Modern Radar Techniques for Geophysical Applications: Two Examples

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arokiasamy, B. J.; Bianchi, C.; Sciacca, U.; Tutone, G.; Zirizzotti, A.; Zuccheretti, E.

2005-01-01

The last decade of the evolution of radar was heavily influenced by the rapid increase in the information processing capabilities. Advances in solid state radio HF devices, digital technology, computing architectures and software offered the designers to develop very efficient radars. In designing modern radars the emphasis goes towards the simplification of the system hardware, reduction of overall power, which is compensated by coding and real time signal processing techniques. Radars are commonly employed in geophysical radio soundings like probing the ionosphere; stratosphere-mesosphere measurement, weather forecast, GPR and radio-glaciology etc. In the laboratorio di Geofisica Ambientale of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy, we developed two pulse compression radars. The first is a HF radar called AIS-INGV; Advanced Ionospheric Sounder designed both for the purpose of research and for routine service of the HF radio wave propagation forecast. The second is a VHF radar called GLACIORADAR, which will be substituting the high power envelope radar used by the Italian Glaciological group. This will be employed in studying the sub glacial structures of Antarctica, giving information about layering, the bed rock and sub glacial lakes if present. These are low power radars, which heavily rely on advanced hardware and powerful real time signal processing. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Spectral and fractal analyses of geomagnetic and riometric antarctic observations and a multidimensional index of activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Santis, A.; de Franceschi, G.; Perrone, L.

1997-06-01

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica under the P.N.R.A. (National Program of Research in Antarctica) has the responsibility of acquiring geophysical observations at the Italian Antarctic Base of Terra Nova Bay. Among others, geomagnetic and riometric data can provide some new insights into local and global activity of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. This article investigates some properties of these kinds of data by means of spectral and fractal analyses. In addition, a multidimensional index is derived from this single-point dataset to represent not only the local but also the global state of the magnetospheric activity.

The la Plata Astronomical Data Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marraco, H. G.

1990-11-01

RESUMEN. El Centro de Datos Astron6micos tiene su sede en la Facuitad de Ciencias Astron6micas y Geofisicas d la Universidad Nacional de La Plata y funciona por convenio entre esta facultad y el Centre des Stellaires de la Universite' Louis Pasteur en Estrasburgo (CDS), Francia. La finalidad de este centro es la de proveer a los astr6nomos del area con copias de los alrededor de 500 acumulados y/o preparados por el CDS a la vez que promover la producci6n y/o acumulaci6n de en el rea. Para la realizaci6n de esta tarea se cuenta con el apoyo del Centro Superior para el Procesamiento de la Informaci6n (CESPI) de la UNLP cuyos equipos se describen. Las tareas que se estan realizando incluyen la distribuci6n de SIMBAD a los astr6nomos argentinos y se efectuan ensayos de distribuci6n en linea de CD-ROM TEST DISK del Astronomical Data Center (ADC) de la NASA que contiene los 31 mas solicitados por los astr6nomos de todo el mundo. ABSTRACl The La Plata Astronomical Data Center operates by an agreement between the Facultad de Ciencias Astron6micas y Geofisicas at La Plata University and the Centre des Donnees Stellaires of Louis Pasteur University at Strasbourg (CDS), France. The purpose of the Center is to provide to the area astronomers with copies of the catalogs they need amongst those stored and/or prepared at CDS. At the same time the center will act of the astronomical data produced within its area. K words: DATA ANALYSIS

Location Capability and Site Characterization Installing a Borehole VBB Seismometer: the OGS Experience in Ferrara (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesaresi, D.; Barnaba, C.

2014-12-01

The Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS, Seismological Research Centre) of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) in Udine (Italy) after the strong earthquake of magnitude M=6.4 occurred in 1976 in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, started to operate the Northeastern Italy Seismic Network: it currently consists of 19 very sensitive broad band and 17 simpler short period seismic stations, all telemetered to and acquired in real time at the OGS CRS data centre in Udine. The southwestern edge of the OGS seismic network stands on the Po alluvial basin: earthquake localization and characterization in this area is affected by the presence of soft alluvial deposits. Following the ML=5.9 earthquake that struck the Emilia region around Ferrara in Northern Italy on May 20, 2012, a cooperation of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, OGS, the Comune di Ferrara and the University of Ferrara lead to the reinstallation of a previously existing very broad band (VBB) borehole seismic station in Ferrara and to the deployment of a temporary seismographic network consisting of eight portable seismological stations, to record the local earthquakes that occurred during the seismic sequence. The aim of the OGS intervention was on one hand to extend its real time seismic monitoring capabilities toward South-West, including Ferrara and its surroundings, and on the other hand to evaluate seismic site responses in the area. We will introduce details of the Ferrara VBB borehole station and the OGS temporary seismographic network configuration and installation. We will then illustrate the location capability performances, and finally we will shortly describe seismic site characterization with surface/borehole comparisons in terms of seismic noise, site amplification and resonance frequencies.

SEISMIC STUDY OF THE AGUA DE PAU GEOTHERMAL PROSPECT, SAO MIGUEL, AZORES.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dawson, Phillip B.; Rodrigues da Silva, Antonio; Iyer, H.M.; Evans, John R.

1985-01-01

A 16 station array was operated over the 200 km**2 central portion of Sao Miguel utilizing 8 permanent Instituto Nacional de Meterologia e Geofisica stations and 8 USGS portable stations. Forty four local events with well constrained solutions and 15 regional events were located. In addition, hundreds of unlocatable seismic events were recorded. The most interesting seismic activity occurred in a swarm on September 6 and 7, 1983 when over 200 events were recorded in a 16 hour period. The seismic activity around Agua de Pau was centered on the east and northeast slopes of the volcano. The data suggest a boiling hydrothermal system beneath the Agua de Pau volcano, consistent with a variety of other data.

OGS improvements in 2012 in running the Northeastern Italy Seismic Network: the Ferrara VBB borehole seismic station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesaresi, Damiano; Romanelli, Marco; Barnaba, Carla; Bragato, Pier Luigi; Durì, Giorgio

2013-04-01

The Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS, Seismological Research Center) of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) in Udine (Italy) after the strong earthquake of magnitude M=6.4 occurred in 1976 in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, started to operate the Northeastern Italy Seismic Network: it currently consists of 17 very sensitive broad band and 18 simpler short period seismic stations, all telemetered to and acquired in real time at the OGS-CRS data center in Udine. Real time data exchange agreements in place with other Italian, Slovenian, Austrian and Swiss seismological institutes lead to a total number of about 100 seismic stations acquired in real time, which makes the OGS the reference institute for seismic monitoring of Northeastern Italy. The southwestern edge of the OGS seismic network stands on the Po alluvial basin: earthquake localization and characterization in this area is affected by the presence of soft alluvial deposits. OGS ha already experience in running a local seismic network in high noise conditions making use of borehole installations in the case of the micro-seismicity monitoring of a local gas storage site for a private company. Following the ML=5.9 earthquake that struck the Emilia region around Ferrara in Northern Italy on May 20, 2012 at 02:03:53 UTC, a cooperation of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, OGS, the Comune di Ferrara and the University of Ferrara lead to the reinstallation of a previously existing very broad band (VBB) borehole seismic station in Ferrara. The aim of the OGS intervention was on one hand to extend its real time seismic monitoring capabilities toward South-West, including Ferrara and its surroundings, and on the other hand to evaluate the seismic response at the site. We will describe improvements in running the Northeastern Italy Seismic Network, including details of the Ferrara VBB

OGS improvements in 2012 in running the North-eastern Italy Seismic Network: the Ferrara VBB borehole seismic station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesaresi, D.; Romanelli, M.; Barnaba, C.; Bragato, P. L.; Durì, G.

2014-07-01

The Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS, Seismological Research Centre) of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) in Udine (Italy) after the strong earthquake of magnitude M=6.4 occurred in 1976 in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, started to operate the North-eastern Italy Seismic Network: it currently consists of 17 very sensitive broad band and 18 simpler short period seismic stations, all telemetered to and acquired in real time at the OGS-CRS data centre in Udine. Real time data exchange agreements in place with other Italian, Slovenian, Austrian and Swiss seismological institutes lead to a total number of about 100 seismic stations acquired in real time, which makes the OGS the reference institute for seismic monitoring of North-eastern Italy. The south-western edge of the OGS seismic network (Fig. 1) stands on the Po alluvial basin: earthquake localization and characterization in this area is affected by the presence of soft alluvial deposits. OGS ha already experience in running a local seismic network in high noise conditions making use of borehole installations in the case of the micro-seismicity monitoring of a local gas storage site for a private company. Following the ML = 5.9 earthquake that struck the Emilia region around Ferrara in Northern Italy on 20 May 2012 at 02:03:53 UTC, a cooperation of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, OGS, the Comune di Ferrara and the University of Ferrara lead to the reinstallation of a previously existing very broad band (VBB) borehole seismic station in Ferrara. The aim of the OGS intervention was on one hand to extend its real time seismic monitoring capabilities toward South-West, including Ferrara and its surroundings, and on the other hand to evaluate the seismic response at the site. We will describe improvements in running the North-eastern Italy Seismic Network, including details of

Nonextensive models for earthquakes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Silva, R.; Franca, G.S.; Vilar, C.S.

2006-02-15

We have revisited the fragment-asperity interaction model recently introduced by Sotolongo-Costa and Posadas [Phy. Rev. Lett. 92, 048501 (2004)] by considering a different definition for mean values in the context of Tsallis nonextensive statistics and introducing a scale between the earthquake energy and the size of fragment {epsilon}{proportional_to}r{sup 3}. The energy-distribution function (EDF) deduced in our approach is considerably different from the one obtained in the above reference. We have also tested the viability of this EDF with data from two different catalogs (in three different areas), namely, the NEIC and the Bulletin Seismic of the Revista Brasileira de Geofisica.more » Although both approaches provide very similar values for the nonextensive parameter q, other physical quantities, e.g., energy density, differ considerably by several orders of magnitude.« less

The compilation of the instrumental seismic catalogue of Italy: 1975-1984

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giardini, D.; Velonà, M. A.; Boschi, E.

1992-12-01

We compile a homogeneous and complete catalogue of the seismicity of the Italian region for 1975-1984, the period marking the transition from standard analogue seismometry to the new digital era. The work is developed in three phases: (1) the creation of a uniform digital databank of all seismic station readings, unifying the database available at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica with the catalogue of the International Seismological Centre; (2) the preparation of numerical procedures for automatic association of arrival data and for hypocentre location, using arrivals from local, regional and teleseismic stations in a spherical geometry; (3) the introduction of lateral heterogeneity by calibrating regional travel-time curves and station corrections. The first two phases have been completed, providing a new instrumental catalogue obtained using a spherical Earth model; the third phase is presented here in a preliminary stage.

Global positioning system survey data for active seismic and volcanic areas of eastern Sicily, 1994 to 2013

PubMed Central

Bonforte, Alessandro; Fagone, Sonia; Giardina, Carmelo; Genovese, Simone; Aiesi, Gianpiero; Calvagna, Francesco; Cantarero, Massimo; Consoli, Orazio; Consoli, Salvatore; Guglielmino, Francesco; Puglisi, Biagio; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Saraceno, Benedetto

2016-01-01

This work presents and describes a 20-year long database of GPS data collected by geodetic surveys over the seismically and volcanically active eastern Sicily, for a total of more than 6300 measurements. Raw data were initially collected from the various archives at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania—Osservatorio Etneo and organized in a single repository. Here, quality and completeness checks were performed, while all necessary supplementary information were searched, collected, validated and organized together with the relevant data. Once all data and information collections were completed, raw binary data were converted into the universal ASCII RINEX format; all data are provided in this format with the necessary information for precise processing. In order to make the data archive readily consultable, we developed software allowing the user to easily search and obtain the needed data by simple alphanumeric and geographic queries. PMID:27479914

Global positioning system survey data for active seismic and volcanic areas of eastern Sicily, 1994 to 2013.

PubMed

Bonforte, Alessandro; Fagone, Sonia; Giardina, Carmelo; Genovese, Simone; Aiesi, Gianpiero; Calvagna, Francesco; Cantarero, Massimo; Consoli, Orazio; Consoli, Salvatore; Guglielmino, Francesco; Puglisi, Biagio; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Saraceno, Benedetto

2016-08-01

This work presents and describes a 20-year long database of GPS data collected by geodetic surveys over the seismically and volcanically active eastern Sicily, for a total of more than 6300 measurements. Raw data were initially collected from the various archives at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania-Osservatorio Etneo and organized in a single repository. Here, quality and completeness checks were performed, while all necessary supplementary information were searched, collected, validated and organized together with the relevant data. Once all data and information collections were completed, raw binary data were converted into the universal ASCII RINEX format; all data are provided in this format with the necessary information for precise processing. In order to make the data archive readily consultable, we developed software allowing the user to easily search and obtain the needed data by simple alphanumeric and geographic queries.

Site characterization of the national seismic network of Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bordoni, Paola; Pacor, Francesca; Cultrera, Giovanna; Casale, Paolo; Cara, Fabrizio; Di Giulio, Giuseppe; Famiani, Daniela; Ladina, Chiara; PIschiutta, Marta; Quintiliani, Matteo

2017-04-01

The national seismic network of Italy (Rete Sismica Nazionale, RSN) run by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) consists of more than 400 seismic stations connected in real time to the institute data center in order to locate earthquakes for civil defense purposes. A critical issue in the performance of a network is the characterization of site condition at the recording stations. Recently INGV has started addressing this subject through the revision of all available geological and geophysical data, the acquisition of new information by means of ad-hoc field measurements and the analysis of seismic waveforms. The main effort is towards building a database, integrated with the other INGV infrastructures, designed to archive homogeneous parameters through the seismic network useful for a complete site characterization, including housing, geological, seismological and geotechnical features as well as the site class according to the European and Italian building codes. Here we present the ongoing INGV activities.

An open source, web based, simple solution for seismic data dissemination and collaborative research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diviacco, Paolo

2005-06-01

Collaborative research and data dissemination in the field of geophysical exploration need network tools that can access large amounts of data from anywhere using any PC or workstation. Simple solutions based on a combination of Open Source software can be developed to address such requests, exploiting the possibilities offered by the web technologies, and at the same time avoiding the costs and inflexibility of commercial systems. A viable solution consists of MySQL for data storage and retrieval, CWP/SU and GMT for data visualisation and a scripting layer driven by PHP that allows users to access the system via an Apache web server. In the light of the experience building the on-line archive of seismic data of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), we describe the solutions and the methods adopted, with a view to stimulate both the attitude of network collaborative research of other institutions similar to ours, and the development of different applications.

Geo hazard studies and their policy implications in Nicaragua

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strauch, W.

2007-05-01

-Cerro Negro and El Hoyo volcanoes; and 4) Flood hazard map of Maravilla river. This study was realized between 2004 and 2006, through technical cooperation of Japan International Cooperation Agency with INETER, upon the request of the Government of Nicaragua. The results of the mapping and investigations are fed in a National GIS on Geohazards maintained by INETER and developed in the frame of a regional cooperation project with BGR, Germany, and other international institutions. Many maps, project reports and GIS coverage are made available on INETER´s Website to the general public. (www.ineter.gob.ni/geofisica/geofisica.html ).

A visitor study approach to INGV exhibition at Genova Science Festival 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nave, R.; D'Addezio, G.; Carosi, A.

2012-04-01

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is one of the largest European scientific institution dealing with Earth Sciences research and seismic and volcanic surveillance. We organizes every year intense educational and outreach activities focalizing in particular on causes of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and how to behave properly and deal with these events. This approach derived from the consciousness on the social role of a correct information on natural hazards and on the awareness that preparedness is the best way to live with and to mitigate natural hazard. The Genova Science Festival, held since 2003, is the most remarkable among the Italian Science Communication events and for or the 2011 edition, the INGV realized an exibition called COME E' PROFONDO IL MARE, la geofisica in acqua (HOW DEEP THE SEA IS, geophysics in water). The exhibition shows and explains the main geodinamic processes trough interactive exhibits and colorful panels exploring events as earthquakes, volcanic eruption and tsunami, their impact on our territory. In order to approach a visitor study related to this scientific educational path we elaborated questionnaires designed for students, for teacher and for general public. We have chosen this survey instrument for its advantage to get a wide variety of information and quantitative data. In developing the questionnaire three main aspects were taken in account: its shortness, clarity in the questions, and answers structure able to grade different indicator of visitor opinion and exhibition impact. That will also allow us to combine indicators scores during data elaboration phase. The questionnaire goes through all the section of the educational path, trying to have a feedback on the proposed layout and its efficacy. The Science Festival lasted 2 weeks and was visited by about 8000 people. During the event were handed out and recollected about 300 questionnaires that allows us to make a reliable assessment on the

A database of the coseismic effects following the 30 October 2016 Norcia earthquake in Central Italy

PubMed Central

Villani, Fabio; Civico, Riccardo; Pucci, Stefano; Pizzimenti, Luca; Nappi, Rosa; De Martini, Paolo Marco; Villani, Fabio; Civico, Riccardo; Pucci, Stefano; Pizzimenti, Luca; Nappi, Rosa; De Martini, Paolo Marco; Agosta, F.; Alessio, G.; Alfonsi, L.; Amanti, M.; Amoroso, S.; Aringoli, D.; Auciello, E.; Azzaro, R.; Baize, S.; Bello, S.; Benedetti, L.; Bertagnini, A.; Binda, G.; Bisson, M.; Blumetti, A.M.; Bonadeo, L.; Boncio, P.; Bornemann, P.; Branca, S.; Braun, T.; Brozzetti, F.; Brunori, C.A.; Burrato, P.; Caciagli, M.; Campobasso, C.; Carafa, M.; Cinti, F.R.; Cirillo, D.; Comerci, V.; Cucci, L.; De Ritis, R.; Deiana, G.; Del Carlo, P.; Del Rio, L.; Delorme, A.; Di Manna, P.; Di Naccio, D.; Falconi, L.; Falcucci, E.; Farabollini, P.; Faure Walker, J.P.; Ferrarini, F.; Ferrario, M.F.; Ferry, M.; Feuillet, N.; Fleury, J.; Fracassi, U.; Frigerio, C.; Galluzzo, F.; Gambillara, R.; Gaudiosi, G.; Goodall, H.; Gori, S.; Gregory, L.C.; Guerrieri, L.; Hailemikael, S.; Hollingsworth, J.; Iezzi, F.; Invernizzi, C.; Jablonská, D.; Jacques, E.; Jomard, H.; Kastelic, V.; Klinger, Y.; Lavecchia, G.; Leclerc, F.; Liberi, F.; Lisi, A.; Livio, F.; Lo Sardo, L.; Malet, J.P.; Mariucci, M.T.; Materazzi, M.; Maubant, L.; Mazzarini, F.; McCaffrey, K.J.W.; Michetti, A.M.; Mildon, Z.K.; Montone, P.; Moro, M.; Nave, R.; Odin, M.; Pace, B.; Paggi, S.; Pagliuca, N.; Pambianchi, G.; Pantosti, D.; Patera, A.; Pérouse, E.; Pezzo, G.; Piccardi, L.; Pierantoni, P.P.; Pignone, M.; Pinzi, S.; Pistolesi, E.; Point, J.; Pousse, L.; Pozzi, A.; Proposito, M.; Puglisi, C.; Puliti, I.; Ricci, T.; Ripamonti, L.; Rizza, M.; Roberts, G.P.; Roncoroni, M.; Sapia, V.; Saroli, M.; Sciarra, A.; Scotti, O.; Skupinski, G.; Smedile, A.; Soquet, A.; Tarabusi, G.; Tarquini, S.; Terrana, S.; Tesson, J.; Tondi, E.; Valentini, A.; Vallone, R.; Van der Woerd, J.; Vannoli, P.; Venuti, A.; Vittori, E.; Volatili, T.; Wedmore, L.N.J.; Wilkinson, M.; Zambrano, M.

2018-01-01

We provide a database of the coseismic geological surface effects following the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake that hit central Italy on 30 October 2016. This was one of the strongest seismic events to occur in Europe in the past thirty years, causing complex surface ruptures over an area of >400 km2. The database originated from the collaboration of several European teams (Open EMERGEO Working Group; about 130 researchers) coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The observations were collected by performing detailed field surveys in the epicentral region in order to describe the geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, and subsequently of landslides and other secondary coseismic effects. The resulting database consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 7323 observation points, each of which contains 18 numeric and string fields of relevant information. This database will impact future earthquake studies focused on modelling of the seismic processes in active extensional settings, updating probabilistic estimates of slip distribution, and assessing the hazard of surface faulting. PMID:29583143

The seismicity in the L'Aquila area (Italy) with particular regard to 1985 earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardi, Fabrizio; Grazia Ciaccio, Maria; Palombo, Barbara

2010-05-01

We study moderate-magnitude earthquakes (Ml ≥3.5) occurred in the Aquila region recorded by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia from 1981 to 2009 (CSI, Castello et al., 2006 - http://www.ingv.it/CSI/ ; and ISIDe, http://iside.rm.ingv.it/iside/standard/index.jsp) as well as local temporary seismic networks We identify three major sequences (1985, 1994, 1996) occurring before the 6.th April 2009 Mw=6.3 earthquake. The 1985 earthquake (Ml=4.2) is the larger earthquake occurred in the investigated region till April 2009. The 1994 (Ml=3.9) and 1996 (Ml=4.1) occurred in the Campotosto area (NE to L'Aquila). We computed the source moment tensor using surface waves (Giardini et al., 1993) for the main shocks of the 1985 (Mw=4.7) and 1996 (Mw=4.4) sequences. The solutions show normal fault ruptures. We do not find a reliable solution for the major 1994 sequence earthquake. This suggests, that the magnitude of this event is probably below Mw≈4.2, which is the minimum magnitude threshold for this method.

A database of the coseismic effects following the 30 October 2016 Norcia earthquake in Central Italy.

PubMed

Villani, Fabio; Civico, Riccardo; Pucci, Stefano; Pizzimenti, Luca; Nappi, Rosa; De Martini, Paolo Marco

2018-03-27

We provide a database of the coseismic geological surface effects following the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake that hit central Italy on 30 October 2016. This was one of the strongest seismic events to occur in Europe in the past thirty years, causing complex surface ruptures over an area of >400 km 2 . The database originated from the collaboration of several European teams (Open EMERGEO Working Group; about 130 researchers) coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The observations were collected by performing detailed field surveys in the epicentral region in order to describe the geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, and subsequently of landslides and other secondary coseismic effects. The resulting database consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 7323 observation points, each of which contains 18 numeric and string fields of relevant information. This database will impact future earthquake studies focused on modelling of the seismic processes in active extensional settings, updating probabilistic estimates of slip distribution, and assessing the hazard of surface faulting.

A database of the coseismic effects following the 30 October 2016 Norcia earthquake in Central Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villani, Fabio; Civico, Riccardo; Pucci, Stefano; Pizzimenti, Luca; Nappi, Rosa; de Martini, Paolo Marco; Villani, Fabio; Civico, Riccardo; Pucci, Stefano; Pizzimenti, Luca; Nappi, Rosa; de Martini, Paolo Marco; Agosta, F.; Alessio, G.; Alfonsi, L.; Amanti, M.; Amoroso, S.; Aringoli, D.; Auciello, E.; Azzaro, R.; Baize, S.; Bello, S.; Benedetti, L.; Bertagnini, A.; Binda, G.; Bisson, M.; Blumetti, A. M.; Bonadeo, L.; Boncio, P.; Bornemann, P.; Branca, S.; Braun, T.; Brozzetti, F.; Brunori, C. A.; Burrato, P.; Caciagli, M.; Campobasso, C.; Carafa, M.; Cinti, F. R.; Cirillo, D.; Comerci, V.; Cucci, L.; de Ritis, R.; Deiana, G.; Del Carlo, P.; Del Rio, L.; Delorme, A.; di Manna, P.; di Naccio, D.; Falconi, L.; Falcucci, E.; Farabollini, P.; Faure Walker, J. P.; Ferrarini, F.; Ferrario, M. F.; Ferry, M.; Feuillet, N.; Fleury, J.; Fracassi, U.; Frigerio, C.; Galluzzo, F.; Gambillara, R.; Gaudiosi, G.; Goodall, H.; Gori, S.; Gregory, L. C.; Guerrieri, L.; Hailemikael, S.; Hollingsworth, J.; Iezzi, F.; Invernizzi, C.; Jablonská, D.; Jacques, E.; Jomard, H.; Kastelic, V.; Klinger, Y.; Lavecchia, G.; Leclerc, F.; Liberi, F.; Lisi, A.; Livio, F.; Lo Sardo, L.; Malet, J. P.; Mariucci, M. T.; Materazzi, M.; Maubant, L.; Mazzarini, F.; McCaffrey, K. J. W.; Michetti, A. M.; Mildon, Z. K.; Montone, P.; Moro, M.; Nave, R.; Odin, M.; Pace, B.; Paggi, S.; Pagliuca, N.; Pambianchi, G.; Pantosti, D.; Patera, A.; Pérouse, E.; Pezzo, G.; Piccardi, L.; Pierantoni, P. P.; Pignone, M.; Pinzi, S.; Pistolesi, E.; Point, J.; Pousse, L.; Pozzi, A.; Proposito, M.; Puglisi, C.; Puliti, I.; Ricci, T.; Ripamonti, L.; Rizza, M.; Roberts, G. P.; Roncoroni, M.; Sapia, V.; Saroli, M.; Sciarra, A.; Scotti, O.; Skupinski, G.; Smedile, A.; Soquet, A.; Tarabusi, G.; Tarquini, S.; Terrana, S.; Tesson, J.; Tondi, E.; Valentini, A.; Vallone, R.; van der Woerd, J.; Vannoli, P.; Venuti, A.; Vittori, E.; Volatili, T.; Wedmore, L. N. J.; Wilkinson, M.; Zambrano, M.

2018-03-01

We provide a database of the coseismic geological surface effects following the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake that hit central Italy on 30 October 2016. This was one of the strongest seismic events to occur in Europe in the past thirty years, causing complex surface ruptures over an area of >400 km2. The database originated from the collaboration of several European teams (Open EMERGEO Working Group; about 130 researchers) coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The observations were collected by performing detailed field surveys in the epicentral region in order to describe the geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, and subsequently of landslides and other secondary coseismic effects. The resulting database consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 7323 observation points, each of which contains 18 numeric and string fields of relevant information. This database will impact future earthquake studies focused on modelling of the seismic processes in active extensional settings, updating probabilistic estimates of slip distribution, and assessing the hazard of surface faulting.

GPS Signal Feature Analysis to Detect Volcanic Plume on Mount Etna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannavo', Flavio; Aranzulla, Massimo; Scollo, Simona; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Imme', Giuseppina

2014-05-01

Volcanic ash produced during explosive eruptions can cause disruptions to aviation operations and to population living around active volcanoes. Thus, detection of volcanic plume becomes a crucial issue to reduce troubles connected to its presence. Nowadays, the volcanic plume detection is carried out by using different approaches such as satellites, radars and lidars. Recently, the capability of GPS to retrieve volcanic plumes has been also investigated and some tests applied to explosive activity of Etna have demonstrated that also the GPS may give useful information. In this work, we use the permanent and continuous GPS network of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo (Italy) that consists of 35 stations located all around volcano flanks. Data are processed by the GAMIT package developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here we investigate the possibility to quantify the volcanic plume through the GPS signal features and to estimate its spatial distribution by means of a tomographic inversion algorithm. The method is tested on volcanic plumes produced during the lava fountain of 4-5 September 2007, already used to confirm if weak explosive activity may or may not affect the GPS signals.

PEGASO: An ultra light long duration stratospheric payload for polar regions flights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iarocci, A.; Benedetti, P.; Caprara, F.; Cardillo, A.; di Felice, F.; di Stefano, G.; Drakøy, P.; Ibba, R.; Mari, M.; Masi, S.; Musso, I.; Palangio, P.; Peterzen, S.; Romeo, G.; Spinelli, G.; Spoto, D.; Urbini, G.

2008-11-01

Stratospheric balloons are powerful and affordable tools for a wide spectrum of scientific investigations that are carried out at the stratosphere level. They are less expensive compared to satellite projects and have the capability to lift payloads from a few kilograms to a couple of tons or more, well above the troposphere, for more than a month. Another interesting feature of these balloons, which is not viable in satellites, is the short turnaround time, which enables frequent flights. We introduce the PEGASO (Polar Explorer for Geomagnetism And other Scientific Observations) project, a stratospheric payload designed and developed by the INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), Rome and La Sapienza University, Rome. The project was sponsored by the PNRA (Progetto Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide), Italy (Peterzen et al., 2003). This light payload (10 kg) was used by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and Andoya Rocket Range (ARR) for five different scientific missions. PEGASO carries a 3-component flux-gate magnetometer, uses a solar cell array as the power source and has a GPS location system. The bi-directional telemetry system for data transfer and the remote control system were IRIDIUM based.

"SeismoSAT" project results in connecting seismic data centres via satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesaresi, Damiano; Lenhardt, Wolfgang; Rauch, Markus; Živčić, Mladen; Steiner, Rudolf; Bertoni, Michele; Delazer, Heimo

2016-04-01

Since 2002 the OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale) in Udine (Italy), the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) in Vienna (Austria), and the Agencija Republike Slovenije za Okolje (ARSO) in Ljubljana (Slovenia) are collecting, analysing, archiving and exchanging seismic data in real time. Up to now the data exchange between the seismic data centres relied on internet: this however was not an ideal condition for civil protection purposes, since internet reliability is poor. For this reason, in 2012 the Protezione Civile della Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano in Bolzano (Italy) joined OGS, ZAMG and ARSO in the Interreg IV Italia-Austria project "SeismoSAT" (Progetto SeismoSAT, 2014) aimed in connecting the seismic data centres in real time via satellite. As already presented in the past, the general technical schema of the project has been outlined, data bandwidths and monthly volumes required have been quantified, the common satellite provider has been selected and the hardware has been purchased and installed. Right before the end of its financial period, the SeismoSAT project proved to be successful guaranteeing data connection stability between the involved data centres during an internet outage.

Waveform Modeling Reveals Important Features of the Subduction Zone Seismic Structure Beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Luccio, F.; Persaud, P.; Pino, N. A.; Clayton, R. W.; Helmberger, D. V.; Li, D.

2016-12-01

Seismic images of the slab in southern Italy indicate a complex geodynamic system, although these images are strongly affected by limitations due to instrumental coverage, in terms of depth resolution and lateral extent. To help improve our knowledge of the structure of the Calabrian subduction zone, we analyze waveforms of regional events that occurred between 2001 and 2015 beneath the Tyrrhenian sea in the western Mediterranean. The selected events are deeper than 200 km and they were recorded at the Italian seismic network managed by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Italy. We have also included recordings at ocean bottom seismometers and hydrophones, which were installed for a few months in 2000-2001, 2004-2005 and 2007-2008. Accurate selection of the source-to receiver raypaths can reveal significant differences at receivers, which are perpendicular to the trench with respect to other stations. P-wave complexity, converted phases and frequency content are some of the features we have observed for selected events. To investigate the slab structure, we model the waveforms using the 2D staggered grid Finite Difference method on graphics processing units developed by Li et al. (Geophys. J. Int., 2014).

ASI-Sistema Rischio Vulcanico SRV: a pilot project to develop EO data processing modules and products for volcanic activity monitoring based on Italian Civil Protection Department requirements and needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buongiorno, Maria Fabrizia; Musacchio, Massimo; Silvestri, Malvina; Spinetti, Claudia; Corradini, Stefano; Lombardo, Valerio; Merucci, Luca; Sansosti, Eugenio; Pugnagli, Sergio; Teggi, Sergio; Pace, Gaetano; Fermi, Marco; Zoffoli, Simona

2007-10-01

The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The objective of the project is to develop a pre-operative system based on EO data and ground measurements integration to support the volcanic risk monitoring of the Italian Civil Protection Department which requirements and need are well integrated in the GMES Emergency Core Services program. The project philosophy is to implement, by incremental versions, specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools EO derived parameters considering three activity phases: 1) knowledge and prevention; 2) crisis; 3) post crisis. In order to combine effectively the EO data and the ground networks measurements the system will implement a multi-parametric analysis tool, which represents and unique tool to analyze contemporaneously a large data set of data in "near real time". The SRV project will be tested his operational capabilities on three Italian Volcanoes: Etna,Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei.

Radio-echo sounding at Dome C, East Antarctica: A comparison of measured and modeled data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winter, Anna; Eisen, Olaf; Steinhage, Daniel; Zirizzotti, Achille; Urbini, Stefano; Cavitte, Marie; Blankenship, Donald D.; Wolff, Eric

2016-04-01

The internal layering architecture of ice sheets, detected with radio-echo sounding (RES), contains clues to past ice-flow dynamics and mass balance. A common way of relating the recorded travel time of RES reflections to depth is by integrating a wave-speed distribution. This results in an increasing absolute error with depth. We present a synchronization of RES-internal layers of different radar systems (Alfred Wegener Institute, Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, British Antarctic Survey and University of Texas Institute for Geophysics) with ice-core records from the Antarctic deep drill site Dome C. Synthetic radar traces are obtained from measurements of ice-core density and conductivity with a 1D model of Maxwell's equations. The reflection peaks of the different radar systems' measurements are shifted by a wiggle-matching algorithm, so they match the synthetic trace. In this way, we matched pronounced internal reflections in the RES data to conductivity peaks with considerably smaller depth uncertainties, and assigned them with the ice-core age. We examine the differences in shifts and resolution of the different RES data to address the question of their comparability and combined analysis for an extensive age-depth distribution.

USGS "Did You Feel It?" internet-based macroseismic intensity maps

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wald, D.J.; Quitoriano, V.; Worden, B.; Hopper, M.; Dewey, J.W.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) "Did You Feel It?" (DYFI) system is an automated approach for rapidly collecting macroseismic intensity data from Internet users' shaking and damage reports and generating intensity maps immediately following earthquakes; it has been operating for over a decade (1999-2011). DYFI-based intensity maps made rapidly available through the DYFI system fundamentally depart from more traditional maps made available in the past. The maps are made more quickly, provide more complete coverage and higher resolution, provide for citizen input and interaction, and allow data collection at rates and quantities never before considered. These aspects of Internet data collection, in turn, allow for data analyses, graphics, and ways to communicate with the public, opportunities not possible with traditional data-collection approaches. Yet web-based contributions also pose considerable challenges, as discussed herein. After a decade of operational experience with the DYFI system and users, we document refinements to the processing and algorithmic procedures since DYFI was first conceived. We also describe a number of automatic post-processing tools, operations, applications, and research directions, all of which utilize the extensive DYFI intensity datasets now gathered in near-real time. DYFI can be found online at the website http://earthquake.usgs.gov/dyfi/. ?? 2011 by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia.

Earthquake Forecasting System in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falcone, G.; Marzocchi, W.; Murru, M.; Taroni, M.; Faenza, L.

2017-12-01

In Italy, after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, a procedure was developed for gathering and disseminating authoritative information about the time dependence of seismic hazard to help communities prepare for a potentially destructive earthquake. The most striking time dependency of the earthquake occurrence process is the time clustering, which is particularly pronounced in time windows of days and weeks. The Operational Earthquake Forecasting (OEF) system that is developed at the Seismic Hazard Center (Centro di Pericolosità Sismica, CPS) of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is the authoritative source of seismic hazard information for Italian Civil Protection. The philosophy of the system rests on a few basic concepts: transparency, reproducibility, and testability. In particular, the transparent, reproducible, and testable earthquake forecasting system developed at CPS is based on ensemble modeling and on a rigorous testing phase. Such phase is carried out according to the guidance proposed by the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP, international infrastructure aimed at evaluating quantitatively earthquake prediction and forecast models through purely prospective and reproducible experiments). In the OEF system, the two most popular short-term models were used: the Epidemic-Type Aftershock Sequences (ETAS) and the Short-Term Earthquake Probabilities (STEP). Here, we report the results from OEF's 24hour earthquake forecasting during the main phases of the 2016-2017 sequence occurred in Central Apennines (Italy).

Tweeting Earthquakes using TensorFlow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casarotti, E.; Comunello, F.; Magnoni, F.

2016-12-01

The use of social media is emerging as a powerful tool for disseminating trusted information about earthquakes. Since 2009, the Twitter account @INGVterremoti provides constant and timely details about M2+ seismic events detected by the Italian National Seismic Network, directly connected with the seismologists on duty at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). Currently, it updates more than 150,000 followers. Nevertheless, since it provides only the manual revision of seismic parameters, the timing (approximately between 10 and 20 minutes after an event) has started to be under evaluation. Undeniably, mobile internet, social network sites and Twitter in particular require a more rapid and "real-time" reaction. During the last 36 months, INGV tested the tweeting of the automatic detection of M3+ earthquakes, studying the reliability of the information both in term of seismological accuracy that from the point of view of communication and social research. A set of quality parameters (i.e. number of seismic stations, gap, relative error of the location) has been recognized to reduce false alarms and the uncertainty of the automatic detection. We present an experiment to further improve the reliability of this process using TensorFlow™ (an open source software library originally developed by researchers and engineers working on the Google Brain Team within Google's Machine Intelligence research organization).

@INGVterremoti: Tweeting the Automatic Detection of Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casarotti, E.; Amato, A.; Comunello, F.; Lauciani, V.; Nostro, C.; Polidoro, P.

2014-12-01

The use of social media is emerging as a powerful tool fordisseminating trusted information about earthquakes. Since 2009, theTwitter account @INGVterremoti provides constant and timely detailsabout M2+ seismic events detected by the Italian National SeismicNetwork, directly connected with the seismologists on duty at IstitutoNazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). After the 2012 seismicsequence, the account has been awarded by a national prize as the"most useful Twitter account". Currently, it updates more than 110,000followers (one the first 50 Italian Twitter accounts for number offollowers). Nevertheless, since it provides only the manual revisionof seismic parameters, the timing (approximately between 10 and 20minutes after an event) has started to be under evaluation.Undeniably, mobile internet, social network sites and Twitter in particularrequire a more rapid and "real-time" reaction.During the last 18 months, INGV tested the tweeting of the automaticdetection of M3+ earthquakes, obtaining results reliable enough to bereleased openly 1 or 2 minutes after a seismic event. During the summerof 2014, INGV, with the collaboration of CORIS (Department ofCommunication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome),involved the followers of @INGVterremoti and citizens, carrying out aquali-quantitative study (through in-depth interviews and a websurvey) in order to evaluate the best format to deliver suchinformation. In this presentation we will illustrate the results of the reliability test and theanalysis of the survey.

PWL 1.0 Personal WaveLab: an object-oriented workbench for seismogram analysis on Windows systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bono, Andrea; Badiali, Lucio

2005-02-01

Personal WaveLab 1.0 wants to be the starting point for an ex novo development of seismic time-series analysis procedures for Windows-based personal computers. Our objective is two-fold. Firstly, being itself a stand-alone application, it allows to do "basic" digital or digitised seismic waveform analysis. Secondly, thanks to its architectural characteristics it can be the basis for the development of more complex and power featured applications. An expanded version of PWL, called SisPick!, is currently in use at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) for real-time monitoring with purposes of Civil Protection. This means that about 90 users tested the application for more than 1 year, making its features more robust and efficient. SisPick! was also employed in the United Nations Nyragongo Project, in Congo, and during the Stromboli emergency in summer of 2002. The main appeals of the application package are: ease of use, object-oriented design, good computational speed, minimal need of disk space and the complete absence of third-party developed components (including ActiveX). Windows environment spares the user scripting or complex interaction with the system. The system is in constant development to answer the needs and suggestions of its users. Microsoft Visual Basic 6 source code, installation package, test data sets and documentation are available at no cost.

The 10 m-resolution TINITALY DEM as a trans-disciplinary basis for the analysis of the Italian territory: Current trends and new perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarquini, Simone; Nannipieri, Luca

2017-03-01

The increasing availability of high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) is changing our viewpoint towards Earth surface landforms. Nevertheless, large-coverage, intermediate-resolution DEMs are still largely used, and can be the ideal choice in several applications based on the processing of spatially-integrated information. In 2012 the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia opened a website for the free download of the "TINTALY" Digital Elevation Model (DEM), which covers the whole Italian territory. Since then, about 700 users from 28 different countries have been accredited for data download, and a report of 4 years of data dissemination and use is presented. The analysis of the intended use reveals that the 10 m-resolution, seamless TINITALY DEM is of use for an extremely assorted research community. Accredited users are working in virtually any branch of the Earth Sciences (e.g. Volcanology, Seismology, and Geomorphology), in spatially integrated humanities (e.g. History and Archaeology), and in other thematic areas such as in applied Physics and Zoology. Many users are also working in local administrations (e.g. Regions and Municipalities) for civil protection or land use planning purposes. In summary, the documented activity shows that the dissemination of seamless, large coverage elevation datasets can fertilize the technological progress of the whole society providing a significant benefit to stakeholders.

The GINGERino ring laser gyroscope, seismological observations at one year from the first light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simonelli, Andreino; Belfi, Jacopo; Beverini, Nicolò; Di Virgilio, Angela; Carelli, Giorgio; Maccioni, Enrico; De Luca, Gaetano; Saccorotti, Gilberto

2016-04-01

The GINGERino ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a new large observatory-class RLG located in Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS), one national laboratory of the INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare). The GINGERino apparatus funded by INFN in the context of a larger project of fundamental physics is intended as a pathfinder instrument to reach the high sensitivity needed to observe general relativity effects; more details are found at the URL (https://web2.infn.it/GINGER/index.php/it/). The sensitivity reached by our instrument in the first year after the set up permitted us to acquire important seismological data of ground rotations during the transit of seismic waves generated by seisms at different epicentral distances. RLGs are in fact the best sensors for capturing the rotational motions associated with the transit of seismic waves, thanks to the optical measurement principle, these instruments are in fact insensitive to translations. Ground translations are recorded by two seismometers: a Nanometrics Trillium 240 s and Guralp CMG 3T 360 s, the first instrument is part of the national earthquake monitoring program of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and provides the ground translation data to be compared to the RLG rotational data. We report the waveforms and the seismological analysis of some seismic events recorded during our first year of activity inside the LNGS laboratory.

A critical review of seismotectonic setting of the Campanian Plain (Southern Italy) in GIS environment.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudiosi, Germana; Alessio, Giuliana; Luiso, Paola; Nappi, Rosa; Ricciolino, Patrizia

2010-05-01

analysed in GIS environment. In particular, the seismological data used in this study are relative both to the historical and recent seismic activity, collected by the following Catalogues: CPTI04 Catalogue of Parametric Italian Earthquakes, 2004 (217 b.C to 2002); CSI Catalogue of Instrumental Italian Earthquakes (1981-2002); CNT Seismic Bulletin of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (2003-2008); Data Base of Seismic Laboratory of Osservatorio Vesuviano (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) (2000-2009); SisCam Catalogue (Seismotectonic Information System of the Campanian Region) (1980-2000). Seismic data were homogenized in an only one Catalogue. The seismicity of Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio volcanoes have not been studied. The Geological Dataset consists of a merge of all outcropping and buried faults extracted from the available geological and structural maps: Geological map of Italy 1:100.000; Geological map of Southern Italy 1:250.000; Neotectonic Map of Italy 1:500.000; Structural Map of Italy 1:500.000. Two main NW-SE and NE-SW active fault systems have been identified from the joined analysis of seismic epicentres and faults. Moreover, tectonic structure without correlated seismic activity and a spread seismicity, apparently not linked with already known structures (buried faults?), have been identified.

First Observations of GNSS Ionospheric Scintillations From DemoGRAPE Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alfonsi, L.; Cilliers, P. J.; Romano, V.; Hunstad, I.; Correia, E.; Linty, N.; Dovis, F.; Terzo, O.; Ruiu, P.; Ward, J.; Riley, P.

2016-10-01

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia leads an international project funded by the Italian National Program for Antarctic Research, called Demonstrator of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Research and Application for Polar Environment (DemoGRAPE), in partnership with Politecnico di Torino, Istituto Superiore Mario Boella, and with South African National Space Agency and the Brazilian National Institute of Space Physics, as key collaborators. DemoGRAPE is a new prototype of support for the satellite navigation in Antarctica. Besides the scientific interest, the accuracy of satellite navigation in Antarctica is of paramount importance since there is always the danger that people and vehicles can fall into a crevasse during a snowstorm, when visibility is limited and travel is restricted to following specified routes using satellite navigation systems. The variability of ionospheric delay and ionospheric scintillation are two of the primary factors which affect the accuracy of satellite navigation. The project will provide a demonstrator of cutting edge technology for the empirical assessment of the ionospheric delay and ionospheric scintillations in the polar regions. The scope of the project includes new equipment for the recording and dissemination of GNSS data and products installed at the South African and Brazilian bases in Antarctica. The new equipment will facilitate the exchange of software and derived products via the Cloud computing technology infrastructure. The project portal is accessible at www.demogrape.net. We report the first Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal scintillations observed in Antarctica.

Database for earthquake strong motion studies in Italy

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scasserra, G.; Stewart, J.P.; Kayen, R.E.; Lanzo, G.

2009-01-01

We describe an Italian database of strong ground motion recordings and databanks delineating conditions at the instrument sites and characteristics of the seismic sources. The strong motion database consists of 247 corrected recordings from 89 earthquakes and 101 recording stations. Uncorrected recordings were drawn from public web sites and processed on a record-by-record basis using a procedure utilized in the Next-Generation Attenuation (NGA) project to remove instrument resonances, minimize noise effects through low- and high-pass filtering, and baseline correction. The number of available uncorrected recordings was reduced by 52% (mostly because of s-triggers) to arrive at the 247 recordings in the database. The site databank includes for every recording site the surface geology, a measurement or estimate of average shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m (Vs30), and information on instrument housing. Of the 89 sites, 39 have on-site velocity measurements (17 of which were performed as part of this study using SASW techniques). For remaining sites, we estimate Vs30 based on measurements on similar geologic conditions where available. Where no local velocity measurements are available, correlations with surface geology are used. Source parameters are drawn from databanks maintained (and recently updated) by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and include hypocenter location and magnitude for small events (M< ??? 5.5) and finite source parameters for larger events. ?? 2009 A.S. Elnashai & N.N. Ambraseys.

Grid Oriented Implementation of the Tephra Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coltelli, M.; D'Agostino, M.; Drago, A.; Pistagna, F.; Prestifilippo, M.; Reitano, D.; Scollo, S.; Spata, G.

2009-04-01

TEPHRA is a two dimensional advection-diffusion model implemented by Bonadonna et al. [2005] that describes the sedimentation process of particles from volcanic plumes. The model is used by INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania, to forecast tephra dispersion during Etna volcanic events. Every day weather forecast provided by the Italian Air Force Meteorological Office in Rome and by the hydrometeorological service of ARPA in Emilia Romagna are processed by TEPHRA model with other volcanological parameters to simulate two different eruptive scenarios of Mt. Etna (corresponding to 1998 and 2002-03 Etna eruptions). The model outputs are plotted on maps and transferred to Civil Protection which takes the trouble to give public warnings and plan mitigation measures. The TEPHRA model is implemented in ANSI-C code using MPI commands to maximize parallel computation. Actually the model runs on an INGV Beowulf cluster. In order to provide better performances we worked on porting it to PI2S2 sicilian grid infrastructure inside the "PI2S2 Project" (2006-2008). We configured the application to run on grid, using Glite middleware, analyzed the obtained performances and comparing them with ones obtained on the local cluster. As TEPHRA needs to be run in a short time in order to transfer fastly the dispersion maps to Civil Protection, we also worked to minimize and stabilize grid job-scheduling time by using customized high-priority queues called Emergency Queue.

ICE-VOLC Project: unravelling the dynamics of Antarctica volcanoes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannata, Andrea; Del Carlo, Paola; Giudice, Gaetano; Giuffrida, Giovanni; Larocca, Graziano; Liuzzo, Marco

2017-04-01

Melbourne and Rittmann volcanoes are located in the Victoria Land. Whilst Rittmann's last eruption dates probably to Pleistocene, Melbourne's most recent eruption between 1862 and 1922, testifying it is still active. At present, both volcanoes display fumarolic activity. Melbourne was discovered in 1841 by James Clark Ross, Rittmann during the 4th Italian Expedition (1988/1989). Our knowledge on both volcanoes is really little. The position of these volcanoes in the Antarctic region (characterised by absence of anthropic noise) and its proximity with the Italian Mario Zucchelli Station makes them ideal sites for studying volcano seismic sources, geothermal emissions, seismo-acoustic signals caused by cryosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere dynamics, and volcanic gas impact on environment. Hence, the main aim of the ICE-VOLC ("multiparametrIC Experiment at antarctica VOLCanoes: data from volcano and cryosphere-ocean-atmosphere dynamics") project is the study of Melbourne and Rittmann, by acquisition, analysis and integration of multiparametric geophysical, geochemical and thermal data. Complementary objectives include investigation of the relationship between seismo-acoustic activity recorded in Antarctica and cryosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere dynamics, evaluation of the impact of volcanic gas in atmosphere. This project involves 26 researchers, technologists and technicians from University of Perugia and from Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia of Catania, Palermo, Pisa and Rome. In this work, we show the preliminary results obtained after the first expedition in Antarctica, aiming to perform geochemical-thermal surveys in the volcano ice caves, as well as to collect ash samples and to install temporary seismic stations.

Short- and Long-Term Earthquake Forecasts Based on Statistical Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Console, Rodolfo; Taroni, Matteo; Murru, Maura; Falcone, Giuseppe; Marzocchi, Warner

2017-04-01

The epidemic-type aftershock sequences (ETAS) models have been experimentally used to forecast the space-time earthquake occurrence rate during the sequence that followed the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake and for the 2012 Emilia earthquake sequence. These forecasts represented the two first pioneering attempts to check the feasibility of providing operational earthquake forecasting (OEF) in Italy. After the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake the Italian Department of Civil Protection nominated an International Commission on Earthquake Forecasting (ICEF) for the development of the first official OEF in Italy that was implemented for testing purposes by the newly established "Centro di Pericolosità Sismica" (CPS, the seismic Hazard Center) at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). According to the ICEF guidelines, the system is open, transparent, reproducible and testable. The scientific information delivered by OEF-Italy is shaped in different formats according to the interested stakeholders, such as scientists, national and regional authorities, and the general public. The communication to people is certainly the most challenging issue, and careful pilot tests are necessary to check the effectiveness of the communication strategy, before opening the information to the public. With regard to long-term time-dependent earthquake forecast, the application of a newly developed simulation algorithm to Calabria region provided typical features in time, space and magnitude behaviour of the seismicity, which can be compared with those of the real observations. These features include long-term pseudo-periodicity and clustering of strong earthquakes, and a realistic earthquake magnitude distribution departing from the Gutenberg-Richter distribution in the moderate and higher magnitude range.

The initial phases of the 2008-2009 Mount Etna eruption: A multidisciplinary approach for hazard assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonaccorso, A.; Bonforte, A.; Calvari, S.; Del Negro, C.; di Grazia, G.; Ganci, G.; Neri, M.; Vicari, A.; Boschi, E.

2011-03-01

Between 2007 and early 2008, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) monitoring networks on Etna volcano recorded a recharging phase that climaxed with a new effusive eruption on 13 May 2008 and lasted about 14 months. A dike-forming intrusion was accompanied by a violent seismic swarm, with more than 230 events recorded in the first 6 h, the largest being ML = 3.9. In the meanwhile, marked ground deformation was recorded by the permanent tilt and GPS networks, and sudden changes in the summit area were detected by five continuously recording magnetic stations. Poor weather conditions did not allow direct observation of the eruptive events, but important information was provided by infrared satellite images that detected the start of lava fountains from the eruptive fissure, feeding a lava flow. This flow spread within the Valle del Bove depression, covering 6.4 km on the southeastern flank of the volcano in a few hours. The seismicity and deformation pattern indicated that the dike-forming intrusion was propagating northward. It produced a dry fracture field, which generated concern for the possibility that the eruptive fissures could expand downslope toward populated areas. Monitoring and modeling of the multidisciplinary data, together with the simulations of ash dispersal and lava flows, allowed us both to infer the eruptive mechanisms and to provide correct interpretation of the ongoing phenomena, furnishing useful information for civil defense purposes. We describe how this approach of feedback between monitoring and research provides critical support to risk evaluation.

The unrest of the San Miguel volcano (El Salvador, Central America): installation of the monitoring network and observed volcano-tectonic ground deformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonforte, Alessandro; Hernandez, Douglas Antonio; Gutiérrez, Eduardo; Handal, Louis; Polío, Cecilia; Rapisarda, Salvatore; Scarlato, Piergiorgio

2016-08-01

On 29 December 2013, the Chaparrastique volcano in El Salvador, close to the town of San Miguel, erupted suddenly with explosive force, forming a column more than 9 km high and projecting ballistic projectiles as far as 3 km away. Pyroclastic density currents flowed to the north-northwest side of the volcano, while tephras were dispersed northwest and north-northeast. This sudden eruption prompted the local Ministry of Environment to request cooperation with Italian scientists in order to improve the monitoring of the volcano during this unrest. A joint force, made up of an Italian team from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and a local team from the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, was organized to enhance the volcanological, geophysical and geochemical monitoring system to study the evolution of the phenomenon during the crisis. The joint team quickly installed a multiparametric mobile network comprising seismic, geodetic and geochemical sensors (designed to cover all the volcano flanks from the lowest to the highest possible altitudes) and a thermal camera. To simplify the logistics for a rapid installation and for security reasons, some sensors were colocated into multiparametric stations. Here, we describe the prompt design and installation of the geodetic monitoring network, the processing and results. The installation of a new ground deformation network can be considered an important result by itself, while the detection of some crucial deforming areas is very significant information, useful for dealing with future threats and for further studies on this poorly monitored volcano.

The unrest of S. Miguel volcano (El Salvador, CA): installation of the monitoring network and observed volcano-tectonic ground deformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonforte, A.; Hernandez, D.; Gutiérrez, E.; Handal, L.; Polío, C.; Rapisarda, S.; Scarlato, P.

2015-10-01

On 29 December 2013, the Chaparrastique volcano in El Salvador, close to the town of S. Miguel, erupted suddenly with explosive force, forming a more than 9 km high column and projecting ballistic projectiles as far as 3 km away. Pyroclastic Density Currents flowed to the north-northwest side of the volcano, while tephras were dispersed northwest and north-northeast. This sudden eruption prompted the local Ministry of Environment to request cooperation with Italian scientists in order to improve the monitoring of the volcano during this unrest. A joint force made up of an Italian team from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and a local team from the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales was organized to enhance the volcanological, geophysical and geochemical monitoring system to study the evolution of the phenomenon during the crisis. The joint team quickly installed a multi-parametric mobile network comprising seismic, geodetic and geochemical sensors, designed to cover all the volcano flanks from the lowest to the highest possible altitudes, and a thermal camera. To simplify the logistics for a rapid installation and for security reasons, some sensors were co-located into multi-parametric stations. Here, we describe the prompt design and installation of the geodetic monitoring network, the processing and results. The installation of a new ground deformation network can be considered an important result by itself, while the detection of some crucial deforming areas is very significant information, useful for dealing with future threats and for further studies on this poorly monitored volcano.

Volcanic Plumes Tower over Mount Etna

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-06

Twin volcanic plumes—one of ash, one of gas—rose from Sicily’ Mount Etna on the morning of October 26, 2013. L’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) Osservatorio Etneo (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Etna Observatory) reported that Etna was experiencing its first paroxysm in six months. Multiple eruption columns are common at Etna, a result of complex plumbing within the volcano. The Northeast Crater, one of several on Etna’s summit, was emitting the ash column, while the New Southeast Crater was simultaneously venting mostly gas. This natural-color image collected by Landsat 8 shows the view from space at 11:38 a.m. local time. The towering, gas-rich plume cast a dark shadow over the lower, ash-rich plume and Etna’s northwestern flank. Relatively fresh lava flows (less than a century or so old) are dark gray; vegetation is green; and the tile-roofed buildings of Bronte and Biancavilla lend the towns an ochre hue. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using Landsat data from the USGS Earth Explorer. Photograph ©2013, Boris Behncke. Caption by Robert Simmon with contributions from Boris Behncke. Instrument: Landsat 8 - OLI More info: 1.usa.gov/1cEcOFi Credit: NASA Earth Observatory NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Volcanic Plumes Tower over Mount Etna [annotated

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-06

Twin volcanic plumes—one of ash, one of gas—rose from Sicily’ Mount Etna on the morning of October 26, 2013. L’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) Osservatorio Etneo (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Etna Observatory) reported that Etna was experiencing its first paroxysm in six months. Multiple eruption columns are common at Etna, a result of complex plumbing within the volcano. The Northeast Crater, one of several on Etna’s summit, was emitting the ash column, while the New Southeast Crater was simultaneously venting mostly gas. This natural-color image collected by Landsat 8 shows the view from space at 11:38 a.m. local time. The towering, gas-rich plume cast a dark shadow over the lower, ash-rich plume and Etna’s northwestern flank. Relatively fresh lava flows (less than a century or so old) are dark gray; vegetation is green; and the tile-roofed buildings of Bronte and Biancavilla lend the towns an ochre hue. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using Landsat data from the USGS Earth Explorer. Photograph ©2013, Boris Behncke. Caption by Robert Simmon with contributions from Boris Behncke. Instrument: Landsat 8 - OLI More info: 1.usa.gov/1cEcOFi Credit: NASA Earth Observatory NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Emergency seismic and CGPS networks: a first employment for the L'Aquila Mw 6.3 earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abruzzese, L.; Avallone, A.; Cecere, G.; Cattaneo, M.; Cardinale, V.; Castagnozzi, A.; Cogliano, R.; Criscuoli, F.; D'Agostino, N.; D'Ambrosio, C.; de Luca, G.; D'Anastasio, E.; Falco, L.; Flammia, V.; Migliari, F.; Minichiello, F.; Memmolo, A.; Monachesi, G.; Moschillo, R.; Pignone, M.; Pucillo, S.; Selvaggi, G.; Zarrilli, L.; Delladio, A.; Govoni, A.; Franceschi, D.; de Martin, M.; Moretti, M.

2009-12-01

During the last 2 years, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) developed an important real-time temporary seismic network infrastructure in order to densify the Italian National Seismic Network in epicentral areas thus enhancing the localization of the micro-seismicity after main earthquake events. This real-time temporary seismic network is constituted by various mobile and autonomous seismic stations that in group of three are telemetered to a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). This system uses a dedicated bandwidth on UHF, Wi-Fi and satellite frequency that allows the data flow in real-time at INGV centre in Rome (and Grottaminarda as backup center). The deployment of the seismic network is managed in a geographical information systems (GIS) by particular scenarios that visualizes, for the epicentral area, information about instrumental seismicity, seismic risk, macroseismic felts and territorial data. Starting from digital terrain model, the surface spatial analysis (Viewshed, Observer Point) allows the geographic arrangement of the stations and relative scenarios. The April, 6th, 2009 Mw 6.3 L'Aquila destructive earthquake represented the first real-case to test the entire emergency seismic network infrastructure. Less than 6 hours after the earthquake occurrence, a first accelerometer station was already sending data at INGV seismic monitoring headquarters. A total number of 9 seismic stations have been installed within 3 days after the earthquake. Furthermore, 5 permanent GPS stations have been installed in the epicentral area within 1 to 9 days after the main shock to detect the post-seismic deformation induced by the earthquake. We will show and describe the details of the Emergency Seismic Network infrastructure, and the first results from the collected data.

The Ml Magnitude Scale In Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gasperini, P.; Lolli, B.; Filippucci, M.; de Simoni, B.

To improve the reliability of Ml magnitude estimates in Italy, we have updated the database of real Wood-Anderson (WA) and of simulated Wood Anderson (SWA) am- plitudes recently revised by Gasperini (2002). This was done by the re-reading of orig- inal WA seismograms, made available by the SISMOS Project of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica (INGV), as well as by the analysis of further Very Broad Band (VBB) recordings of the MEDNET network of INGV for the period from 1996 to 1998. The full operability, in the last five years, of a VBB station located exactly at the same site (TRI) of a former WA instrument allowed us to reliably infer a new attenuation function from the joined WA and SWA dataset. We found a significant deviation of the attenuation law from the standard Richter table at distances larger than 400 km where the latter overestimates the magnitude up to about 0.3 units. We also computed regionalized attenuation functions accounting for the differences in the propagation properties of seismic waves between the Adriatic (less attenuating) and Tyrrhenian (more attenuating) sides of the Italian peninsula. Using this improved Ml magnitude database we were also able to further improve the computation of duration (Md) and amplitude (Ma) magnitudes computed from short period vertical seismometers of the INGV as well as to analyze the time variation of the station calibrations. We found that the absolute amplification of INGV stations is underestimated almost exactly by a factor 2 starting from the entering upon in operation of the digital acquisition system at INGV in middle 1984.

Discovering the plates boundaries in the Mediterranean sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinelli, Maurizio

2017-04-01

During the 8th class the students learn geology. We analyze the earth's layers, the earthquakes, the volcanoes and other natural phenomena like subduction and orogeny. We start with a global study but our goal is to focus on the crust to discover the plates boundaries, particularly the boundary between Eurasian and African Plate in the Mediterranean sea. It's very simple for the students to discover all the information using the Internet or the science book, but I want to make with them an exploration of earth science with the help of the natural phenomena we studied during the year. We connect with Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia ( http://www.ingv.it/en/ ) where we can find a map with the earthquakes happened in the last years in Italy and in the Mediterranean sea and the list of the main volcanoes. In this way we can draw a map of the mediterranean plates and we can talk about the past and the future of the Mediterranean sea, Europe and Africa based on our maps and on the Alps orogeny. Using youtube we can have a confirm of our hypothesis about the future of the Mediterranean sea (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGcDed4xVD4 ). A good observation for the students is given by the fact that we live in Europe but actually we stay on the African plate. The boundary is 5 km north of our school and we can go and visit the place where it is possible to see the different height of the two plates.

The AlpArray-CASE project: temporary broadband seismic network deployment and characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dasović, Iva; Molinari, Irene; Stipčević, Josip; Šipka, Vesna; Salimbeni, Simone; Jarić, Dejan; Prevolnik, Snježan; Kissling, Eduard; Clinton, John; Giardini, Domenico

2017-04-01

While the northern part of the Adriatic microplate will be accurately imaged within the AlpArray project, its central and southern parts deserve detailed studies to obtain a complete picture of its structure and evolution. The Adriatic microplate forms the upper plate in the Western and Central Alps whereas it forms the lower plate in the Apennines and the Dinarides. However, the tectonics of Adriatic microplate is not well constrained and remains controversial, especially with regard to its contact with the Dinarides. The primary goal of the Central Adriatic Seismic Experiment (CASE) is to provide high quality seismological data and to shed light on seismicity and 3D lithospheric structure of the central Adriatic microplate and its boundaries. The CASE project is an international AlpArray Complementary Experiment carried out by four institutions: Department of Earth Sciences and Swiss Seismological Service of ETH Zürich (CH), Department of Geophysics and Croatian Seismological Service of Faculty of Science at University of Zagreb (HR), Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Republic of Srpska (BIH) and Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (I). It establishes a temporary seismic network, expected to be operational at least for one year, composed by existing permanent and temporary seismic stations operated by the institutions involved and newly deployed temporary seismic stations, installed in November and December 2016, provided by ETH Zürich and INGV: five in Croatia, four in Bosnia and Herzegovina and two in Italy. In this work, we present stations sites and settings and discuss their characteristics in terms of site-effects and noise level of each station. In particular, we analyse the power spectral density estimates in order to investigate major sources of noise and background noise.

CAT: the INGV Tsunami Alert Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michelini, A.

2014-12-01

After the big 2004 Sumatra earthquake, the tsunami threat posed by large earthquakes occurring in the Mediterranean sea was formally taken into account by many countries around the Mediterranean basin. In the past, large earthquakes that originated significant tsunamis occurred nearly once per century (Maramai et al., 2014, Annals of Geophysics). The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) received a mandate from the international community to coordinate the establishment of the ICG/NEAMTWS (http://neamtic.ioc-unesco.org) through Resolution IOC-XXIII-14. Since then, several countries (France, Turkey, Greece) have started operating as candidate Tsunami Watch Provider (cTWP) in the Mediterranean. Italy started operating as cTWP on October 1st, 2014. The Italian cTWP is formed by INGV ("Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)", DPC ("Dipartimento di Protezione Civile") and ISPRA ("Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale"). INGV is in charge of issuing the alert for potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes, ISPRA provides the sea level recordings and DPC is in charge of disseminating the alert. INGV established the tsunami alert center (CAT, "Centro di Allerta Tsunami") at the end of 2013. CAT is co-located with the INGV national seismic surveillance center operated since many years. In this work, we show the technical and personnel organization of CAT, its response to recent earthquakes, and the new procedures under development for implementation. (*) INGV-CAT WG: Amato A., Basili R., Bernardi F., Bono A., Danecek P., De Martini P.M., Govoni A., Graziani L., Lauciani V., Lomax, A., Lorito S., Maramai A., Mele F., Melini D., Molinari I., Nostro C., Piatanesi A., Pintore S., Quintiliani M., Romano F., Selva J., Selvaggi G., Sorrentino D., Tonini R.

Monitoring the Restart of a High-Rate Wastewater Disposal Well in the Val d'Agri Oilfield (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Gori, P.; Improta, L.; Moretti, M.; Colasanti, G.; Criscuoli, F.

2015-12-01

The Val d'Agri Quaternary basin in the Southern Apennine range of Italy hosts the largest inland oil field in Europe. Wastewater coming from the oil exploitation is re-injected by a high-rate disposal well into strongly fractured limestones of the hydrocarbon carbonate reservoir. Disposal activity has induced micro-seismicity since the beginning of injection in June 2006. Around 220 small magnitude events (ML < 2.3) were recorded between 2006 and 2013 by the trigger-mode monitoring local network managed by the oil company and by the National Seismic Network of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The induced micro-seismicity illuminated a pre-existing high-angle fault located 1 km below the well. Since June 2006, wastewater has been re-injected with only short interruptions due acid stimulations. In January 2015 disposal activity was halted due to technical operations in the oil refinery and wastewater injection restarted after two weeks. We installed 5 short-period stations within 10 km of the disposal well to carefully monitor the re-start phase and the subsequent 3 months of disposal activity. This temporary network was complemented by stations of the National Seismic Network giving this final configuration:9 stations within 10 km of the well with the closest station 2 km apart, 13 stations within 20 km. Here we report on the preliminary analysis of the local earthquake recorded during the survey focusing on the events occurred in the injection area. The seismicity rate is compared with injection data.In spite of the dense network, we found that the rate of induced seismicity (both the number and energy of events) is very low when compared to the seismicity recorded during the first 5 years of injection activity carried out with comparable rate and pressure.

Recent seismicity and crustal stress field in the Lucanian Apennines and surrounding areas (Southern Italy): Seismotectonic implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maggi, C.; Frepoli, A.; Cimini, G. B.; Console, R.; Chiappini, M.

2009-01-01

We analyzed the instrumental seismicity of Southern Italy in the area including the Lucanian Apennines and Bradano foredeep, making use of the most recent seismological data base available so far. P- and S-wave arrival times, recorded by the Italian National Seismic Network (RSNC) operated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), were re-picked along with those of the SAPTEX temporary array deployed in the region in the period 2001-2004. For some events located in the upper Val d'Agri, we also used data from the Eni-Agip oil company seismic network. We examined the seismicity occurred during the period between 2001 and 2006, considering 514 events with magnitudes M ≥ 2.0. We computed the VP/ VS ratio obtaining a value of 1.83 and we carried out an analysis for the one-dimensional (1D) velocity model that approximates the seismic structure of the study area. Earthquakes were relocated and, for well- recorded events, we also computed 108 fault plane solutions. Finally, using 58 solutions, the most constrained, we computed regional stress field in the study area. Earthquake distribution shows three main seismic regions: the westernmost (Lucanian Apennines) characterized by high background seismicity, mostly with shallow hypocenters, the easternmost below the Bradano foredeep and the Murge with deeper and more scattered seismicity, and finally the more isolated and sparse seismicity localized in the Sila Range and in the offshore area along the northeastern Calabrian coast. Focal mechanisms computed in this work are in large part normal and strike-slip solutions and their tensional axes ( T-axes) have a generalized NE-SW orientation. The denser station coverage allowed us to improve hypocenters determination compared to those obtained by using only RSNC data, for a better characterization of the crustal and subcrustal seismicity in the study area.

Broadband waveform inversion of moderate earthquakes in the Messina Straits, southern Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Sebastiano; Orecchio, Barbara; Presti, Debora; Zhu, Lupei; Herrmann, Robert B.; Neri, Giancarlo

2010-04-01

We report the first application of the Cut and Paste (CAP) method to compute earthquake focal mechanisms in the Messina Straits area by waveform inversion of Pnl and surface wave segments. This application of CAP has furnished new knowledge about low-magnitude earthquake mechanics that will be useful for improved understanding of the local geodynamics. This is possible because the CAP inversion technique can be applied to small earthquakes, for which traditional moment tensor inversion methods are not appropriate and P-onset focal mechanisms in the study area fail because of a lack of sufficient observations. We estimate the focal mechanisms of 23 earthquakes with local magnitudes in the range of 3-4 occurring in the 2004-2008 time period, and recorded by the broadband stations of the Italian National Seismic Network and the Mediterranean Very Broadband Seismographic Network (MedNet) run by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). The solutions show that normal faulting is the prevailing style of seismic deformation in the northern part of the study area while co-existence of normal faulting and strike-slip has been detected in the southern part. In the whole area of investigation the T-axes of focal mechanisms display a preferential northwest-southeast direction of extension. Combined with the findings of previous investigations, this improved database of focal mechanisms allows us to better detail the transitional area between the extensional domain related to subduction trench retreat (southern Calabria) and the compressional one associated with continental collision (western-central Sicily). The observed spatial change of seismic deformation regime offers new data to current seismotectonic and seismic hazard investigations in the area of Messina Straits where a magnitude 7.2 earthquake caused more than 60,000 casualties on 28 December 1908.

MOMENT TENSOR SOLUTIONS OF RECENT EARTHQUAKES IN THE CALABRIAN REGION (SOUTH ITALY)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orecchio, B.; D'Amico, S.; Gervasi, A.; Guerra, I.; Presti, D.; Zhu, L.; Herrmann, R. B.; Neri, G.

2009-12-01

The aim of this study is to provide moment tensor solutions for recent events occurred in the Calabrian region (South Italy), an area struck by several destructive earthquakes in the last centuries. The seismicity of the area under investigation is actually characterized by low to moderate magnitude earthquakes (up to 4.5) not properly represented in the Italian national catalogues of focal mechanisms like RCMT (Regional Centroid Moment Tensor, Pondrelli et al., PEPI, 2006) and TDMT (Time Domain Moment Tensors, Dreger and Helmerger, BSSA, 1993). Also, the solutions estimated from P-onset polarities are often poorly constrained due to network geometry in the study area. We computed the moment tensor solutions using the “Cut And Paste” method originally proposed by Zhao and Helmerger (BSSA, 1994) and later modified by Zhu and Helmerger (BSSA, 1996). Each waveform is broken into the Pnl and surface wave segments and the source depth and focal mechanisms are determined using a grid search technique. The technique allows time shifts between synthetics and observed data in order to reduce dependence of the solution on the assumed velocity model and earthquake locations. This method has shown to provide good-quality solutions for earthquakes of magnitude as small as 2.5. The data set of the present study consists of waveforms from more than 100 earthquakes that were recorded by the permanent seismic network run by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and about 40 stations of the NSF CAT/SCAN project. The results concur to check and better detail the regional geodynamic model assuming subduction of the Ionian lithosphere beneath the Tyrrhenian one and related response of the shallow structures in terms of normal and strike-slip faulting seismicity.

PRESS40: a project for involving students in active seismic risk mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnaba, Carla; Contessi, Elisa; Rosa Girardi, Maria

2016-04-01

To memorialize the anniversary of the 1976 Friuli earthquake, the Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore "Magrini Marchetti" in Gemona del Friuli (NE Italy), with the collaboration of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), has promoted the PRESS40 Project (Prevenzione Sismica nella Scuola a 40 anni dal terremoto del Friuli, that in English sounds like "Seismic Prevention at School 40 years later the Friuli earthquake"). The project has developed in the 2015-2016 school year, starting from the 40th anniversary of the Friuli earthquake, and it aims to disseminate historical memory, seismic culture and awareness of seismic safety in the young generations, too often unconscious of past experiences, as recent seismic hazard perception tests have demonstrated. The basic idea of the PRESS40 Project is to involve the students in experimental activities to be active part of the seismic mitigation process. The Project is divided into two main parts, the first one in which students learn-receive knowledge from researchers, and the second one in which they teach-bring knowledge to younger students. In the first part of the project, 75 students of the "Magrini Marchetti" school acquired new geophysical data, covering the 23 municipalities from which they come from. These municipalities represent a wide area affected by the 1976 Friuli earthquake. In each locality a significant site was examined, represented by a school area. At least, 127 measurements of ambient noise have been acquired. Data processing and interpretation of all the results are still going on, under the supervision of OGS researchers.The second part of the project is planned for the early spring, when the students will present the results of geophysical survey to the younger ones of the monitored schools and to the citizens in occasion of events to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Friuli earthquake.

Stratospheric water vapor measurements at Thule, Greenland, by means of a new 22 GHz spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mevi, Gabriele; Muscari, Giovanni; Mari, Massimo; Meloni, Daniela; Di Iorio, Tatiana; Pace, Giandomenico; di Sarra, Alcide; Cacciani, Marco

2017-04-01

A new 22 GHz water vapor spectrometer, VESPA-22 (water Vapour Emission Spectrometer for Polar Atmosphere), was installed in July 2016 at the Thule High Arctic Atmospheric Observatory (THAAO) located at Thule Air Base (76.5° N, 68.8° W), Greenland, and participated in the intensive measurement campaign of the Study of the water VApour in the polar AtmosPhere (SVAAP) project. After the campaign VESPA-22 has continued to carry out measurements in an autonomous mode and has now obtained more than 6 months of data. VESPA-22 was designed and built at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica and Vulcanologia (INGV) and measures the 22.235 GHz water vapor emission line with a bandwidth of 500 MHz and a frequency resolution of 31 kHz. The collected spectra are inverted using an optimal estimation algorithm in order to retrieve water vapour vertical profiles from about 26 to 72 km with a vertical resolution varying from 4 to 7.5 km. The spectrometer can produce 2 to 4 vertical profiles a day, depending on season and weather conditions. VESPA-22 also measures the atmospheric optical depth at 22 GHz and can therefore provide an estimate of precipitable water vapor (PWV) with a temporal resolution of few minutes. The instrument is calibrated every 30 minutes using noise diodes and tipping curves, and requires a calibration with liquid nitrogen (LN2) only once every few months. We will present water vapor stratospheric profiles over Thule obtained during an almost complete yearly cycle. The retrieved profiles have been compared with the Aura/MLS H2O dataset. During autumn 2016 the two datasets show a mean difference of less than 5% and a correlation coefficient of about 0.9 at all altitudes between 26 to 60 km.

Testing the global capabilities of the Antelope software suite: fast location and Mb determination of teleseismic events using the ASAIN and GSN seismic networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesaresi, D.; Russi, M.; Plasencia, M.; Cravos, C.

2009-04-01

The Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, OGS) is running the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN), made of 5 seismic stations located in the Scotia Sea region in Antarctica and in Argentina: data from these stations are transferred in real time to the OGS headquarters in Trieste (Italy) via satellite links. OGS is also running, in close cooperation with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Civil Defense, the North East (NI) Italy seismic network, making use of the Antelope commercial software suite from BRTT as the main acquisition system. As a test to check the global capabilities of Antelope, we set up an instance of Antelope acquiring data in real time from both the regional ASAIN seismic network in Antarctica and a subset of the Global Seismic Network (GSN) funded by the Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology (IRIS). The facilities of the IRIS Data Management System, and specifically the IRIS Data Management Center, were used for real time access to waveform required in this study. Preliminary results over 1 month period indicated that about 82% of the earthquakes with magnitude M>5.0 listed in the PDE catalogue of the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) were also correctly detected by Antelope, with an average location error of 0.05 degrees and average body wave magnitude Mb estimation error below 0.1. The average time difference between event origin time and the actual time of event determination by Antelope was of about 45': the comparison with 20', the IASPEI91 P-wave travel time for 180 degrees distance, and 25', the estimate of our test system data latency, indicate that Antelope is a serious candidate for regional and global early warning systems. Updated figures calculated over a longer period of time will be presented and discussed.

A spectral study of the mid-latitude sporadic E layer characteristic oscillations comparable to those of the tidal and the planetary waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pignalberi, A.; Pezzopane, M.; Zuccheretti, E.

2015-01-01

In this paper different spectral analyses are employed to investigate the tidal and planetary wave periodicities imprinted in the following two main characteristics of the sporadic E (Es) layer: the top frequency (ftEs) and the lowest virtual height (h‧Es). The study is based on ionograms recorded during the summertime of 2013, and precisely in June, July, August and September, by the Advanced Ionospheric Sounder by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (AIS-INGV) ionosondes installed at Rome (41.8°N, 12.5°E) and Gibilmanna (37.9°N, 14.0°E), Italy. It was confirmed that the diurnal and semidiurnal atmospheric tides play a fundamental role in the formation of the mid-latitude Es layers, acting through their vertical wind-shear forcing of the long-living metallic ions in the lower thermosphere, and at the same time it was found that the planetary atmospheric waves might affect the Es layers acting through their horizontal wind-shear forcing with periods close to the normal Rossby modes, that is 2, 5, 10 and 16 days. The wavelet analysis shows also that the ftEs and h‧Es tidal oscillations undergo a strong amplitude modulation with periods of several days and with important differences between the two parameters. This amplitude modulation, characterizing markedly the first thirty days of the ftEs spectrogram, suggests that Es layers are affected indirectly by planetary waves through their nonlinear interaction with the atmospheric tides at lower altitudes. This study wants to be a continuation of the Haldoupis et al. (2004) work in order to verify their results for the foEs characteristic and on the other hand to extend the study also to the h‧Es characteristic not yet shown so far. Anyhow, the study confirms that ionosonde data, especially those registered in summertime, represent a powerful tool for studying tidal and planetary waves properties and their climatology in the mesosphere-low-thermosphere region.

Communicate science: an example of food related hands-on laboratory approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Addezio, Giuliana; Marsili, Antonella; Vallocchia, Massimiliano

2014-05-01

The Laboratorio Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV's Educational and Outreach Laboratory) organized activity with kids to convey scientific knowledge and to promote research on Earth Science, focusing on volcanic and seismic hazard. The combination of games and learning in educational activity can be a valuable tool for study of complex phenomena. Hands-on activity may help in engage kids in a learning process through direct participation that significantly improves the learning performance of children. Making learning fun motivate audience to pay attention on and stay focused on the subject. We present the experience of the hand-on laboratory "Laboratorio goloso per bambini curiosi di scienza (a delicious hands-on laboratory for kids curious about science)", performed in Frascati during the 2013 European Researchers' Night, promoted by the European Commission, as part of the program organized by the Laboratorio Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica in the framework of Associazione Frascati Scienza (http://www.frascatiscienza.it/). The hand-on activity were designed for primary schools to create enjoyable and unusual tools for learning Earth Science. During this activity kids are involved with something related to everyday life, such as food, through manipulation, construction and implementation of simple experiments related to Earth dynamics. Children become familiar with scientific concepts such as composition of the Earth, plates tectonic, earthquakes and seismic waves propagation and experience the effect of earthquakes on buildings, exploring their important implications for seismic hazard. During the activity, composed of several steps, participants were able to learn about Earth inner structure, fragile lithosphere, waves propagations, impact of waves on building ecc.., dealing with eggs, cookies, honey, sugar, polenta, flour, chocolate, candies, liquorice sticks, bread, pudding and sweets. The

Italian Present-day Stress Indicators: IPSI Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mariucci, M. T.; Montone, P.

2017-12-01

In Italy, since the 90s of the last century, researches concerning the contemporary stress field have been developing at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) with local and regional scale studies. Throughout the years many data have been analysed and collected: now they are organized and available for an easy end-use online. IPSI (Italian Present-day Stress Indicators) database, is the first geo-referenced repository of information on the crustal present-day stress field maintained at INGV through a web application database and website development by Gabriele Tarabusi. Data consist of horizontal stress orientations analysed and compiled in a standardized format and quality-ranked for reliability and comparability on a global scale with other database. Our first database release includes 855 data records updated to December 2015. Here we present an updated version that will be released in 2018, after new earthquake data entry up to December 2017. The IPSI web site (http://ipsi.rm.ingv.it/) allows accessing data on a standard map viewer and choose which data (category and/or quality) to plot easily. The main information of each single element (type, quality, orientation) can be viewed simply going over the related symbol, all the information appear by clicking the element. At the same time, simple basic information on the different data type, tectonic regime assignment, quality ranking method are available with pop-up windows. Data records can be downloaded in some common formats, moreover it is possible to download a file directly usable with SHINE, a web based application to interpolate stress orientations (http://shine.rm.ingv.it). IPSI is mainly conceived for those interested in studying the characters of Italian peninsula and surroundings although Italian data are part of the World Stress Map (http://www.world-stress-map.org/) as evidenced by many links that redirect to this database for more details on standard practices in this field.

Biomass assimilation in coupled ecohydrodynamical model of the Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crispi, G.; Bournaski, E.; Crise, A.

2003-04-01

Data assimilation has raised new interest in the last years in the context of the environmental sciences. The swift increment of the attention paid to it in oceanography is due to the coming age of operational services for the marine environment which is going to dramatically increase the demand for accurate, timely and reliable estimates of the space and time distribution both for physical and in a near future for biogeochemical fields. Data assimilation combines information derived from measurements with knowledge of the rules that govern the evolution of the system of interest through formalization and implementation in numerical models. The importance of ocean data assimilation has been recognized by several international programmes as JGOFS, GOOS and CLIVAR. This work presents an eco-hydrodynamic model of the Mediterranean Sea developed at the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale - OGS, Trieste, Italy. It includes 3-D MOM-based hydrodynamics of the Mediterranean Sea, coupled with biochemical model of Nitrogen, Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, and Detritus (NPZD). Monthly mean wind forcings are adopted to force this MOM-NPZD model. For better prediction and analysis of N, P, Z and D distributions in the sea the model needs data assimilation from biomass observations on the sea surface. Chosen approach for evaluating performances of data assimilation techniques in coupled model is the definition of a twin experiment testbed where a reference run is carried out assuming its result as the truth. We define a sampling strategy to obtain different datasets to be incorporated in another ecological model in successive runs in order to appraise the potential of the data assimilation and sampling strategy. The runs carried out with different techniques and different spatio-temporal coverages are compared in order to evaluate the sensitivity to different coverage of dataset. The discussed alternative way is to assume the ecosystem at steady state and

Investigating source directivity for the 2012 Ml5.9 Emilia (Northern Italy) earthquake by jointly using High-rate GPS and Strong motion data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avallone, A.; Herrero, A.; Latorre, D.; Rovelli, A.; D'Anastasio, E.

2012-12-01

On May, 20th 2012, the Ferrara and Modena provinces (Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy) were struck by a moderate magnitude earthquake (Ml 5.9). The focal mechanism is consistent with a ~E-W-striking thrust fault. The mainshock was recorded by 29 high-rate sampling (1-Hz) continuous GPS (HRGPS) stations belonging to scientific or commercial networks and by 55 strong motion (SM) stations belonging to INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) and RAN (Rete Accelerometrica Nazionale) networks, respectively. The spatial distribution of both HRGPS and SM stations with respect to the mainshock location allows a satisfactory azimuthal coverage of the area. To investigate directivity effects during the mainshock occurrence, we analyze the spatial variation of the peak ground displacement (PGD) measured either for HRGPS or SM sites, using different methods. For each HRGPS and SM site, we rotated the horizontal time series to the azimuth direction and we estimated the GPS-related and the SM-related peak ground displacement (G-PGD and S-PGD, respectively) retrieved by transverse component. However, in contrast to GPS displacements, the double integration of the SM data can be affected by the presence of drifts and, thus, they have to be corrected by quasi-manual procedures. To more properly compare the G-PGDs to the S-PGDs, we used the response spectrum. A response spectrum is simply the response of a series of oscillators of varying natural frequency, that are forced into motion by the same input. The asymptotic value of the displacement response spectrum is the peak ground displacement. Thus, for each HRGPS and SM site, we computed the value of this asymptotic trend (G-PGDrs and S-PGDrs, respectively). This method allows simple automatic procedures. The consistency of the PGDs derived from HRGPS and SM is also evaluated for sites where the two instruments are collocated. The PGDs obtained by the two different methods and the two different data types suggest a

Characterization of Earthquake-Induced Ground Motion from the L'Aquila Seismic Sequence of 2009, Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malagnini, L.; Akinci, A.; Mayeda, K. M.; Munafo', I.; Herrmann, R. B.; Mercuri, A.

2010-12-01

Based only on weak-motion data, we carried out a combined study on region-specific source scaling and crustal attenuation in the Central Apennines (Italy). Our goal was to obtain a reappraisal of the existing predictive relationships for the ground motion, and to test them against the strong-motion data (Peak Ground Acceleration, PGA, Peak Ground Velocity, PGV, and Spectral Acceleration, SA) gathered during the Mw 6.15 L’Aquila earthquake (April 6, 2009, 01:32 UTC). The L’Aquila main-shock was not part of the predictive study, and the validation test was an extrapolation to one magnitude unit above the largest earthquake of the calibration data set. The regional attenuation was determined through a set of regressions on a data set of 12,777 high-quality, high-gain waveforms with excellent S/N ratios (4,259 vertical, and 8,518 horizontal time histories). Seismograms were selected from the recordings of 170 fore-shocks and after-shocks of the sequence (the complete set of all earthquakes with ML ≥ 3.0, from October 1, 2008, to May 10, 2010). All waveforms were downloaded from the ISIDe web page (http://iside.rm.ingv.it/iside/standard/index.jsp), a web site maintained by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). Weak-motion data were used to obtain a moment tensor solution, as well as a coda-based moment-rate source spectrum, for each one of the 170 events of the L’Aquila sequence (2.8 ≤ Mw ≤ 6.15). Source spectra were used to verify the good agreement with the source scaling of the Colfiorito seismic sequence of 1997-98 recently described by Malagnini et al. (2008). Finally, results on source excitation and crustal attenuation were used to produce the absolute site terms for the 23 stations located within ~ 80 km of the epicentral area. The complete set of spectral corrections (crustal attenuation and absolute site effects) was used to implement a fast and accurate tool for the automatic computation of moment magnitudes in the Central

Characterization of earthquake-induced ground motion from the L'Aquila seismic sequence of 2009, Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malagnini, Luca; Akinci, Aybige; Mayeda, Kevin; Munafo', Irene; Herrmann, Robert B.; Mercuri, Alessia

2011-01-01

Based only on weak-motion data, we carried out a combined study on region-specific source scaling and crustal attenuation in the Central Apennines (Italy). Our goal was to obtain a reappraisal of the existing predictive relationships for the ground motion, and to test them against the strong-motion data [peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV) and spectral acceleration (SA)] gathered during the Mw 6.15 L'Aquila earthquake (2009 April 6, 01:32 UTC). The L'Aquila main shock was not part of the predictive study, and the validation test was an extrapolation to one magnitude unit above the largest earthquake of the calibration data set. The regional attenuation was determined through a set of regressions on a data set of 12 777 high-quality, high-gain waveforms with excellent S/N ratios (4259 vertical and 8518 horizontal time histories). Seismograms were selected from the recordings of 170 foreshocks and aftershocks of the sequence (the complete set of all earthquakes with ML≥ 3.0, from 2008 October 1 to 2010 May 10). All waveforms were downloaded from the ISIDe web page (), a web site maintained by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). Weak-motion data were used to obtain a moment tensor solution, as well as a coda-based moment-rate source spectrum, for each one of the 170 events of the L'Aquila sequence (2.8 ≤Mw≤ 6.15). Source spectra were used to verify the good agreement with the source scaling of the Colfiorito seismic sequence of 1997-1998 recently described by Malagnini (2008). Finally, results on source excitation and crustal attenuation were used to produce the absolute site terms for the 23 stations located within ˜80 km of the epicentral area. The complete set of spectral corrections (crustal attenuation and absolute site effects) was used to implement a fast and accurate tool for the automatic computation of moment magnitudes in the Central Apennines.

Influence of tides and planetary waves on E sporadic layer at mid latitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pezzopane, Michael; Pignalberi, Alessio; Zuccheretti, Enrico

This paper describes the influence that tides and planetary waves have on the variability shown by the main characteristics of the E sporadic (Es) layer, that is the top frequency (ftEs) and the lowest virtual height (h’Es). The study is based on ionograms recorded during the summertime of 2013, a year falling in the maximum of solar activity of cycle 24, and precisely in June, July, August and September, by the Advanced Ionospheric Sounder by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (AIS-INGV) ionosondes installed at Rome (41.8°N, 12.5°E) and Gibilmanna (37.9°N, 14.0°E), Italy. We applied the height-time-intensity (HTI) methodology proposed by Haldoupis et al. (2006) to investigate how tides control the Es dynamics. As a whole, the HTI analysis showed that a well-defined semidiurnal periodicity characterizes the Es layer descent and occurrence for all the considered months, although in September some cases which showed a prevailing diurnal periodicity were recorded. Through the application of the wavelet analysis it was also found that the tidal oscillations shown by ftEs and h’Es are affected by a strong amplitude modulation with periods of several days but with important differences between the two parameters. This amplitude modulation is a proof that Es layers are indirectly affected by planetary waves through their nonlinear interaction with tides at lower altitudes; this nonlinear interaction produces the presence of secondary waves with frequencies that are the sum and difference of the primary waves frequencies involved in the interaction as proposed by Teitelbaum and Vial [1991]. This work adds to those that were already done by Haldoupis et al. (2004, 2006), and confirms that ionosonde data, especially those registered in summertime, can be used as a powerful tool for studying tidal and planetary waves properties, as well as their climatology, in the mesosphere-low-termosphere region.

Volcanic risk: the responsibility of science in communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piccione, Caterina

2013-04-01

The knowledge of the places where we live comes both from the experience handed down from one generation to the other and from scientific knowledge. In some cases, natural risks are "invisible", such as earthquakes, in some other cases, natural risks are seemingly "invisible", such as a wall in danger of collapse or a valley in a flood zone. And besides all this, there is volcanic risk, where the power of the forces of nature appears in all its beauty and majesty. The possibility to see volcanoes, to perceive their changes, to observe them closely and the need to live with them, makes it very important for the population living in these areas to have an adequate knowledge of the risk, a knowledge that should be based on scientific research. In Italy the experience of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in the Vesuvio area, in the Aeolian Islands and around Etna shows how vital it is to make people aware of volcanic risk. Thanks to the support of the scientific community, the population can develop the best possible coexistence with volcanoes and with the risk they represent. These are extreme situations, but they are the starting point for educational and informative activities continuing to evolve and upgrade in parallel to the availability of new technologies and media and the progress of research that INGV has been conducting for years through specific projects. The scientific community and individual researchers have the ethical duty to share with the community the knowledge on risk, a responsibility that becomes especially important in those areas affected by volcanic risk. It is from this educational action that depends on the awareness of the populations with regard to the risk they are exposed to, that results in a responsible behavior in case of emergency, and that becomes the main variable for the safety of communities coexisting with active volcanoes.

Integrated stratigraphy of Contessa quarry section (Umbria-Marche Apennines): new data on a potentially reference section for the Burdigalian GSSP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caricchi, Chiara; Baldassini, Niccolò; Di Stefano, Agata; Dinarès-Turell, Jaume; Fabbrini, Alessio; Foresi, Luca Maria; Lirer, Fabrizio; Patricolo, Simona; Sagnotti, Leonardo; Winkler, Aldo

2017-04-01

In the last two decades the Neogene Period underwent a deep chronostratigraphic revision, and several GSSPs were ratified with the exception of those of Langhian and Burdigalian stages. In particular, the Burdigalian GSSP has only been temporarily placed by Lourens et al. (2004) at 20.43 Ma, in correspondence of the First Occurrence (FO) of the calcareous nannofossil species Helicosphaera ampliaperta. In this framework, we present preliminary integrated stratigraphic studies from the Contessa quarry succession (Umbria-Marche Apennines). This well-exposed section has been sampled in the Scaglia Cinerea and Bisciaro formations, and is chronostratigraphically confined within the Aquitanian-Burdigalian time interval (Montanari et al., 1997). The sampled interval is about 18 m thick, and for the first 9 m, consists of alternating calcareous and marls nut-brown layers (Scaglia Cinerea Fm) and the upper part is made up of alternating calcareous and marls gray layers, interbedded with volcanic levels. A total of 73 oriented hand samples from different stratigraphic levels has been collected for paleomagnetic analyses, whereas 78 samples were taken for biostratigraphic studies. Paleomagnetic measurements were carried out at the laboratory of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). For most of the samplings levels, pairs of standard regular specimens were cut in the laboratory. One specimen from each pair was subjected to stepwise AF demagnetization and the other "sister" specimen was subjected to thermal demagnetization. Paleomagnetic analyses have provided reliable directional data that allow the identification of a consistent sequence of magnetozones. Micropaleontological analyses were performed on the calcareous plankton content. Planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils assemblages are common to abundant. The degree of conservation is moderate to good as far as nannofossils concerns and moderate for the foraminifera content. Preliminary

Updating the Seismic Hazard Determination in southeastern Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franca, G. S.; Algarte, K. T.

2012-12-01

This job presents an update of research by Berrocal in 1996 in the determination of seismic hazard for the Southeast of Brazil, based on the earthquake catalog compiled at the Instituto de Astronomia e Geofisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo and bulletin of Seismological Observatory, Universidade de Brasilia, during the period between 1767 until May 2012. The southeastern Brazil has a level of seismic activity is considered low, typical of intraplate regions. Our database has a total of 3726 events, however 1242 events do not have the magnitude estimated, 1638 events are between magnitudes 0.1 to 1.9 and from 2.0 to 3.9 are 819 events. The largest earthquake in the region occurred on February 28, 1955 with magnitude 6.1 mb (Assumpção, 2000), with its epicenter about 400 km from the coast, this was felt in small cities, especially in Espirito Santo State. The intensity VIII-IX MM was estimated by Berrocal et al. (1984). The database also has four events with magnitude above 5.0 mb in the region that occurred during the past 215 years and a little more than a twenty earthquakes with magnitude between 4.0 and 5.0 mb. Instrumental data are available since the 1970s when the station network was installed in Brasilia. Several other short-period vertical stations have been installed in the region. We used data from the same area defined in the previous survey, located between parallels 15S-32S degree and longitudes 35W-52W degree. It contains the most developed area of Brazil, and the major cities and industrial centers of the country (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte). Major engineering works, hydroelectric and nuclear power plant (Angra dos Reis) are also in this area. Therefore, the results can be applied to the planning and construction of large engineering within that region. With GIS and seismology tools was calculated relative frequency/magnitude for earthquakes mb > 3.0, the value of b with the maximum likelihood method, and so curves of recurrence was

Improved Seismic Acquisition System and Data Processing for the Italian National Seismic Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badiali, L.; Marcocci, C.; Mele, F.; Piscini, A.

2001-12-01

A new system for acquiring and processing digital signals has been developed in the last few years at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). The system makes extensive use of the internet communication protocol standards such as TCP and UDP which are used as the transport highway inside the Italian network, and possibly in a near future outside, to share or redirect data among processes. The Italian National Seismic Network has been working for about 18 years equipped with vertical short period seismometers and transmitting through analog lines, to the computer center in Rome. We are now concentrating our efforts on speeding the migration towards a fully digital network based on about 150 stations equipped with either broad band or 5 seconds sensors connected to the data center partly through wired digital communication and partly through satellite digital communication. The overall process is layered through intranet and/or internet. Every layer gathers data in a simple format and provides data in a processed format, ready to be distributed towards the next layer. The lowest level acquires seismic data (raw waveforms) coming from the remote stations. It handshakes, checks and sends data in LAN or WAN according to a distribution list where other machines with their programs are waiting for. At the next level there are the picking procedures, or "pickers", on a per instrument basis, looking for phases. A picker spreads phases, again through the LAN or WAN and according to a distribution list, to one or more waiting locating machines tuned to generate a seismic event. The event locating procedure itself, the higher level in this stack, can exchange information with other similar procedures. Such a layered and distributed structure with nearby targets allows other seismic networks to join the processing and data collection of the same ongoing event, creating a virtual network larger than the original one. At present we plan to cooperate with other

The planning of a passive seismic experiment: the Ketzin case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, G.; Petronio, L.

2009-04-01

In the last years, it has been recognized the importance of using microseismic activity data to gain information on the state and dynamics of a reservoir, notwithstanding the difficulties of recording, localizing the events, interpret them correctly, in terms of developing fractures, or thermal effects. The increasing number of CO2 storage experiments, with the necessity of providing efficient, economic, and long-term monitoring methods, both in the injection and post-injection phases, further encourage the development and improvement of recording and processing techniques. Microseismic signals are typically recorded with downhole sensors. Monitoring with surface sensors is problematic due to increased noise levels and signal attenuation particularly in the near surface. The actual detection distance depends on background noise conditions, seismic attenuation and the microseismic source strength. In the frame of the European project Co2ReMoVe and of the European Network of Excellence Co2GeoNet, a passive seismic experiment was planned in the Ketzin site for geological storage of CO2, a former gas store near Potsdam, object of the CO2SINK European project and inserted also in the European project Co2ReMoVe. Aim of the survey is to complement the CO2-SINK active seismic downhole experiments, adding precious information on the microseismicity induced by stress field changes at the reservoir level and in the overburden, due to the CO2 injection. The baseline survey was done in May 2008 by the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale-OGS (Italy), with the support of the Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum-GFZ (Germany) and the collaboration of the Institut für Geowissenschaftliche Gemeinschaftsaufgaben-GGA (Germany), shortly before the starting of the CO2 injection (June 30th 2008). A continuous monitoring (about 5 days) was performed by 2 downhole 3C geophones, and 3 surface 3C geophones located around the wells. This paper, based on the analysis of

Preliminary Results From the Chile-Illapel Aftershock Experiment (CHILLAX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roecker, S. W.; Russo, R. M.; Comte, D.; Carrizo, D.; Peyrat, S.; Opazo, T.; Peña, G.; Farrell, M. E.; Moore, J.; Glick, R.; Rodriguez, E. E.

2016-12-01

On September 16, 2015, the Mw 8.3 Illapel earthquake ruptured a segment of the Nazca-South America subduction zone directly to the north of the 2010 Maule Mw 8.8 earthquake. Soon afterwards, a team from the Departamento de Geofisica, University of Chile, installed 18 short period sensors on land above the rupture to record aftershocks. A month later, the network was upgraded and expanded with funding from NSF RAPID to 20 broad band stations, loaned by IRIS PASSCAL. The installation of the Chile-Illapel Aftershock Experiment (CHILLAX) was completed in mid-November, 2015, and will operate until November, 2016. Preliminary analysis of data collected to date indicates an average detection rate of about 1000 locatable aftershocks per month. The combined CHILLAX and Maule aftershock deployments will yield the first modern-instrumentation observations of the zone of along-strike rupture termination that separates these temporally related and spatially adjacent megathrust rupture zones. Additionally, seismic observations of this part of the Nazca subduction zone are relatively sparse, and an aftershock sequence provides an opportunity to fill this gap efficiently. Preliminary analysis of CHILLAX network data revealed unexpected patterns in seismicity down dip from the rupture zone, in the unusual "flat slab" region to the east. Compared to the Maule event, the Illapel rupture apparently generated a more significant increase in seismicity in the 60-200 km depth range, suggesting that it "lit up" the subducted Nazca plate. Although high strain rates due to rupture might extend brittle failure into normally ductile regions, such an effect at these depths by the relatively low magnitude Illapel event is unusual. A perhaps more intriguing result is the frequent occurrence of events at depths significantly below that of the "flat slab". Attribution of this apparent second, deeper slab segment to event mislocations would require unrealistic seismic heterogeneity, We hypothesize

Matching Lithosphere velocity changes to the GOCE gravity signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braitenberg, Carla

2016-07-01

Authors: Carla Braitenberg, Patrizia Mariani, Alberto Pastorutti Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste Via Weiss 1, 34100 Trieste Seismic tomography models result in 3D velocity models of lithosphere and sublithospheric mantle, which are due to mineralogic compositional changes and variations in the thermal gradient. The assignment of density is non-univocal and can lead to inverted density changes with respect to velocity changes, depending on composition and temperature. Velocity changes due to temperature result in a proportional density change, whereas changes due to compositional changes and age of the lithosphere can lead to density changes of inverted sign. The relation between velocity and density implies changes in the lithosphere rigidity. We analyze the GOCE gradient fields and the velocity models jointly, making simulations on thermal and compositional density changes, using the velocity models as constraint on lithosphere geometry. The correlations are enhanced by applying geodynamic plate reconstructions to the GOCE gravity field and the tomography models which places today's observed fields at the Gondwana pre-breakup position. We find that the lithosphere geometry is a controlling factor on the overlying geologic elements, defining the regions where rifting and collision alternate and repeat through time. The study is carried out globally, with focus on the conjugate margins of the African and South American continents. The background for the study can be found in the following publications where the techniques which have been used are described: Braitenberg, C., Mariani, P. and De Min, A. (2013). The European Alps and nearby orogenic belts sensed by GOCE, Boll. Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, 54(4), 321-334. doi:10.4430/bgta0105---- Braitenberg, C. and Mariani, P. (2015). Geological implications from complete Gondwana GOCE-products reconstructions and link to lithospheric roots. Proceedings of 5th

Earthquake ethics through scientific knowledge, historical memory and societal awareness: the experience of direct internet information.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Rubeis, Valerio; Sbarra, Paola; Sebaste, Beppe; Tosi, Patrizia

2013-04-01

The experience of collection of data on earthquake effects and diffusion of information to people, carried on through the site "haisentitoilterremoto.it" (didyoufeelit) managed by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), has evidenced a constantly growing interest by Italian citizens. Started in 2007, the site has collected more than 520,000 compiled intensity questionnaires, producing intensity maps of almost 6,000 earthquakes. One of the most peculiar feature of this experience is constituted by a bi-directional information exchange. Every person can record observed effects of the earthquake and, at the same time, look at the generated maps. Seismologists, on the other side, can find each earthquake described in real time through its effects on the whole territory. In this way people, giving punctual information, receive global information from the community, mediated and interpreted by seismological knowledge. The relationship amongst seismologists, mass media and civil society is, thus, deep and rich. The presence of almost 20,000 permanent subscribers distributed on the whole Italian territory, alerted in case of earthquake, has reinforced the participation: the subscriber is constantly informed by the seismologists, through e-mail, about events occurred in his-her area, even if with very small magnitude. The "alert" service provides the possibility to remember that earthquakes are a phenomenon continuously present, on the other hand it shows that high magnitude events are very rare. This kind of information is helpful as it is fully complementary to that one given by media. We analyze the effects of our activity on society and mass media. The knowledge of seismic phenomena is present in each person, having roots on fear, idea of death and destruction, often with the deep belief of very rare occurrence. This position feeds refusal and repression. When a strong earthquake occurs, surprise immediately changes into shock and desperation. A

Science and scientists from the children point of view, an overlook from drawings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Addezio, Giuliana; Marsili, Antonella; Rubbia, Giuliana; Carosi, Alessandro

2013-04-01

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is currently the largest European scientific institution dealing with Earth Sciences research and real-time surveillance, early warning, and forecast activities in geophysics and volcanology. The Laboratorio Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica of INGV organizes every year educational and outreach activities with schools of different levels and with general public to convey scientific knowledge and to promote the Research on Earth Science, focusing on volcanic and seismic hazard. Among the most successful initiatives is the creation of a calendar designed for the schools and realized based on a competition devoted to children of primary school. The intent is to provide a pleasant stimulus for discussion for teachers and students. Schools participate with enthusiasm by sending drawings made by children on a specified theme, different each year, chosen among geophysics and earth sciences arguments. For 2011, the theme was selected also with the aims to investigate on the image the young generations have of the Research and on its potential and future prospective. The title was "Scienziato anche io! La Scienza e gli scienziati visti dai bambini" (I'm a scientist too! Science and scientists from the children point of view), with the purpose of give a shape to the image children have of the world of science, its potential and the figure of the scientists. We asked the children to realized a draw suggesting some possible arguments between: 1. How do you imagine a scientist? How do you imagine the daily activities of a researcher? 2. What is the invention you consider the most important among all those you know? 3. What would you invent? The 986 drawings realized by 6 up to 10 years old boys and girls from 48 schools distributed throughout the Italian territory, report us a generally positive picture of the work of scientists and also highlight a great level of confidence in the potential of science, capable to

Reale Osservatorio Vesuviano: the First Volcanological Observatory in the World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avvisati, Gala; de Vita, Sandro; Di Vito, Mauro Antonio; Marotta, Enrica; Sangianantoni, Agata; Peluso, Rosario; Pasquale Ricciardi, Giovanni; Tulino, Sabrina; Uzzo, Tullia; Ghilardi, Massimo; De Natale, Giuseppe

2015-04-01

The Reale Osservatorio Vesuviano (ROV), historic home of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), is the oldest volcanological observatory in the world. It was founded in 1841 by the Bourbon king of Naples. The building is located on the western slope of Mount Vesuvius, one of the most famous and dangerous volcanoes in the world. Since its foundation, the ROV has always attracted researchers, visitors and students from many countries. The ROV site is an elegant neo-classical building which at present hosts permanent exhibitions of part of its inheritance of valuable mineral, scientific instrument and art collections. A radical change is now under way, starting with the structural reinforcement of the building, renewal and upgrading of services, and the redefinition of exhibition itineraries so as to make visits still more enjoyable and informative. This will include the integration of outdoor footpaths and theme-based routes designed for users of differing levels of expertise. This major transformation also involves a study and a number of operations aimed at the possibility of developing self-financed activities. To this end an analysis of tourist movements in Campania was conducted, in part so as to attract to the ROV a larger and more varied group of visitors. In an area that - despite its unique characteristics - is currently significantly degraded and underused, the creation of such a powerful tourist and cultural attraction would serve as a focus for the development of additional activities and services that would greatly enhance it and stimulate growth. These activities would, of course, be compatible with a territory that has a high risk of volcanic hazards - indeed, such growth would constitute an important component in mitigating this risk in the area. The example given illustrates how the restoration and enhancement of a piece of our historic, scientific and cultural heritage could be the driving force behind the economic revival of an

The Importance of Cultural Heritage in Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avvisati, Gala; Di Vito, Mauro; Marotta, Enrica; Sangianantoni, Agata; Peluso, Rosario; de Vita, Sandro; Nave, Rosella; Vertechi, Enrico; De Natale, Giuseppe; Ghilardi, Massimo

2016-04-01

In recent years the Earth Sciences community is facing the need to achieve a more effective and efficient dissemination of its scientific culture. There is now a growing needing to integrate the use of "traditional" dissemination media of cultural heritage with the new digital technologies. Getting people involved in geoheritage site's activities represents a crucial issue in order to better communicate and increase the collective awareness of natural hazards, risk, and environmental change. The Reale Osservatorio Vesuviano (ROV) which is part of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), owns collections unique in their combination of scientific, historical and artistic importance. The long history of ROV is extensively documented in its collections. This heritage - of great scientific and cultural value and unique for its abundance and variety - tells the story of the first observatory in the world, closely linked to the activity of Vesuvius, and the commitment of many scientists who dedicated their lives to study the volcano. The collections include: a) old books on volcanological matters, b) collection of rocks, minerals, volcanic ash and other materials from historical eruptions of Vesuvius, c) recordings on smoked paper of Vesuvius seismic activity from 1915 until 1970, d) scientific instruments, e) geological and geomorphological maps and models, f) vintage photographs and filmed sequences of eruptions, g) gouaches of Vesuvius and h) lava medals. The exposition of these collections, improved with the new digital contents, may trace new and unexplored routes for the dissemination of Earth Sciences related culture. The ethical duty of the ROV is the creation of an universal identity by taking a picture of the evolution of the society through the training of the culture of seismic and volcanic risk. A disappearance of its heritage could represent an huge impoverishment of its community: the ROV carries in fact the cultural identity of the

3D displacements maps of the L'Aquila earthquake by applying SISTEM method to GPS and ENVISAT and ALOS DInSAR data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guglielmino, Francesco; Anzidei, Marco; Briole, Pierre; de Michele, Marcello; Elias, Panagiotis; Nunnari, Giuseppe; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Spata, Alessandro

2010-05-01

Italian earthquakes from 461 B.C. to 1997, Ann. Geofis., 43, 609- 868. Chiarabba, C., L. Jovane, and R. Di Stefano (2005), A new view of Italian seismicity using 20 years of instrumental recordings, Tectonophysics, 395, 251-268, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2004.09.013. EMERGEO Working Group (2009), Field geological survey in the epicentral area of the Abruzzi (central Italy) seismic sequence of April 6th, 2009, in Quaderni di Geofisica, vol. 70, Ist. Naz. Di Geofis. e Vulcanol., Rome. Guglielmino F., Nunnari G., Puglisi G., Spata A. (2009), Simultaneous and Integrated Strain Tensor Estimation from geodetic and satellite deformation Measurements (SISTEM) to obtain threedimensional displacements maps. Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) (2009), The L'Aquila seismic sequence— April 2009, Ist. Naz. di Geofis. e Vulcanol., Rome. (Available at http://portale.ingv.it/).

Revised seismic hazard map for the Kyrgyz Republic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleming, Kevin; Ullah, Shahid; Parolai, Stefano; Walker, Richard; Pittore, Massimiliano; Free, Matthew; Fourniadis, Yannis; Villiani, Manuela; Sousa, Luis; Ormukov, Cholponbek; Moldobekov, Bolot; Takeuchi, Ko

2017-04-01

final hazard level, this is still not fully accounted for, even if a nation-wide first order Vs30 model (i.e., from the USGS) is available. Abdrakhmatov, K., Havenith, H.-B., Delvaux, D., Jongsmans, D. and Trefois, P. (2003) Probabilistic PGA and Arias Intensity maps of Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia), Journal of Seismology, 7, 203-220. Ulomov, V.I., The GSHAP Region 7 working group (1999) Seismic hazard of Northern Eurasia, Annali di Geofisica, 42, 1012-1038.

Coexisting shortening and extension along the "Africa-Eurasia" plate boundary in southern Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuffaro, M.; Riguzzi, F.; Scrocca, D.; Doglioni, C.

2009-04-01

We performed geodetic strain rate field analyses along the "Africa (Sicily microplate)"-"Eurasia (Tyrrhenian microplate)" plate boundary in Sicily (southern Italy), using new GPS velocities from a data set spanning maximum ten years (1998-2007). Data from GPS permanent stations maintained from different institutions and the recent RING network, settled in Italy in the last five years by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, were included into the analysis. Two dimensional strain and rotation rate fields were estimated by the distance weighted approach on a regularly spaced grid (30*30km), estimating the strain using all stations, but data from each station are weighted by their distance from the grid node by a constant a=70km that specifies how the effect of a station decays with distance from the node grid interpolation. Results show that most of the shortening of the Africa-Eurasia relative motion is distributed in the northwestern side offshore Sicily, whereas the extension becomes comparable with shortening on the western border of the Capo d'Orlando basin, and grater in the northeastern side, offshore Sicily, as directly provided by GPS velocities which show a larger E-ward component of sites located in Calabria with respect to those located either in northern Sicily or in the Ustica-Aeolian islands. Moreover, where shortening and extension have mostly a similar order of magnitude, two rotation rate fields can be detected, CCW in the northwestern side of Sicily, and CW in the northeastern one respectively. Also, 2-D dilatation field records a similar pattern, with negative values (shortening) in the northwestern area of Sicily close to the Ustica island, and positive values (extension) in the northeastern and southeastern ones, respectively. Principal shortening and extension rate axes are consistent with long-term geological features: seismic reflection profiles acquired in the southern Tyrrhenian seismogenic belt show active extensional faults

The C6 Program: Monitoring Climatic Changes in Canyons and Caves Involving Scientific Istitutions, Environmental NGOs and Mountain Sport Associations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

di Pietro, R.; Casamento, G.; Interlandi, M.; Madonia, P.

2007-12-01

The acronym "C6" means "Climatic Changes and Carbon Cycle in Canyons and Caves". The project was born in 2005, joining under the scientific supervision of the Palermo branch of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia two different programs both active since 1999; the first was due to the initiative of the Italian Canyoning Association, a no-profit association aimed to the diffusion of the canyoning sport practise in Italy, the second one, developed by the NGO Legambiente Sicilia and funded by the Regione Siciliana-Assessorato Territorio e Ambiente (Sicilian Regional Government, Territorial and Environmental Department), managing the natural reserves of Santa Ninfa, Carburangeli and Sant'Angelo Muxaro caves (Sicily), was focused to verify the existence of a possible environmental negative feedback of human fruition. In 2005 the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature of Jordan joined the program, and a new site was established inside the Shagher Daghleh Canyon in the Wadi Dana Reserve. In October 2006 the Caver Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina joined the C6 program and another observational site was instituted into a cave close to Sarajevo. Preliminary data acquired indicate how canyons play a very important role in biodiversity preservation in arid and semi-arid environments, whereas caves are extraordinary natural laboratories for the study of carbon dioxide partition between atmosphere and lithosphere, of the effect of rain dynamic on the underground aquifer recharge and, last but not least, of the monitoring of climatic changes. The success of the initiative is based on the very different nature of the co-participants. Caver and canyoning associations guarantee the safe accessibility to difficult environments, like canyons and caves. The selection as measuring sites of natural reserves managed by NGOs, whose activity is essentially based on volunteers, ensure on one hand their environmental stability on a long term perspective, on the other hand

Control of deep lithospheric roots on crustal scale GOCE gravity and gradient fields evident in Gondwana reconstructions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braitenberg, Carla; Mariani, Patrizia

2015-04-01

The GOCE gravity field is globally homogeneous at the resolution of about 80km or better allowing for the first time to analyze tectonic structures at continental scale. Geologic correlation studies based on age determination and mineral composition of rock samples propose to continue the tectonic lineaments across continents to the pre-breakup position. Tectonic events which induce density changes, as metamorphic events and magmatic events, should then show up in the gravity field. Therefore gravity can be used as a globally available supportive tool for interpolation of isolated samples. Applying geodynamic plate reconstructions to the GOCE gravity field places today's observed field at the pre-breakup position. In order to test the possible deep control of the crustal features, the same reconstruction is applied to the seismic velocity models, and a joint gravity-velocity analysis is performed. The geophysical fields allow to control the likeliness of the hypothesized continuation of lineations based on sparse surface outcrops. Total absence of a signal, makes the cross-continental continuation of the lineament improbable, as continental-wide lineaments are controlled by rheologic and compositional differences of lithospheric mantle. It is found that the deep lithospheric roots as those found below cratons control the position of the positive gravity values. The explanation is that the deep lithospheric roots focus asthenospheric upwelling outboard of the root protecting the overlying craton from magmatic intrusions. The study is carried out over the African and South American continents. The background for the study can be found in the following publications where the techniques which have been used are described: Braitenberg, C., Mariani, P. and De Min, A. (2013). The European Alps and nearby orogenic belts sensed by GOCE, Boll. Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, 54(4), 321-334. doi:10.4430/bgta0105 Braitenberg, C. and Mariani, P. (2015). Geological

Hydrogeophysical monitoring of water infiltration processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bevilacqua, Ivan; Cassiani, Giorgio; Deiana, Rita; Canone, Davide; Previati, Maurizio

2010-05-01

Non-invasive subsurface monitoring is growing in the last years. Techniques like ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) can be useful in soil water content monitoring (e.g., Vereecken et al., 2006). Some problems remain (e.g. spatial resolution), but the scale is consistent with many applications and hydrological models. The research has to to provide even more quantitative tools, without remaining in the qualitative realm. This is a very crucial step in the way to provide data useful for hydrological modeling. In this work a controlled field infiltration experiment has been done in August 2009 in the experimental site of Grugliasco, close to the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Torino, Italy. The infiltration has been monitored in time lapse by ERT, GPR, and TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry). The sandy soil characteristics of the site has been already described in another experiment [Cassiani et al. 2009a].The ERT was èperformed in dipole-dipole configuration, while the GPR had 100 MHz and 500 MHz antennas in WARR configuration. The TDR gages had different lengths. The amount of water which was sprinkled was also monitored in time.Irrigation intensity has been always smaller than infiltration capacity, in order not toh ave any surface ponding. Spectral induced polarization has been used to infer constitutive parameters from soil samples [Cassiani et al. 2009b]. 2D Richards equation model (Manzini and Ferraris, 2004) has been then calibrated with the measurements. References. Cassiani, G., S. Ferraris, M. Giustiniani, R. Deiana and C.Strobbia, 2009a, Time-lapse surface-to-surface GPR measurements to monitor a controlled infiltration experiment, in press, Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, Vol. 50, 2 Marzo 2009, pp. 209-226. Cassiani, G., A. Kemna, A.Villa, and E. Zimmermann, 2009b, Spectral induced polarization for the characterization of free-phase hydrocarbon contamination in sediments with low clay content

An Efficient Rapid Warning System For Earthquakes In The European-mediterranean Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bossu, R.; Mazet-Roux, G.; di Giovambattista, R.; Tome, M.

Every year a few damaging earthquakes occur in the European-Mediterranean region. It is therefore indispensable to operate a real-time warning system in order to pro- vide rapidly reliable estimates of the location, depth and magnitude of these seismic events. In order to provide this information in a timely manner both to the scientific community and to the European and national authorities dealing with natural hazards and relief organisation, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) has federated a network of seismic networks exchanging their data in quasi real-time. Today, thanks to the Internet, the EMSC receives real-time information about earth- quakes from about thirty seismological institutes. As soon as data reach the EMSC, they are displayed on the EMSC Web pages (www.emsc-csem.org). A seismic alert is generated for any potentially damaging earthquake in the European-Mediterranean re- gion, potentially damaging earthquakes being defined as seismic events of magnitude 5 or more. The warning system automatically issues a message to the duty seismolo- gist mobile phone and pager. The seismologist log in to the EMSC computers using a laptop PC and relocates the earthquake by processing together all information pro- vided by the networks. The new location and magnitude are then send, by fax, telex, and email, within one hour following the earthquake occurrence, to national and inter- national organisations whose activities are related to seismic risks, and to the EMSC members. The EMSC rapid warning system has been fully operational for more than 4 years. Its distributed architecture has proved to be an efficient and reliable way for the monitoring of potentially damaging earthquakes. Furthermore, if a major problem disrupts the operational system more than 30 minutes, the duty is taken, over either by the Instituto Geografico National in Spain or by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica in Italy. The EMSC operational centre, located at the

A multidisciplinary system for monitoring and forecasting Etna volcanic plumes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coltelli, Mauro; Prestifilippo, Michele; Spata, Gaetano; Scollo, Simona; Andronico, Daniele

2010-05-01

One of the most active volcanoes in the world is Mt. Etna, in Italy, characterized by frequent explosive activity from the central craters and from fractures opened along the volcano flanks which, during the last years, caused several damages to aviation and forced the closure of the Catania International Airport. To give precise warning to the aviation authorities and air traffic controller and to assist the work of VAACs, a novel system for monitoring and forecasting Etna volcanic plumes, was developed at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, sezione di Catania, the managing institution for the surveillance of Etna volcano. Monitoring is carried out using multispectral infrared measurements from the Spin Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on board the Meteosat Second Generation geosynchronous satellite able to track the volcanic plume with a high time resolution, visual and thermal cameras used to monitor the explosive activity, three continuous wave X-band disdrometers which detect ash dispersal and fallout, sounding balloons used to evaluate the atmospheric fields, and finally field data collected after the end of the eruptive event needed to extrapolate important features of explosive activity. Forecasting is carried out daily using automatic procedures which download weather forecast data obtained by meteorological mesoscale models from the Italian Air Force national Meteorological Office and from the hydrometeorological service of ARPA-SIM; run four different tephra dispersal models using input parameters obtained by the analysis of the deposits collected after few hours since the eruptive event similar to 22 July 1998, 21-24 July 2001 and 2002-03 Etna eruptions; plot hazard maps on ground and in air and finally publish them on a web-site dedicated to the Italian Civil Protection. The system has been already tested successfully during several explosive events occurring at Etna in 2006, 2007 and 2008. These events produced eruption

100 years after the Marsica earthquake: contribute of outreach activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Addezio, Giuliana; Giordani, Azzurra; Valle, Veronica; Riposati, Daniela

2015-04-01

Many outreach events have been proposed by the scientific community to celebrate the Centenary of the January 13, 1915 earthquake, that devastated the Marsica territory, located in Central Apennines. The Laboratorio Divulgazione Scientifica e Attività Museali of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV's Laboratory for Outreach and Museum Activities) in Rome, has realised an interactive exhibition in the Castello Piccolomini, Celano (AQ), to retrace the many aspects of the earthquake disaster, in a region such as Abruzzo affected by several destructive earthquakes during its history. The initiatives represent an ideal opportunity for the development of new programs of communication and training on seismic risk and to spread the culture of prevention. The INGV is accredited with the Servizio Civile Nazionale (National Civic Service) and volunteers are involved in the project "Science and Outreach: a comprehensive approach to the divulgation of knowledge of Earth Sciences" starting in 2014. In this contest, volunteers had the opportunity to fully contribute to the exhibition, in particular, promoting and realising two panels concerning the social and environmental consequences of the Marsica earthquake. Describing the serious consequences of the earthquake, we may raise awareness about natural hazards and about the only effective action for earthquake defense: building with anti seismic criteria. After studies and researches conducted in libraries and via web, two themes have been developped: the serious problem of orphans and the difficult reconstruction. Heavy snowfalls and the presence of wolves coming from the high and wild surrounding mountains complicated the scenario and decelerated the rescue of the affected populations. It is important to underline that the earthquake was not the only devastating event in the country in 1915; another drammatic event was, in fact, the First World War. Whole families died and the still alive infants and

The impact of Mount Etna's sulphur emissions to the atmospheric composition, aerosol properties and radiative transfer in the central Mediterranean: 14 years of statistic analysis using observations and Lagrangian modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sellitto, Pasquale; Zanetel, Claudia; di Sarra, Alcide; Salerno, Giuseppe; Tapparo, Andrea; Briole, Pierre; Legras, Bernard

2016-04-01

emission rates measured at Mount Etna with the FLAME network (a near-crater network of ground-based ultraviolet spectrophotometers, operated by the INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia). This statistical analysis has allowed, for the first time, the characterization of the impact of Mount Etna's sulphur emissions to the sulfur dioxide distributions and the aerosol microphysical/optical characterisation in the central Mediterranean. This impact is here presented and critically discussed. Finally, the radiative forcing of simulated Mount Etna's plumes is estimated for different optical properties and vertical distributions of the volcanic aerosols. We have found that the radiative forcing efficiency of Mount Etna's plumes can be as important as the efficiency related to the most frequent Saharan dust or pollution transport events, in the same area.

The Larderello-Travale geothermal field (Tuscany, central Italy): seismic imaging as a tool for the analysis and assessment of the reservoir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anselmi, M.; Piccinini, D.; Casini, M.; Spinelli, E.; Ciuffi, S.; De Gori, P.; Saccorotti, G.; chiarabba, C.

2013-12-01

Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (I.N.G.V.) is conducting since May, 2012. The GAPSS experiment consists of a large aperture seismic array composed by 20 temporary and 2 permanent broad-band seismic stations. Besides the characterization of the seismic release of the geothermal field, our purpose is to investigate in depth the geothermal field applying cost-effective passive seismic techniques, such as local earthquake tomography, attenuation tomography, shear wave splitting analysis and surface-wave dispersion from noise correlation analysis.

OGS improvements in the year 2011 in running the Northeastern Italy Seismic Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bragato, P. L.; Pesaresi, D.; Saraò, A.; Di Bartolomeo, P.; Durı, G.

2012-04-01

The Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS, Seismological Research Center) of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) in Udine (Italy) after the strong earthquake of magnitude M=6.4 occurred in 1976 in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, started to operate the Northeastern Italy Seismic Network: it currently consists of 15 very sensitive broad band and 21 simpler short period seismic stations, all telemetered to and acquired in real time at the OGS-CRS data center in Udine. Real time data exchange agreements in place with other Italian, Slovenian, Austrian and Swiss seismological institutes lead to a total number of about 100 seismic stations acquired in real time, which makes the OGS the reference institute for seismic monitoring of Northeastern Italy. Since 2002 OGS-CRS is using the Antelope software suite on several workstations plus a SUN Cluster as the main tool for collecting, analyzing, archiving and exchanging seismic data, initially in the framework of the EU Interreg IIIA project "Trans-national seismological networks in the South-Eastern Alps". SeisComP is also used as a real time data exchange server tool. In order to improve the seismological monitoring of the Northeastern Italy area, at OGS-CRS we tuned existing programs and created ad hoc ones like: a customized web server named PickServer to manually relocate earthquakes, a script for automatic moment tensor determination, scripts for web publishing of earthquake parametric data, waveforms, state of health parameters and shaking maps, noise characterization by means of automatic spectra analysis, and last but not least scripts for email/SMS/fax alerting. The OGS-CRS Real Time Seismological website (RTS, http://rts.crs.inogs.it/) operative since several years was initially developed in the framework of the Italian DPC-INGV S3 Project: the RTS website shows classic earthquake locations

SABRE observations of Pi2 pulsations: case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradshaw, E. G.; Lester, M.

1997-01-01

(Imperial College, London), J. C. Samson (University of Alberta, Edmonton), L. J. Lanzerotti (AT&T Bell Laboratories), A. Wolfe (New York City Technical College) and to Dr. M. Vellante (University of LÁquila) for helpful discussions. They also thank Dr. A. Meloni (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, Roma) who made available geomagnetic field observations from LÁquila Geomagnetic Observatory. This research activity at LÁquila is supported by MURST (40% and 60% contracts) and by GIFCO/CNR. Topical Editor K.-H. Glaßmeier thanks C. Waters and S. Fujita for their help in evaluating this paper.-> Correspondence to :P. Francia->

The Quest for the Africa-Eurasia plate boundary West of the Strait of Gibraltar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zitellini, N.

2009-04-01

, Dpt. Geology and Soil Science, Gent University, Gent, Belgium (8) National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, United Kingdom (9) Département de Géologie et Océanographie, Talence Cedex, France (10) Department for the Development of Marine Technology and Research, Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Sgonico, Italy (11) Geología Marina, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain

Background noise levels and correlation with ship traffic in the Gulf of Catania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viola, Salvatore; Buscaino, Giuseppa; Caruso, Francesco; Chierici, Francesco; Embriaco, Davide; Favali, Paolo; Giovanetti, Gabriele; Grammauta, Roasario; Larosa, Giuseppina; Pavan, Gianni; Pellegrino, Carmelo; Pulvirenti, Sara; Riccobene, Giorgio; Sciacca, Virginia; Simeone, Francesco; Beranzoli, Laura; Marinaro, Giuditta

2015-04-01

In the last decades the growing interest in the evaluation of the underwater acoustic noise for studies in the fields of geology, biology and high-energy physics is driving the scientific community to collaborate towards a multidisciplinary approach to the topic. In June 2012 in the framework of the European project EMSO, a multidisciplinary underwater observatory, named NEMO-SN1, was installed 25 km off-shore the port of Catania, at a depth of 2100 m and operated until May 2013 by INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) and INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia). NEMO-SN1 hosted aboard geophysical, oceanographic and acoustic sensors: among these a seismic hydrophone model SMID DT-405D(V). In this work, conducted within the activity of the SMO project, the results on the evaluation of the underwater acoustic pollution in the Gulf of Catania through SMID DT-405D(V) recordings are presented. The seismic hydrophone provided a data set of about 11 months of continuous (24/7) recordings. Underwater sounds have been continuously digitized at a sampling frequency of 2 kHz and the acquired data have been stored in 10min long files for off-line analysis. To describe one-year background noise levels, the mean integrated acoustic noise was measured every second (sampling frequency 2000, NFFT 2048) in the 1/3 octave bands with centre frequency 63 Hz and for each 10 minutes-long file the 5th, the 50th and the 98th percentiles were calculated. Measured noise was correlated with the shipping traffic in the area, thanks to the data provided by an AIS receiver installed at the INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud. An acoustic noise increment was measured in coincidence with the passing of crafts in the area and it was possible to identify the characteristic spectrum of each ship. A simple model for the estimation of the acoustic noise induced by the ships passing through the area was developed. The model was applied by using AIS data acquired during the operation

Experiential learning for education on Earth Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marsili, Antonella; D'Addezio, Giuliana; Todaro, Riccardo; Scipilliti, Francesca

2015-04-01

The Laboratorio Divulgazione Scientifica e Attività Museali of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV's Laboratory for Outreach and Museum Activities) in Rome, organizes every year intense educational and outreach activities to convey scientific knowledge and to promote research on Earth Science, focusing on volcanic and seismic hazard. Focusing on kids, we designed and implemented the "greedy laboratory for children curious on science (Laboratorio goloso per bambini curiosi di scienza)", to intrigue children from primary schools and to attract their interest by addressing in a fun and unusual way topics regarding the Earth, seismicity and seismic risk. We performed the "greedy laboratory" using experiential teaching, an innovative method envisaging the use and handling commonly used substances. In particular, in the "greedy laboratory" we proposed the use of everyday life's elements, such as food, to engage, entertain and convey in a simple and interesting communication approach notions concerning Earth processes. We proposed the initiative to public during the "European Researchers Night" in Rome, on September 26, 2014. Children attending the "greedy laboratory", guided by researchers and technicians, had the opportunity to become familiar with scientific concepts, such as the composition of the Earth, the Plate tectonics, the earthquake generation, the propagation of seismic waves and their shaking effects on the anthropogenic environment. During the hand-on laboratory, each child used not harmful substances such as honey, chocolate, flour, barley, boiled eggs and biscuits. At the end, we administered a questionnaire rating the proposed activities, first evaluating the level of general satisfaction of the laboratory and then the various activities in which it was divided. This survey supplied our team with feedbacks, revealing some precious hints on appreciation and margins of improvement. We provided a semi-quantitative assessment with a

Acquiring data in real time in Italy from the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN): testing the global capabilities of the EarthWorm and Antelope software suites.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Percy Plasencia Linares, Milton; Russi, Marino; Pesaresi, Damiano; Cravos, Claudio

2010-05-01

The Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, OGS) is running the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN), made of 7 seismic stations located in the Scotia Sea region in Antarctica and in Tierra del Fuego - Argentina: data from these stations are transferred in real time to the OGS headquarters in Trieste (Italy) via satellite links provided by the Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA). Data is collected and archived primarily in Güralp Compress Format (GCF) through the Scream! software at OGS and IAA, and transmitted also in real time to the Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology (ORFEUS). The main real time seismic data acquisition and processing system of the ASAIN network is based on the EarthWorm 7.3 (Open Source) software suite installed on a Linux server at the OGS headquarters in Trieste. It runs several software modules for data collection, data archiving, data publication on dedicated web servers: wave_serverV, Winston Wave Server, and data analysis and realtime monitoring through Swarm program. OGS is also running, in close cooperation with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Civil Defense, the North East (NI) Italy seismic network, making use of the Antelope commercial software suite from BRTT as the main acquisition system. As a test to check the global capabilities of the Antelope software suite, we also set up an instance of Antelope acquiring data in real time from both the regional ASAIN seismic network in Antarctica and a subset of the Global Seismic Network (GSN) funded by the Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology (IRIS). The facilities of the IRIS Data Management System, and specifically the IRIS Data Management Center, were used for real time access to waveform required in this study. The first tests indicated that more than 80% of the earthquakes with magnitude M>5.0 listed in the Preliminary Determination

New Collaboration Among Geodesy Data Centers in Europe and the US Facilitates Data Discovery and Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boler, Fran; Wier, Stuart; D'Agostino, Nicola; Fernandes, Rui R. M.; Ganas, Athanassios; Bruyninx, Carine; Ofeigsson, Benedikt

2014-05-01

Europe, several institutions that are part of EPOS including University of Beira Interior (Portugal); Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italy); National Observatory of Athens (Greece); RENAG, GeoAzur (France); Vedurstofa Islands (Iceland Meteorological Office), and EUREF Permanent Network Central Bureau (Belgium), each host data from GNSS station networks. These EPOS members have all implemented GSAC at their respective data centers for internal testing and/or public utilization. In the US, GSAC has been successfully used in both repository and federated implementations at three data centers, each maintaining their own local information architecture to manage their respective data and metadata holdings. These capacities of GSAC will also be utilized in the EPOS context. Lessons have been learned through the GSAC installations so far that show the way for augmenting data center information architecture to both maximize the capabilities of GSAC to allow unified data and metadata presentation for search and access.

New Collaboration Among Geodesy Data Centers in Europe and the US Facilitates Data Discovery and Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boler, F. M.; Wier, S.; D'Agostino, N.; Fernandes, R. M.; Ganas, A.; Bruyninx, C.

2013-12-01

. GSAC services and a federated implementation have been in operation at the three US data centers. In Europe, several institutions that are part of EPOS including University of Beira Interior (Portugal), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italy), National Observatory of Athens (Greece), Verdur (Iceland Meterorological Office), and EUREF Permanent Network Central Bureau (Belgium), each host data from GNSS station networks. These EPOS members have expressed their intention to implement GSAC at their respective data centers, and several have initiated implementation. In the US, GSAC has been successfully used at three data centers, each maintaining their own local information architecture to manage their respective data and metadata holdings, and this capability of GSAC will also be utilized in the EPOS context. Lessons have been learned through the GSAC installations so far that show the way for augmenting data center information architecture to both maximize the capabilities of GSAC to allow unified data and metadata presentation for search and access.

The influence of hydrocarbons in changing the mechanical and acoustic properties of a carbonate reservoir: implications of laboratory results on larger scale processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trippetta, Fabio; Ruggieri, Roberta; Geremia, Davide; Brandano, Marco

2017-04-01

Understanding hydraulic and mechanical processes that acted in reservoir rocks and their effect on the rock properties is of a great interest for both scientific and industry fields. In this work we investigate the role of hydrocarbons in changing the petrophysical properties of rock by merging laboratory, outcrops, and subsurface data focusing on the carbonate-bearing Majella reservoir (Bolognano formation). This reservoir represents an interesting analogue for subsurface carbonate reservoirs and is made of high porosity (8 to 28%) ramp calcarenites saturated by hydrocarbon in the state of bitumen at the surface. Within this lithology clean and bitumen bearing samples were investigated. For both groups, density, porosity, P and S wave velocity, at increasing confining pressure and deformation tests were conducted on cylindrical specimens with BRAVA apparatus at the HP-HT Laboratory of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Rome, Italy. The performed petrophysical characterization, shows a very good correlation between Vp, Vs and porosity and a pressure independent Vp/Vs ratio while the presence of bitumen within samples increases both Vp and Vs. P-wave velocity hysteresis measured at ambient pressure after 100 MPa of applied confining pressure, suggests an almost pure elastic behaviour for bitumen-bearing samples and a more inelastic behaviour for cleaner samples. Calculated dynamic Young's modulus is larger for bitumen-bearing samples and these data are confirmed by cyclic deformation tests where the same samples generally record larger strength, larger Young's modulus and smaller permanent strain respect to clean samples. Starting from laboratory data, we also derived a synthetic acoustic model highlighting an increase in acoustic impedance for bitumen-bearing samples. Models have been also performed simulating a saturation with decreasing API° hydrocarbons, showing opposite effects on the seismic properties of the reservoir respect to

Modeling oil spills in the Med-Sea as a mean of early response in cases of oil leakages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zodiatis, George; De Dominicis, Michela; Perivoliotis, Leonidas; Radhakrishnan, Hari; Lardner, Robin; Pinardi, Nadia; Coppini, Giovanni; Soloviev, Dmitry; Tintore, Joaquin; Sotillo, Marcos; Drago, Aldo; Stylianou, Stavros; Nikolaidis, Andreas; Alves, Tiago; Kokinou, Eleni

2016-04-01

Modeling oil spills in the Med-Sea as a mean of early response in cases of oil leakages G. Zodiatis1, M. De Dominicis2, L. Perivoliotis3, H. Radhakrishnan1, R. W. Lardner1, N. Pinardi2, G. Coppini4, D. Soloviev1, J. Tintore5, M. Sotillo6 A. Drago7, S. Stylianou1, A. Nikolaidis1, T. Alves8, E. Kokinou9 and MEDESS4MS partners 1Oceanography Centre, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Bologna, Italy 3Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Athens, Greece 4Centro Euro- Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Italy 5SOCIB, IMEDEA, Palma de Majorca, Spain 6Puertos del Estado, Madrid, Spain 7IOI, University of Malta, La Valetta, Malta 83D Seismic Lab, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom 9Dept. of Environmental and Natural Resources, Technological Educational Institute Crete, Chania, Greece The risk from oil spill pollution in the Mediterranean is high due to the heavy traffic of merchant vessels for transporting oil and to the increasing coastal and offshore platforms related to the hydrocarbon exploration. This is especially true in the Levantine Basin following the recent widening of the Suez canal and the increase of the offshore deep wells for the exploitation of oil and gas. In order to select the optimal response measurements to assist the response agencies, oil spill models are used to provide predictions of the drift and weathering of the oil slicks. The establishment of the operational ocean forecasting systems at regional level, within the Copernicus Marine Environmental Monitoring Service and in association with the national downscaled ones, provided the background for the implementation of a multi model integrated oil spill prediction system for the entire Mediterranean to support the maritime safety in near real time. This implementation was carried out in the frame of the medess4ms.eu project, which is dedicated to the response agencies of the riparian countries and to

Geoethical implications in the L'Aquila case: scientific knowledge and communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Capua, Giuseppe

2013-04-01

On October 22nd 2012, three and a half years after the earthquake that destroyed the city of L'Aquila (central Italy), killing more than 300 people and wounding about 1,500, a landmark judgment for the scientific research established the condemnation of six members of the Major Risks Committee of the Italian Government and a researcher of INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), called to provide information about the evolution of the seismic sequence. The judge held that these Geoscientists were negligent during the meeting of 31st March 2009, convened to discuss the scientific aspects of the seismic risk of this area, affected by a long seismic sequence, also in the light of repeated warnings about the imminence of a strong earthquake, on the base of measurements of radon gas by an Italian independent technician, transmitted to the population by mass-media. Without going into the legal aspects of the criminal proceedings, this judgment strikes for the hardness of the condemnation to be paid by the scientists (six years of imprisonment, perpetual disqualification from public office and legal disqualification during the execution of the penalty, compensation for victims up to several hundred thousands of Euros). Some of them are scientists known worldwide for their proven skills, professionalism and experience. In conclusion, these scientists were found guilty of having contributed to the death of many people, because they have not communicated in an appropriate manner all available information on the seismic hazard and vulnerability of the area of L'Aquila. This judgment represents a watershed in the way of looking at the social role of geoscientists in the defense against natural hazards and their responsibility towards the people. But, in what does this responsibility consist of? It consists of the commitment to conduct an updated and reliable scientific research, which provides for a detailed analysis of the epistemic uncertainty for a more

Slow transients recorded by the cGPS network FreDNet at the northern Adria microplate boundary (NE-Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, Giuliana; Fabris, Paolo; Zuliani, David

2013-04-01

The northern tip of the Adria micro-plate (NE-Italy) is continuously monitored by the Friuli Regional Deformation Network (FReDNet) of OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale), consisting of 15 GNSS permanent sites, the first eight of which were installed between 2002 and 2004. Additional information on the strain field in the region comes from the 10 GNSS permanent sites of the Marussi network of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional council, some of which record continuously since 1999. Having at disposal time-series of a certain length (around ten-years), it is possible to evaluate with reliability not only the plate motion direction and velocity, represented by the linear trend of the horizontal components of the records, but also the possible plate acceleration, due to the superposition of other terms of the strain field time-space variations, with different frequency. With the aim of investigating such terms, we first processed the GPS data of the longest time series from both networks, starting from 2002, using GAMIT/GLOBK, eliminated the outliers, and filled the eventual short gaps in the data through linear interpolation. A low-band pass filter allowed obtaining the time-series cleaned from the components with frequencies higher than 1.5 years, so to eliminate the annual and quasi-annual terms, and the highest frequencies. The so-obtained time-series for the two horizontal components result dominated by a linear trend, as expected, to which clear oscillations of some years of duration are superimposed. From the analysis of the linear trend, the resulting velocity field suggest crustal shortening, with values ranging between 0.6 and 2.8 mm/year, decreasing from South to North and, more slightly, from East to West. This is in agreement with preceding observations and with the geodynamic character of the region, located in the area of convergence between Adria microplate and Eurasia. As regards as the deviations from the linear trend

Volcanoes: effusions and explosions. Interactive exhibits to understand how volcanoes work.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nostro, C.; Freda, L.; Castellano, C.; Arcoraci, L.; Baroux, E.

2009-04-01

The Educational & Outreach Group (EOG) of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica & Vulcanologia created a portable museum to provide educational opportunities in volcanology, volcanic risk and Earth science for students and visitors. The EOG developed this project for the "Festival della Scienza", organized in Genoa, Italy, in October - November, 2007, which was a parade of over 200 events, including scientific and technological exhibitions, workshops, meetings, lectures, books and video presentations. In this museum visitors can successively see many posters and movies and play with interactive exhibits. A little 3D-movie shows the Big Bang, the formation of Solar System and, in particular the formation of the Earth. Many interactive exhibits illustrate why, where and when earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur around the world and allow to introduce the visitor to the plate tectonics theory. A 3D magnetic plate tectonic puzzle can be put down and reconstructed by visitors to understand the Earth's surface configuration. Then two other 3D Earth models show what drives the plates and the inner Earth structure. An interactive program illustrates where and when earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in accelerated time on maps of various areas around the world. Playing with a block diagram it is possible to produce an earthquake along a 1 meter long strike slip fault in a destroying all the man-made constructions close to it. A little movie introduces to volcanoes' world. Two small interactive exhibits allow visitors to understand the mechanism for the explosive and the effusive eruptions. Two other exciting interactive exhibits allow visitors to "create" two different eruptions: the explosive and the effusive ones. It is possible to get inside a volcano (a 2 meter high interactive exhibit) to attend an eruption from the magmatic chamber to the Earth surface. A big hall is completed dedicated to Italian volcanoes (Vesuvio, Campi Flegrei, Etna, Stromboli, Vulcano

The Surface faulting produced by the 30 October 2016 Mw 6.5 Central Italy earthquake: the Open EMERGEO Working Group experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pantosti, Daniela

2017-04-01

The October 30, 2016 (06:40 UTC) Mw 6.5 earthquake occurred about 28 km NW of Amatrice village as the result of upper crust normal faulting on a nearly 30 km-long, NW-SE oriented, SW dipping fault system in the Central Apennines. This earthquake is the strongest Italian seismic event since the 1980 Mw 6.9 Irpinia earthquake. The Mw 6.5 event was the largest shock of a seismic sequence, which began on August 24 with a Mw 6.0 earthquake and also included a Mw 5.9 earthquake on October 26, about 9 and 35 km NW of Amatrice village, respectively. Field surveys of coseismic geological effects at the surface started within hours of the mainshock and were carried out by several national and international teams of earth scientists (about 120 people) from different research institutions and universities coordinated by the EMERGEO Working Group of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. This collaborative effort was focused on the detailed recognition and mapping of: 1) the total extent of the October 30 coseismic surface ruptures, 2) their geometric and kinematic characteristics, 3) the coseismic displacement distribution along the activated fault system, including subsidiary and antithetic ruptures. The huge amount of collected data (more than 8000 observation points of several types of coseismic effects at the surface) were stored, managed and shared using a specifically designed spreadsheet to populate a georeferenced database. More comprehensive mapping of the details and extent of surface rupture was facilitated by Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry surveys by means of several helicopter flights. An almost continuous alignment of ruptures about 30 km long, N150/160 striking, mainly SW side down was observed along the already known active Mt. Vettore - Mt. Bove fault system. The mapped ruptures occasionally overlapped those of the August 24 Mw 6.0 and October 26 Mw 5.9 shocks. The coincidence between the observed surface ruptures and the trace of active

Emission of gas and atmospheric dispersion of SO2 during the December 2013 eruption at San Miguel volcano (El Salvador)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salerno, Giuseppe G.; Granieri, Domenico; Liuzzo, Marco; La Spina, Alessandro; Giuffrida, Giovanni B.; Caltabiano, Tommaso; Giudice, Gaetano; Gutierrez, Eduardo; Montalvo, Francisco; Burton, Michael; Papale, Paolo

2016-04-01

y Recursos Naturales (MARN) of El Salvador and by a network of geophysical and geochemical stations established on the volcano by the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), immediately after the December 2013 eruption, on the request of MARN. During the eruption, SO2 emissions increased from a background level of ~330 t d-1 to 2200 t d-1, dropping after the eruption to an average level of 680 t d-1. Wind measurements and SO2 fluxes during the pre-, syn- and post-eruptive stages were used to model SO2 dispersion around the volcano. Air SO2 concentration exceeds the dangerous threshold of 5 ppm in the crater region, and in some middle sectors of the highly visited volcanic cone.

New methods and dissemination models for risk education at INGV(Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marsili, Antonella; Hunstad, Ingrid; Burrato, Pierfrancesco; Casale, Paolo; Vallocchia, Massimiliano; D'Addezio, Giuliana

2013-04-01

As regards the natural hazards, it grows more and more the awareness of the necessity of the transition from being exclusively prepared in the field of the disaster response, to the culture of prevention in tackling disasters. The culture of prevention is accomplished giving responsible and balanced information and continuous education to the citizens. Preparedness of people, knowledge on how to deal with natural disasters is a powerful resource for risk reduction. Geosciences researchers, working in the field of the natural hazards, more and more develop plans and focus energies not only devoted to scientific projects but also to disseminate the scientific results within the local population, the ultimate stakeholder, with the goal of diffusing basic geo-hazard knowledge of the territory studied. In the process of building a culture of prevention it is very important for the Geoscientists to be able to propose innovative projects of scientific teaching, for both schools and general population. The Science Teaching Laboratory (Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica) of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) have been engaged for years in projects of scientific dissemination. During the first edition of the Week of the Planet Earth in 2012 organized by Geoitalia (http://www.settimanaterra.org/), the INGV lab has proposed two original and innovative events for the general public combinig science and music. The first: "A musical journey among the Italian earthquakes", aims to raise the knowledge of the great historical earthquakes of the Italian peninsula, making an historical and musical journey through the seismic regions and using the local folk music to revive the popular traditions. This is a science communication event that combines scientific information with historical and musical expressions typical of the regions affected by earthquakes, and leads us to rediscover our "historical memory". The collective memory is fundamental to understand

Appraising the Early-est earthquake monitoring system for tsunami alerting at the Italian Candidate Tsunami Service Provider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardi, F.; Lomax, A.; Michelini, A.; Lauciani, V.; Piatanesi, A.; Lorito, S.

2015-09-01

In this paper we present and discuss the performance of the procedure for earthquake location and characterization implemented in the Italian Candidate Tsunami Service Provider at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Rome. Following the ICG/NEAMTWS guidelines, the first tsunami warning messages are based only on seismic information, i.e., epicenter location, hypocenter depth, and magnitude, which are automatically computed by the software Early-est. Early-est is a package for rapid location and seismic/tsunamigenic characterization of earthquakes. The Early-est software package operates using offline-event or continuous-real-time seismic waveform data to perform trace processing and picking, and, at a regular report interval, phase association, event detection, hypocenter location, and event characterization. Early-est also provides mb, Mwp, and Mwpd magnitude estimations. mb magnitudes are preferred for events with Mwp ≲ 5.8, while Mwpd estimations are valid for events with Mwp ≳ 7.2. In this paper we present the earthquake parameters computed by Early-est between the beginning of March 2012 and the end of December 2014 on a global scale for events with magnitude M ≥ 5.5, and we also present the detection timeline. We compare the earthquake parameters automatically computed by Early-est with the same parameters listed in reference catalogs. Such reference catalogs are manually revised/verified by scientists. The goal of this work is to test the accuracy and reliability of the fully automatic locations provided by Early-est. In our analysis, the epicenter location, hypocenter depth and magnitude parameters do not differ significantly from the values in the reference catalogs. Both mb and Mwp magnitudes show differences to the reference catalogs. We thus derived correction functions in order to minimize the differences and correct biases between our values and the ones from the reference catalogs. Correction of the Mwp

Enhancing youth potential through Civic Service: ethical reflections arising from a geo-educational project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubbia, Giuliana

2015-04-01

Different forms of Civic Service are present in Europe. The National Civic Service (SCN) of Italy started, with a law, as an alternative to military service in 2001. It was conceived as an opportunity to people from 18 to 28 years, the volunteers, who intend to grow in social, civic, cultural and professional dimensions while performing experiences of social solidarity, national and international cooperation, protection and preservation of national heritage. Each accredited organization, which hosts SCN projects, signs up an ethical charter, regulating relationships between volunteers and the hosting organization. Summarizing, the organization must be aware 1)of putting into effect a law aimed to involve young generations in homeland defense with non violent means through services of social utility; 2) that the Civic Service wants young people to spend one year of their life in a critical phase in which they reach the responsibilities of adults; 3) that adopted working method is learning by doing, working with tutors having to increase skills and exploit the full potential of volunteers; 4) of recognizing the volunteers' right to work to reach the project's objectives, and not only for the benefits of the hosting organization; 5) that volunteers should work with well defined procedures, clear since the beginning; 6) of requiring from volunteers their full commitment to learn and responsibly participate to project's activities as well as to fully express and increase their expertise, skills and personal resources. Ethical implications emerged during an ongoing Earth Sciences education project funded by SCN and involving young volunteers at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). According to SCN's ethical charter, in this case the challenge is to welcome a group of young people in a public research organization, and to integrate them in the limited time lapse of one year. The European Charter for Researchers came as a valuable help. Its principles

Present-Day Kinematics of the Central Mediterranean Plate Boundary Region from Large GPS Network Analysis Using the Ambizap Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Anastasio, E.; D'Agostino, N.; Avallone, A.; Blewitt, G.

2008-12-01

The large, recent increase of continuous GPS (CGPS) stations in the Central Mediterranean plate boundary zone offers the opportunity to study in detail the present-day kinematics of this actively deforming region. CGPS data from scientific and commercial networks in the Italian region is now available from more than 350 stations, including more than 130 from the RING network deployed by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The RING stations all have high quality GPS monuments and are co- located with broadband or very broadband seismometers and strong motion sensors. The analysis presented here also uses far-field data to provide reference frame control, bringing the total to over 580 CGPS stations. GPS ambiguity resolution of such a large amount of data presents a serious challenge in terms of processing time. Many scientific GPS data processing software packages address this problem by dividing the network into several clusters. In contrast, this analysis uses the new Ambizap GPS processing algorithm (Blewitt, 2008) to obtain unique, self-consistent daily ambiguity-fixed solutions for the entire network. Ambizap allows for a rapid and multiple reanalysis of large regional networks such the one presented in this work. Tests show that Ambizap reproduces solutions from time-prohibitive full-network ambiguity resolution to much less than 1 mm. Single station GPS data are first processed with the GIPSY-OASIS II software by the precise point positioning (PPP) strategy (Zumberge et al., 1997) using JPL products from ftp://sideshow.jpl.nasa.gov. Integer ambiguity resolution is then applied using Ambizap. The resulting daily solutions are aligned to the ITRF2005 reference frame. Then, using the CATS software (Williams, 2007), time series are cleaned to remove outliers and are analyzed for their noise properties, linear velocities, periodic signals and antenna jumps. Stable plate reference frames are realized by minimizing the horizontal velocities at more

GOCE observations for Mineral exploration in Africa and across continents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braitenberg, Carla

2014-05-01

identify common geologic units that extend across both the now-separate continents. Tracing the geologic units is important for mineral exploration, which is demonstrated with the analysis of correlations of the gravity signal with selected classes of mineral occurrences, for instance those associated to Greenstone belts. Alvarez, O., Gimenez M., Braitenberg C., Folguera, A. (2012) GOCE Satellite derived Gravity and Gravity gradient corrected for topographic effect in the South Central Andes Region. Geophysical Journal International, 190, 941-959, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05556.x Braitenberg C., Mariani P., De Min A. (2013) The European Alps and nearby orogenic belts sensed by GOCE, Boll. Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, doi:10.4430/bgta0105 Braitenberg C. (2014) Exploration of tectonic structures with GOCE in Africa and across-continents, J.of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (in Review). Mariani P., Braitenberg C., Ussami N. (2013). Explaining the thick crust in Parana' basin, Brazil, with satellite GOCE-gravity observations. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 45, 209-223, doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2013.03.008.

Variations of the petrophysical properties of rocks with increasing hydrocarbons content and their implications at larger scale: insights from the Majella reservoir (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trippetta, Fabio; Ruggieri, Roberta; Lipparini, Lorenzo

2016-04-01

Crustal processes such as deformations or faulting are strictly related to the petrophysical properties of involved rocks. These properties depend on mineral composition, fabric, pores and any secondary features such as cracks or infilling material that may have been introduced during the whole diagenetic and tectonic history of the rock. In this work we investigate the role of hydrocarbons (HC) in changing the petrophysical properties of rock by merging laboratory experiments, well data and static models focusing on the carbonate-bearing Majella reservoir. This reservoir represent an interesting analogue for the several oil fields discovered in the subsurface in the region, allowing a comparison of a wide range of geological and geophysical data at different scale. The investigated lithology is made of high porosity ramp calcarenites, structurally slightly affected by a superimposed fracture system and displaced by few major normal faults, with some minor strike-slip movements. Sets of rock specimens were selected in the field and in particular two groups were investigated: 1. clean rocks (without oil) and 2. HC bearing rocks (with different saturations). For both groups, density, porosity, P and S wave velocity, permeability and elastic moduli measurements at increasing confining pressure were conducted on cylindrical specimens at the HP-HT Laboratory of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Rome, Italy. For clean samples at ambient pressure, laboratory porosity varies from 10 % up to 26 % and P wave velocity (Vp) spans from 4,1 km/s to 4,9 km/s and a very good correlation between Vp, Vs and porosity is observed. The P wave velocity at 100 MPa of confining pressure, ranges between 4,5 km/s and 5,2 km/s with a pressure independent Vp/Vs ratio of about 1,9. The presence of HC within the samples affects both Vp and Vs. In particular velocities increase with the presence of hydrocarbons proportionally respect to the amount of the filled

The experience of the Antarctic Seismic Data Library System (SDLS) as a hub for researchers in antarctic crustal studies.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diviacco, Paolo; Wardell, Nigel

2010-05-01

The SDLS was created in April 1991 under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research to provide open access to Antarctic multichannel seismic-reflection data (MCS) for use in cooperative research projects. The SDLS operates under the mandates of the Antarctic Treaty System, by which all institutions that collect MCS data in Antarctica must submit their MCS data to the SDLS. The SDLS has library branches worldwide at which researchers may view and study the MCS data. MCS data are submitted to the SDLS within 4 years of collection and remain in the library under SDLS guidelines until 8 years after collection. Thereafter, the data go to World Data Centers or equivalents for unrestricted use. The SDLS offers a clearing house, based at Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS) where data are processed when needed and georeferenced, so that the end user can be provided with usable, although basic, post-stack seismic sections. Re-processing of data is beyond the scope of the SDLS, so that if a researcher is interested in reviewing pre-stack data he/she must resort to the data owner. So far 228,000 km of seismic data have been made public in all sectors of the Antarctic region. To augment the concept of physical repositories where data can be accessed by researchers travelling to one of the branches or from where data could be copied to digital media and sent to users, in 2003 it was decided to develop a web interface where data could be searched for and accessed directly. At that moment no previous non-commercial experience was available in this data field, so that the system was designed from scratch. Several technologies were introduced, tested, and after a period of use, reviewed and tuned. Particular attention was devoted to the seismic data viewing facility, which was tailored to the needs of a community with specific practices and legacies. Seismic data are sensitive data that are very important for the E&P industry, so

Challenges in communicating research and research careers: lesson learned from the European Researchers' Nights at INGV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Addezio, Giuliana; Rubbia, Giuliana; Musacchio, Gemma; Lanza, Tiziana

2014-05-01

Since 2009 the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) participates to the European Researchers' Night, promoted by the European Commission, in the framework of Associazione Frascati Scienza (http://www.frascatiscienza.it/), with a program rich of events aimed at intriguingnand stimulating audiences of all ages about Earth Sciences, i.e., to make the general public aware on activities and roles of INGV researchers. For the September 27th Night, INGV contributed with a program in the INGV headquarters inspired by the INGV ScienzAperta Open Day held in April: guided tours, as well seminars held by researchers, exhibitions, educational games. We proposed two parallel programs: one devoted to earthquakes, including the visit to the INGV seismic surveillance room, seminars about Italian territory seismic hazard and exhibitions on Earthquakes and Volcanoes; the alternative program included the guided tour of the INGV laboratories (Aero-photogrammetry, Paleo-magnetism beside exhibition on geomagnetism, High Pressures and High Temperatures, Geochemistry, Restoration of historical instruments). In Frascati, we organized educational games, hands-on laboratories and a science theatre performance: "When the sky flashed red", as well as exhibitions at Museo Geofisico Rocca di Papa. A paper-based appreciation survey, compiled by visitors at INGV headquarter and by the scientific theatre's audiences, supplied our team with feedback, revealing some precious hints about users themselves, appreciation and margins of improvement, both in organization and in content. People of all ages and professions came. For example, a father asked specific paths for children, with even more appropriate language. A boy (aged 11) found the visit to the labs "interesting but a bit boring". It was suggested to prepare specific hand-outs for each visit, and certificates of participation for students. A girl, 9 years old, wrote that such event makes her closer to science world. The

Science, technology and inventions: Children draw their own visions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Addezio, G.; Rubbia, G.; Marsili, A.

2013-12-01

Italian primary schools participated with enthusiasm to the drawing competition 'I'm a scientist too! Science and scientists from the children point of view' organized by the Laboratorio di Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Rome, Italy. The best drawings were awarded and published in the 2011 school calendar. Children were asked to realize a drawing, choosing among three suggestions: 1) How do you imagine a scientist, and how do you imagine the daily activities of a researcher? 2) What invention do you consider the most important among all those you know? 3) What would you invent? The topic 'invention' (#3) was the most successful. In fact, among the collected 1,000 drawings, 400 drawings depict scientists, nearly 150 depict scientists with their inventions, and other 350 depict inventions alone. A classification scheme was designed in order to synthetically describe this set of images and analyze it. The Draw-A-Scientist scheme, known from literature, was maintained but modified in order to characterize both inventors and inventions. A preliminary analysis about scientists reveals a persistent gender stereotype, since most of depicted persons were male and nearly half of girls draw men scientists. The image of 'mad scientist' is still present but it is mainly related to men. Women scientists are drawn by girls; they are represented as young, not crazy, usually good-looking. There are no particular differences between boys and girls in assigning research fields to scientists. Women scientists are often depicted as assistants, but when alone they are self-confident enough to give their name to an invention or to aspire for Nobel Prize. In this work we present the preliminary analysis performed on drawings containing inventions. What do girls and boys 6 to 11 years old invent? Robots, helping in housekeeping or in doing homework; rockets, space vehicles and time machines, but also fictional machines and

TOMO-ETNA Experiment -Etna volcano, Sicily, investigated with active and passive seismic methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luehr, Birger-G.; Ibanez, Jesus M.; Díaz-Moreno, Alejandro; Prudencio, Janire; Patane, Domenico; Zieger, Toni; Cocina, Ornella; Zuccarello, Luciano; Koulakov, Ivan; Roessler, Dirk; Dahm, Torsten

2017-04-01

The TOMO-ETNA experiment, as part of the European Union project "MEDiterranean SUpersite Volcanoes (MED-SUV)", was devised to image the crustal structure beneath Etna by using state of the art passive and active seismic methods. Activities on-land and offshore are aiming to obtain new high-resolution seismic images to improve the knowledge of crustal structures existing beneath the Etna volcano and northeast Sicily up to the Aeolian Islands. In a first phase (June 15 - July 24, 2014) at Etna volcano and surrounding areas two removable seismic networks were installed composed by 80 Short Period and 20 Broadband stations, additionally to the existing network belonging to the "Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia" (INGV). So in total air-gun shots could be recorded by 168 stations onshore plus 27 ocean bottom instruments offshore in the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. Offshore activities were performed by Spanish and Italian research vessels. In a second phase the broadband seismic network remained operative until October 28, 2014, as well as offshore surveys during November 19 -27, 2014. Active seismic sources were generated by an array of air-guns mounted in the Spanish Oceanographic vessel "Sarmiento de Gamboa" with a power capacity of up to 5.200 cubic inches. In total more than 26.000 shots were fired and more than 450 local and regional earthquakes could be recorded and will be analyzed. For resolving a volcanic structure the investigation of attenuation and scattering of seismic waves is important. In contrast to existing studies that are almost exclusively based on S-wave signals emitted by local earthquakes, here air-gun signals were investigated by applying a new methodology based on the coda energy ratio defined as the ratio between the energy of the direct P-wave and the energy in a later coda window. It is based on the assumption that scattering caused by heterogeneities removes energy from direct P-waves that constitutes the earliest possible

Inertial and GPS data integration for positioning and tracking of GPR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chicarella, Simone; D'Alvano, Alessandro; Ferrara, Vincenzo; Frezza, Fabrizio; Pajewski, Lara

2015-04-01

approach to data processing and visualization,' Proceedings of 15th IEEE International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar - GPR 2014, Brussels, Belgium, June 30 - July 4, 2014, pp. 913-918. [2] S. Urbini, L. Vittuari, and S. Gandolfi, 'GPR and GPS data integration: examples of application in Antarctica,' Annali di Geofisica, Vol. 44, No. 4, August 2001, pp. 687-702. [3] V. Prokhorenko, V. Ivashchuk, S. Korsun, and O. Dykovska, 'An Inertial Measurement Unit Application for a GPR Tracking and Positioning,' Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, June 15-19, 2008, Birmingham, UK, pp. 19-24. [4] M. Pasternak, W. Miluski, W. Czarnecki, and J. Pietrasinski, 'An optoelectronic-inertial system for handheld GPR positioning,' Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Radar Symposium (IRS), Gdansk, Poland, June 16-18, 2014, pp. 1-4. [5] L. Crocco and V. Ferrara, 'A Review on Ground Penetrating Radar Technology for the Detection of Buried or Trapped Victims,' Proceedings of the IEEE 2nd International Workshop on Collaborations in Emergency Response and Disaster Management (ERDM 2014) as part of 2014 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS 2014) - Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA), May 19-23, 2014, pp. 535-540.

Human reponses to historical eruptions of Etna (Sicily) from 1600 to present and their implications for present-day disaster planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sangster, H.; Chester, D. K.; Duncan, A. M.

2012-04-01

closely managed by central government, through the Ministry of Civil Protection (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile - founded in 1992), who can call on the expertise of local authorities (comuni) and scientific bodies, especially the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Catania (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologica INGV - sezione Catania). The nature of the society living on the flanks of Mount Etna has changed over the past nine decades, especially since the late 1960s, and the increasing exposure to volcanic and volcano-related hazards in the Etna Region is strengthening the need for improved communication amongst social scientists, civil defence authorities, the media and the local communities. Educating local people about how to react when a disaster strikes is viewed as an increasingly important element in Civil Defence planning, with examples of how people coped successfully in the past being used to inform people today. Effective communication both in terms of, raising awareness and ensuring that non-scientists have properly understood the associated hazard implications, and implementing emergency responses, is critical in facilitating more effective hazard prevention plans.

The Upgraded European Digital Upper Atmosphere Server: new DIAS products for the high latitude ionosphere, the topside ionosphere and the plasmasphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belehaki, Anna; Kutiev, Ivan; Zolesi, Bruno; Tsagouri, Ioanna; Dialetis, Dimitris; Marinov, Pencho; Fidanova, Stefka; Cander, Lili; Pietrella, Marco; Tziotziou, Kostas; Lykiardopoulos, Angelos

2013-04-01

Knowledge of the state of the upper atmosphere, and in particular its ionized part, is very important in several applications affected by space weather, especially the communications and navigation systems that rely on radio transmission. To better classify the ionosphere and forecast its disturbances over Europe, a data and model infrastructure platform called the European Digital Upper Atmosphere Server (DIAS) has been established in the National Observatory of Athens by a European consortium formed around eight ionospheric stations, and funded by the European Commission. The DIAS system operates since 2006 and the basic products that are delivered are real-time and historical ionograms, frequency plots and maps of the ionosphere on the foF2, M(3000)F2, MUF and bottomside electron density, as well as long term and short term forecasting up to 24 hour ahead. The DIAS system supports more than 500 subscribed users, including telecommunication companies, satellite operators, space agencies, radio amateurs, research organizations and the space weather scientific community. In 2012 the system has been upgraded, in close collaboration between the National Observatory of Athens, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, with funding from the ESA/SSA Programme. The first group of new products results from the implementation of the TaD model (Topside Sounder Model assisted by Digisonde) that makes possible the generation of maps of the electron density at heights up to GNSS orbits, and of TEC and partial TEC maps (topside and plasmaspheric) over Europe. The TaD is based on the simple empirical functions for the transition height, the topside electron density scale height and their ratio, based on the Alouette/ISIS database, and models separately the oxygen, hydrogen and helium ions density profiles. The model takes as input the plasma characteristics at the height of maximum electron concentration that are provided in real

Developing seismogenic source models based on geologic fault data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haller, Kathleen M.; Basili, Roberto

2011-01-01

Calculating seismic hazard usually requires input that includes seismicity associated with known faults, historical earthquake catalogs, geodesy, and models of ground shaking. This paper will address the input generally derived from geologic studies that augment the short historical catalog to predict ground shaking at time scales of tens, hundreds, or thousands of years (e.g., SSHAC 1997). A seismogenic source model, terminology we adopt here for a fault source model, includes explicit three-dimensional faults deemed capable of generating ground motions of engineering significance within a specified time frame of interest. In tectonically active regions of the world, such as near plate boundaries, multiple seismic cycles span a few hundred to a few thousand years. In contrast, in less active regions hundreds of kilometers from the nearest plate boundary, seismic cycles generally are thousands to tens of thousands of years long. Therefore, one should include sources having both longer recurrence intervals and possibly older times of most recent rupture in less active regions of the world rather than restricting the model to include only Holocene faults (i.e., those with evidence of large-magnitude earthquakes in the past 11,500 years) as is the practice in tectonically active regions with high deformation rates. During the past 15 years, our institutions independently developed databases to characterize seismogenic sources based on geologic data at a national scale. Our goal here is to compare the content of these two publicly available seismogenic source models compiled for the primary purpose of supporting seismic hazard calculations by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); hereinafter we refer to the two seismogenic source models as INGV and USGS, respectively. This comparison is timely because new initiatives are emerging to characterize seismogenic sources at the continental scale (e.g., SHARE in the

New mapping of Radlandi basin and detailed analysis of its inner plains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minelli, Francesco; Giorgetti, Carolina; Mondini, Alessandro; Pauselli, Cristina; Mancinelli, Paolo

2013-04-01

NEW MAPPING OF RADITLADI BASIN AND DETAILED ANALYSIS OF ITS INNER PLAINS. Francesco Minelli 1, Carolina Giorgetti 1, Alessandro C. Mondini 2, Cristina Pauselli 1, Paolo Mancinelli1. 1 Gruppo di Geologia Strutturale e Geofisica (GSG), Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Perugia, 06123, Perugia, Italy . Email: minelli91@yahoo.it. 2 CNR IRPI Perugia, 06123, Perugia. Introduction: The Raditladi basin is a large peak-ring impact crater discovered during the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) first flyby of Mercury in January 2008 [1]. The Raditladi basin is relatively young [2], and the study of the internal structures give an indication of the processes that acted recently in Mercury's geological history. Geological mapping: We first present the geological mapping of Raditladi crater. In the map we defined different sub-units on the base of previous studies [4][5] and surface morphology and reflectance. Through a GIS software we associated a polygonal layer to each sub-unit, this allowed to distinguish nine different layers. Due to the similarities with the Rachmaninoff basin, to define sub-units mapped on Raditladi, we adopted Rachmaninoff crater's units definitions made by Marchi et al. (2011) [4]. Structures analysis : We also mapped secondary structures consisting in concentric troughs arranged in a circular pattern. We defined two different kinds of troughs: (i) structures characterized by a distinct flat floor and interpretable as grabens, and (ii) structures with linear and curvilinear segments [5]. Inner plain deposit: The analysis of the topography made possible the estimation of the deposit's thickness. The measurement of the thickness is possible thanks to the presence of two small craters, crater A and crater, located in Raditladi's Inner plain. Observing the morphology of the two small craters' rim and hummocky central floor, we distinguished two different units: the shallower consists in

Pick-Up Ion Instabilities at Planetary Magnetospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strangeway, Robert J.; Sharber, James (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This effort involved the analysis of low frequency waves as observed by the Galileo spacecraft near the Galilean moon, Io. Io is a significant source of material, especially SO2, and various products of dissociation, and further these atoms and molecules are readily ionized. The initial velocity of the ions is essentially that of the neutral species, i.e., the Keplerian velocity. The plasma, on the other hand is co-rotating, and there is a differential flow of the order 57 km/s between the plasma and the neutral particles. Thus pick-up ion instabilities are Rely to occur within the Jovian magnetosphere. Indeed, magnetometer observations from the Galileo spacecraft clearly show ion cyclotron waves that have been identified with a large variety of plasma species, such as O+, S++ (which has the same gyro-frequency as O+), S+, and SO2+. Typically, however, the dominant frequency is near the SO2+ gyro-frequency. The research effort was originally planned to be a team effort between Robert J. Strangeway as the Principal Investigator, and Debbie Huddleston, who was an Assistant Research Geophysicist at UCLA. Unfortunately, Dr. Huddleston took a position within Industry. The effort was therefore descoped, and Dr. Strangeway instead pursued a collaboration with Dr. Xochitl Blanco-Cano, of the Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. This has proved to be a productive collaboration, with several papers and publications arising out of the effort. The magnetic field oscillations near lo generally fall into two types: ion cyclotron waves, with frequencies near an ion gyro-frequency, and lower frequency mirror-mode waves. The ion cyclotron waves are mainly transverse, and frequently propagate along the ambient magnetic field. The mirror-mode waves are compressional waves, and they have essentially zero frequency in the plasma rest frame. One of the purposes of our investigation is to understand what controls the types of wave modes that occur, since both

ASI-Volcanic Risk System (SRV): a pilot project to develop EO data processing modules and products for volcanic activity monitoring, first results.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silvestri, M.; Musacchio, M.; Buongiorno, M. F.; Dini, L.

2009-04-01

The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The project philosophy is to implement, by incremental versions, specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools geophysical parameters suitable for volcanic risk management. The ASI-SRV is devoted to the development of an integrated system based on Earth Observation (EO) data to respond to specific needs of the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC) and improve the monitoring of Italian active volcanoes during all the risk phases (Pre Crisis, Crisis and Post Crisis). The ASI-SRV system provides support to risk managers during the different volcanic activity phases and its results are addressed to the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC). SRV provides the capability to manage the import many different EO data into the system, it maintains a repository where the acquired data have to be stored and generates selected volcanic products. The processing modules for EO Optical sensors data are based on procedures jointly developed by INGV and University of Modena. This procedures allow to estimate a number of parameters such as: surface thermal proprieties, gas, aerosol and ash emissions and to characterize the volcanic products in terms of composition and geometry. For the analysis of the surface thermal characteristics, the available algorithms allow to extract information during the prevention phase and during the Warning and Crisis phase. In the prevention phase the thermal analysis is directed to the identification of temperature variation on volcanic structure which may indicate a change in the volcanic activity state. At the moment the only sensor that

An infrastructure for the integration of geoscience instruments and sensors on the Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pugliese, R.; Prica, M.; Kourousias, G.; Del Linz, A.; Curri, A.

2009-04-01

). In this paper i) we define the need for integration of instrumentation in the Grid, ii) we introduce the solution of the Instrument Element, iii) we demonstrate a suitable end-user web portal for accessing Grid resources, iv) we describe from the Grid-technological point of view the process of the integration to the Grid of two advanced environmental monitoring devices. References [1] M. Surridge, S. Taylor, D. De Roure, and E. Zaluska, "Experiences with GRIA—Industrial Applications on a Web Services Grid," e-Science and Grid Computing, First International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing, 2005, pp. 98-105. [2] A. Chervenak, I. Foster, C. Kesselman, C. Salisbury, and S. Tuecke, "The data grid: Towards an architecture for the distributed management and analysis of large scientific datasets," Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 23, 2000, pp. 187-200. [3] B. Allcock, J. Bester, J. Bresnahan, A.L. Chervenak, I. Foster, C. Kesselman, S. Meder, V. Nefedova, D. Quesnel, and S. Tuecke, "Data management and transfer in high-performance computational grid environments," Parallel Computing, vol. 28, 2002, pp. 749-771. [4] E. Frizziero, M. Gulmini, F. Lelli, G. Maron, A. Oh, S. Orlando, A. Petrucci, S. Squizzato, and S. Traldi, "Instrument Element: A New Grid component that Enables the Control of Remote Instrumentation," Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGRID'06)-Volume 00, IEEE Computer Society Washington, DC, USA, 2006. [5] R. Ranon, L. De Marco, A. Senerchia, S. Gabrielli, L. Chittaro, R. Pugliese, L. Del Cano, F. Asnicar, and M. Prica, "A Web-based Tool for Collaborative Access to Scientific Instruments in Cyberinfrastructures." 1 The DORII project is supported by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. RI-213110. URL: http://www.dorii.eu 2 Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale. URL: http://www.ogs.trieste.it

High resolution seismic reflection survey in the Gulf of Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy. An example of preliminary interpretation of seismic profiles.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Aniello, Elena; di Fiore, Vincenzo; Sacchi, Marco; Rapolla, Antonio

2010-05-01

were recognized. The correspondence between magnetic structures, interpreted as volcanic bodies, and the faults NE-SW and NW-SE trending, supports the hypothesis that the magma rises along normal faults cutting the carbonate platform. We here present two significant seismic profiles: their interpretation reveals a complex stratigraphic and structural setting, dominated by the occurrence of volcanic bodies and siliciclastic depositional units, mostly deriving from the dismantling of the adjacent vents and volcaniclastic units. The results of this preliminary research include the recognition of volcanic features and structures not yet described in the literature that may represent a relevant contribute to the understanding of the Late Quaternary evolution of the Campi Flegrei area. References: Bruno P.P., Rapolla A., Di Fiore V., 2003. Structural setting of the Bay of Naples (Italy) seismic reflection data: implications for Campanian volcanism. Tectonophysics, 372, 193-213. Bruno P.P., 2004. Structure and evolution of the Bay of Pozzuoli (Italy) using marine seismic reflection data: implication for collapse of the Campi Flegrei caldera. Bull. Volcanol., 66, 342-355. Di Fiore V., D'Aniello E., Rapolla A., Sacchi M., Secomandi M., Spiess V., 2009. Multichannel seismic survey in coastal Campania area by two different resolution sources. EGU General Assembly 2009, vol.11. Sacchi M., Alessio G., Aquino I., Esposito E., Molisso F., Nappi R., Porfido S., Violante C., 2008. Risultati preliminari della campagna oceanografica CAFE_07 - Leg 3 nei Golfi di Napoli e Pozzuoli, Mar Tirreno Orientale. Quaderni di Geofisica, n. 64. Secomandi M., Paoletti V., Aiello G., Fedi M., Marsella E., Ruggieri S., D'Argenio B., Rapolla A., 2003. Analysis of the magnetic anomaly field of the volcanic district of the Bay of Naples, Italy. Marine Geophysical Researches. 24: 207-221.

Realistic modeling of seismic input for megacities and large urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panza, G. F.; Unesco/Iugs/Igcp Project 414 Team

2003-04-01

Geology, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt. (11) Dipartimento Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Università Federico II, Largo San Marcellino, 10, 80138 Naples, Italy. (12) International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. (13) Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute H-9400, Sopron, Csatkai E. str. 6-8, Hungary. (14) Aristotle University, Geophysical Laboratory, P.O.Box 111, GR-54006 Thessaloniki, Greece. (15) Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac bb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. (16) Central Laboratory for Seismic Mechanics and Earthquake Engineering, BAS, Sofia. (17) CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation (C-MMACS), NAL Belur Campus, Bangalore - 560 037, India. (18) Instituto de Cibernetica, Matematica y Fisica, Cuba. (19) INGV-Oss. Vesuviano, via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Naples, Italy.

Sediment and plankton lift off recirculations in strong synthetic turbulence (KS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redondo, Jose M.; Castilla, Roberto; Sekula, Emil; Furmanek, Petr

2014-05-01

. (1929). A search forr the law of atmosferic diffusion. Beitr. Phys. frei. Atmos. 15:24. Redondo J M (1991). The structure of density interfaces, Ph. D. Thesis, CUP, University of Cambridge. Rodríguez A, Sánchez-Arcilla A, Redondo JM, Mosso C (1999) Macroturbulence measurements with electromagnetic and ultrasonic sensors: a comparison under high-turbulent flows. Exp Fluids 27:31-42 Redondo J M (1987). Effects of ground proximity on dense gas entrainment, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 16, 381-393. Redondo J M, Sanchez M A and Cantalapiedra I R (1995). Turbulent Mechanisms in Stratified Flows, Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans, 23, 454-462. Mahjoub O.B., Redondo J.M. and Babiano A.(1998), Structure functions in complex flows, Applied Scientific Research, 59, 299. Mahjoub O.B., Redondo J.M. and Babiano A.,(2000) Hyerarchy flux in nonhomogeneous flows in Turbulent diffusion in the environment Eds. Redondo J.M. and Babiano A. 249-260. Redondo J.M., (1988) Difusion turbulenta por rejilla oscilante. Revista de Geofisica 44, 163-174,. Vindel, J. M., Yagüe, C., & Redondo, J. M. (2008). Structure function analysis and intermittency in the atmospheric boundary layer. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 15(6), 915-929.

Archaeological Geophysics in Israel: Past, Present and Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eppelbaum, L. V.

2009-04-01

et al., 1999; Reeder et al., 2004; Reinhardt et al., 2006; Reich et al., 2003; Ron et al., 2003; Segal et al., 2003; Sternberg and Lass, 2007; Sternberg et al., 1999; Verri et al., 2004; Weiner et al., 1993; Weinstein-Evron et al., 1991, 2003; Weiss et al., 2007; Witten et al., 1994), and (3) future [2010 -]. The past stage with several archaeoseismic reviews and very limited application of geophysical methods was replaced by the present stage with the violent employment of numerous geophysical techniques (first of all, high-precise magnetic survey and GPR). It is supposed that the future stage will be characterized by extensive development of multidiscipline physical-archaeological databases (Eppelbaum et al., 2009b), utilization of supercomputers for 4D monitoring and ancient sites reconstruction (Foster et al., 2001; Pelfer et al., 2004) as well as wide application of geophysical surveys using remote operated vehicles at low altitudes (Eppelbaum, 2008a). REFERENCES Batey, R.A., 1987. Subsurface Interface Radar at Sepphoris, Israel 1985. Journal of Field Archaeology, 14 (1), 1-8. Bauman, P., Parker, D., Coren, A., Freund, R., and Reeder, P., 2005. Archaeological Reconnaissance at Tel Yavne, Israel: 2-D Electrical Imaging and Low Altitude Aerial Photography. CSEG Recorder, No. 6, 28-33. Ben-Dor, E., Portugali, J., Kochavi, M., Shimoni, M., and Vinitzky, L., 1999. Airborne thermal video radiometry and excavation planning at Tel Leviah, Golan Heights, Israel. Journal of Field Archaeology, 26 (2), 117-127. Ben-Menahem, A., 1979. Earthquake catalogue for the Middle East (92 B.C. - 1980 A.D.). Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, 21 (84), 245-310. Ben-Yosef, E., Tauxe, L., Ronb, H., Agnon, A., Avner, U., Najjar, M., and Levy, T.E., 2008. A new approach for geomagnetic archaeointensity research: insights on ancient metallurgy in the Southern Levant. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25, 2863-2879. Berkovitch, A.L., Eppelbaum, L.V., and Basson, U., 2000