertsson at Þorvaldseyri, Hjörleifur Sveinbjörnsson (IMO), Steinunn S. Jakobsdóttir (IMO) and the rest of the staff at IMO, NORDVULK and SIUI. For providing good advice regarding technical aspects and data processing I thank Mike Jackson, Victoria Andretta, Jim Greenberg, Karl Feaux and Lou Estey at UNAVCO, Christof Völksen, Markus Rennen and Þórarinn Þórarinsson at the National Land Survey of Iceland, Uwe Hessels at BKG, Pierre Friedez, Stefan Schaher and Markus Rotacher at AIUB. Without doubt many more have contributed to the ISGPS network. I thank those who directly provided data used in this thesis: Þóra Árnadóttir and Kristján Ágústsson (IMO). Fruitful discussion was provided by a number of people. Among those are Ragnar Stefánsson, Gunnar B. Guðmundsson (IMO), Kristján Ágústsson and Knútur Árnason (National Energy Authority).

I thank caretakers of the ISGPS stations and the whole Icelandic community for treating the ISGPS stations with respect. An unlucky golfer that accidentally smashed a radome at HVER gets my sympathy and wish for improved skills. I thank IMO for employing me and providing office facilities. This work was in part supported by the EC project PRENLAB 2 and a special funding for the monitoring of Mýrdalsjökull. I thank the Icelandic Government, Reykjavík Energy, Icelandic Research Council, South Iceland Institute of Natural History, State Disaster Relief Fund, French Polar Institute, IMO and the National Power Company for financial support to purchase the GPS instruments for the stations.