Spectral analysis for GNSS coordinate time series using chirp Fourier transform

Spectral analysis for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) coordinate time series provides a principal tool to understand the intrinsic mechanism that affects tectonic movements. Spectral analysis methods such as the fast Fourier transform, Lomb–Scargle spectrum, evolutionary power spectrum, wavelet power spectrum, etc. are used to find periodic characteristics in time series. Among spectral analysis methods, the chirp Fourier transform (CFT) with less stringent requirements is tested with synthetic and actual GNSS coordinate time series, which proves the accuracy and efficiency of the method. With the length of series only limited to even numbers, CFT provides a convenient tool for windowed spectral analysis. The results of ideal synthetic data prove CFT accurate and efficient, while the results of actual data show that CFT is usable to derive periodic information from GNSS coordinate time series.