COCONet


Continuously Operating Caribbean GPS Observational Network was a global positioning system observation network that spanned across the Caribbean and the neighboring area It was part of UNAVCO. UNAVCO and IRIS Consortium later merged to create EarthScope Consortium in 2023.
The project was initiated after the devastation of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, which was a 7.0 Mw earthquake. Starting from 2011, UNAVCO built and operated COCONet for the National Science Foundation. It was a network of continuous GPS meteorology or cGPS/Met sites. Along with the NSF-funded TLALOCNet GPS network in Mexico, the two networks of cGPS-Met instrumentation were available to support research in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Function

The purpose of COCOnet was to:
To accomplish the function of climate modeling and other objectives., the network also had tide gauges in Mexico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Panama. In terms of atmospheric measurements and related goals, the COCOnet stations were able to assist the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research as it created continuous estimates of precipitable water vapor.

Stations

A notable station is the station on the isolated Isla del Coco, Costa Rica, in that it is the only GPS station continuously tracking the Cocos Plate, as it passes underneath the Caribbean Plate, at a rate of 78 millimeters per year. Because the island is the only land mass of the Cocos Plate that is above sea level, this was the only place where Cocos Plate motion observations could be measured in this GPS network. A continuous GPS station was built and instrumented on the island in May 2011. Data from the station show a steady motion of the island at a speed of 90.9±1.5mm/yr. or approximately 90 millimeters a year.

Partnerships

The following organizations were members of the partnership for the network when it had existed:
COCOnet had held for workshops. The meetings can help to understand the history of the project:
The original COCONet project proposal was covered in three workshops:
  • The first one was planned to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • The second meeting was to be held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago with one of several goals being for Caribbean network operators to address the specifics of choosing existing and new stations.
  • The third COCONet workshop focused primarily on longer-term operations and maintenance for GPS stations installed in the Caribbean, and related issues.

    Data centers

The following were the data centers:
  • Servicio Geólogico Colombiano - Regional Data Center
  • Caribbean Institute for Meteorology & Hydrology, Barbados - Regional Data Center
  • Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales - Regional Data Center

    Last publications and workshops

The last publications and workshops of COCOnet were the following:
The last workshop was COCONet - Results, Sustainability, and Capacity Building, which had been held May 3–5, 2016 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.