Study of post-processed GNSS measurements for tidal analysis in the Belgian North Sea

• The use of a buoy equipped with a GNSS for full sea is assessed.
• A high correlation between data quality and meteorological parameters is stated.
• Highly accurate elevation measurements are obtained using satellite ephemeris, clock data and CORS reference data.
• The optimal parameter set for post-processing result in high quality data for tidal analysis.

In this paper, the use of a tidal buoy, equipped with a GNSS, is assessed. The prediction of the tide in the North Sea area is performed by a network of coastal tidal gauges. Long term measurements by these gauges are used to derive tidal constituents and the construction of tidal prediction tables for each separate measurement location. To estimate the tide between these locations, an interpolation is required. However, the quality of this calculation is heavily reduced for offshore predictions. The aim of this research is to deal with this challenge by the deployment of GNSS-buoys on full sea. The focus is on the data processing and the analysis of meteorological influences on the data quality. In this context, a strong correlation between meteorological parameters and the ability to calculate a fixed position will be demonstrated. Based on the results of two separated measurement campaigns, it is stated that the developed data acquisition technique results in highly accurate elevation measurement.