GPS Data Archive

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a radionavigation system that is available worldwide. GPS signals are broadcast from a constellation of as many as 31 satellites. Because the GPS signals are derived from atomic frequency standards on board each satellite, they are widely used as a reference for time synchronization and frequency calibration. NIST provides this archive so that you can quickly check the frequency and time status of the GPS satellites compared to UTC(NIST) on any given date.

NIST continuously monitors the GPS signals from Boulder, Colorado by comparing the frequency standard onboard each satellite to the NIST time scale. Many applications rely on GPS receivers that provide a 1 pulse per second (pps) timing output, or a frequency output, such as 5 or 10 MHz, which is disciplined to agree with the GPS signal. GPS disciplined oscillators may be used to establish traceability to a national laboratory, but calibrations must be regularly performed by a national lab in order to support claims of measurement traceability better than 100 ns (time) and better than 1x10^-12 (frequency, 1-day average).

Reference: Achieving traceability to UTC through GNSS measurements P Defraigne et al 2022 Metrologia 59 064001

To view the data, simply select the month, day, and year, and then click the “Get Data.” The date on the form reflects the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) date, and the archive is updated every 10 minutes.