Long-term and seasonal gravity changes at the Strasbourg station and their relation to crustal deformation and hydrology

The time-varying gravity is observed at the Strasbourg station with super-conducting gravimeters (SG) since 1987, with a first record from 1987 to 1996 (GWR T005) and a second one in continuity from 1996 till now (GWR C026). The long-term behaviour of the SG is constrained by regular absolute gravity (AG) measurements, which are performed in parallel since 1989, first with the JILAg-5 instrument and later on with the FG5#206. Moreover, a permanent GPS station, which belongs to the French geodetic network, has been installed at the end of 1999. We will show that the AG measurements suggest that the gravity is slowly increasing in time at a rate of about 1.6 muGal/year, and besides, exhibits a quasi-annual component of several muGal variable amplitude. We present an analysis of the GPS data obtained at the SG station in the Rhine graben as well as at another regional station in the Vosges mountains distant by about 40 km in order to constrain the gravity contribution due to the vertical displacement of the station in the earth's gravity field (geometrical part). The tectonic context of the region is described and our first results from our two data sets of limited duration suggest a small subsidence of our station in the graben; however, this fact needs further confirmation when more geodetic data will be available. We also analyze the water table changes beneath the station (local scale) and in the Alsatian Plain (regional scale) to estimate the hydrological contributions from ground water to the gravity residual signal, and we show that some similarities exist between the gravity residuals and the hydrological contributions, especially for the seasonal terms. Other missing contributions of annual period (air mass motion in the atmosphere, ocean circulation, continental hydrology) have to be considered. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.