We present the crustal motion velocity field for the Indonesian archipelago based on Global Positioning System (GPS) field surveys conducted from 1991 to 1997, and 2001, totaling more than 150 sites, as well as on a reanalysis of global tracking data in the Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center archive from 1991 to 2001 in International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000. We compute poles of rotation for the Australia, Eurasia, and Pacific plates based on our analysis of the global GPS data. We find that regional tectonics is dominated by the interaction of four discrete, rotating blocks spanning significant areas of the Sunda Shelf, the South Banda arc, the Bird's Head region of New Guinea, and East Sulawesi. The largest, the Sunda Shelf block (SSH), is estimated to be moving 6 ± 3 mm/yr SE relative to Eurasia. The South Banda block (SBB) rotates clockwise relative to both the SSH and Australia plate, resulting in 15 ± 8 mm/yr of motion across the Timor trough and 60 ± 3 mm/yr of shortening across the Flores Sea. Southern New Guinea forms part of the Australia plate from which the Bird's Head block (BHB) moves rapidly WSW, subducting beneath the Seram trough. The East Sulawesi block rotates clockwise about a nearby axis with respect to the Sunda Shelf, thereby transferring east‐west shortening between the Pacific and Eurasia plates into north‐south shortening across the North Sulawesi trench. Except for the Sunda Shelf, the crustal blocks are all experiencing significant internal deformation. In this respect, crustal motion in those regions does not fit the microplate tectonics model.

Geodesy, the oldest science, has become an important discipline in the geosciences, in large part by enhancing Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities over the last 35 years well beyond the satellite constellation’s original design. The ability of GPS geodesy to estimate 3D positions with millimeter-level precision with respect to a global terrestrial reference frame has contributed to significant advances in geophysics, seismology, atmospheric science, hydrology, and natural hazard science. Monitoring the changes in the positions or trajectories of GPS instruments on the Earth’s land and water surfaces, in the atmosphere, or in space, is important for both theory and applications, from an improved understanding of tectonic and magmatic processes to developing systems for mitigating the impact of natural hazards on society and the environment. Besides accurate positioning, all disturbances in the propagation of the transmitted GPS radio signals from satellite to receiver are mined for information, from troposphere and ionosphere delays for weather, climate, and natural hazard applications, to disturbances in the signals due to multipath reflections from the solid ground, water, and ice for environmental applications. We review the relevant concepts of geodetic theory, data analysis, and physical modeling for a myriad of processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and discuss the extensive global infrastructure that has been built to support GPS geodesy consisting of thousands of continuously operating stations. We also discuss the integration of heterogeneous and complementary data sets from geodesy, seismology, and geology, focusing on crustal deformation applications and early warning systems for natural hazards.

Displacement waveforms derived from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data have become more commonly used by seismologists in the past 15 yrs. Unlike strong‐motion accelerometer recordings that are affected by baseline offsets during very strong shaking, GNSS data record displacement with fidelity down to 0 Hz. Unfortunately, fully processed GNSS waveform data are still scarce because of limited public availability and the highly technical nature of GNSS processing. In an effort to further the use and adoption of high‐rate (HR) GNSS for earthquake seismology, ground‐motion studies, and structural monitoring applications, we describe and make available a database of fully curated HR‐GNSS displacement waveforms for significant earthquakes. We include data from HR‐GNSS networks at near‐source to regional distances (1–1000 km) for 29 earthquakes between $Mw$ 6.0 and 9.0 worldwide. As a demonstration of the utility of this dataset, we model the magnitude scaling properties of peak ground displacements (PGDs) for these events. In addition to tripling the number of earthquakes used in previous PGD scaling studies, the number of data points over a range of distances and magnitudes is dramatically increased. The data are made available as a compressed archive with the article.