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We process continuous GPS data distributed over the Iberian Peninsula, complemented by a few stations in France and North Africa, to constrain the displacement field in the surrounding area. A surface velocity field is derived from the time-series of daily solutions for each station, whose observations span 3.5 yr or longer. We find that most of Iberia forms a stable block fixed relative to Eurasia in which residuals have a weighted rms value of 0.85 mm yr−1 and are all below the computed accuracy for each station. Stations in northern Morocco exhibit a motion close to what would be expected for stable Nubia, in which residuals have a weighted rms value of 0.70 mm yr−1 and are also all below computed accuracies. The most distinctive behaviour is found at stations along the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco, where larger and more westward velocities are found. Three stations in southern Iberia show differences with respect to stable Eurasia that can reach 4.4 mm yr−1 and are distinctly larger than computed accuracies. We hypothesize that this peculiar behaviour is not only a consequence of the Nubian–Eurasian plate convergence, but also a result of a local lithospheric process, particularly the effect of the Gibraltar slab, as previously suggested by seismic tomography and geological modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

—GPS (Global Positioning System) observations started to be carried out in the Azores region under the scope of the TANGO (TransAtlantic Network for Geodesy and Oceanography) project in 1988. The measurements carried out between 1993 and 2000 (five campaigns) on nine GPS sites (one per island) were reprocessed using two state–of–the-art software packages. Different methodologies were applied to compute each campaign solution and the derived velocity field. The velocity fields, including the motions of two permanent stations, recently installed in the Azores, were computed within the most recent geodetic reference frame, ITRF2000 (International Terrestrial Reference Frame, solution 2000). They are compared with the motions of the stable rigid tectonic plates using as reference DEOS2k, a global tectonic model developed using geodetic data. The relative motions between the Western and Central groups of islands yield to evaluate the opening rate of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (boundary between the North American plate and the Eurasian and African plates). Concerning the boundary between the Eurasian and African plates, the motion of the TANGO sites in the Central and Eastern groups clearly identifies the transition pattern between those two plates. Two of the sites are considered to be located in the stable part of these plates, whereas the remaining five are within the deformation region of the Eurasia-Africa boundary. The conclusions are analyzed in view of the different deformation models, derived from geodynamic or geophysical data that have been proposed for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy resources have increasingly been integrated into electric power grids. Moreover, new challenges constantly arise, showing the need for modernization in monitoring, control, and protection. Transmission and distribution systems have explored the use of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in an attempt to meet these requirements. The decreasing cost of hardware components of PMUs, similar to what occurred with digital relays, is an important factor in terms of their worldwide use in different applications. Low-cost variations of PMUs focused on distribution systems, such as micro- and D-PMUs, are growing in number. Thus, this survey article presents significant and recent research conducted in the field of power systems using PMUs. Firstly, it briefly describes the characteristics of PMUs concerning hardware and phasor estimation algorithms. Afterward, recent studies related to transmission and distribution system protection based on PMUs are presented, such as fault detection and location, stability, and wide-area protection. Finally, the article also provided important guidelines, which certainly can be useful for future research in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accuracy by which velocities can be estimated from GNSS time series is mainly determined by the low-frequency noise, below 0.2–0.1 cpy, which are normally described by a power-law model. As GNSS observations have now been recorded for over two decades, new information about the noise at these low frequencies has become available and we investigate whether alternative noise models should be considered using the log-likelihood, Akaike and Bayesian information criteria. Using 110 globally distributed IGS stations with at least 12 years of observations, we find that for 80–90% of them the preferred noise models are still the power law or flicker noise with white noise. For around 6% of the stations, we found the presence of random-walk noise, which increases the linear trend uncertainty when taken into account in the stochastic noise model of the time series by about a factor of 1.5 to 8.4, in agreement with previous studies. Next, the Generalised Gauss–Markov with white noise model describes the stochastic properties better for 4% and 5% of the stations for the East and North component, respectively, and 13% for the vertical component. For these stations, the uncertainty associated with the tectonic rate is about 2 times smaller compared to the case when the standard power-law plus white noise model is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY We use a thin-shell approximation for the lithosphere to model the neotectonics of the Gulf of Cadiz, SW Iberia margin and the westernmost Mediterranean, in the eastern segment of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. In relation to previous neotectonic models in the region, we utilize a better constrained structural map offshore, and the recent GPS measurements over NW Africa and Iberia have been taken into account, together with the seismic strain rate and stress data, to evaluate alternative geodynamic settings proposed for the region. We show that by assuming a relatively simple, two-plate tectonic framework, where Nubia and Eurasia converge NW-SE to WNW-ESE at a rate of 4.5-6 mm yr−1, the models correctly predict the amount of shortening and wrenching between northern Algeria-Morocco and southern Spain and between NW Morocco and SW Iberia, as estimated from both GPS data and geological constraints. The consistency between modelled and observed velocities in the vicinity of Gibraltar and NW Morocco indicates that forcing by slab sinking beneath Gibraltar is not required to reproduce current horizontal deformation in these areas. In the Gulf of Cadiz and SW Iberia, the modelling results support a diffuse Nubia-Eurasia Plate boundary, where the convergence is accommodated along NNE-SSW to NE-SW and ENE-WSW thrust faults and WNW-ESE right-lateral strike-slip faults, over an area >200 km wide, in good general agreement with the distribution of the seismic strain rate and associated faulting mechanisms. The modelling results are robust to regional uncertainties in the structure of the lithosphere and have important implications for the earthquake and tsunami hazard of Portugal, SW Spain and Morocco. We predict maximum, long-term average fault slip rates between 1-2 mm yr−1, that is, less than 50 per cent the average plate relative movement, suggesting very long return periods for high-magnitude ( Mw > 8) earthquakes on individual structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]