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Modeling magma viscosity and ascent dynamics of the 472 CE sub-Plinian eruption of Somma-Vesuvius (Italy)
No full textThe 472 CE sub-Plinian eruption of Somma-Vesuvius represents a critical reference scenario for volcanic hazard assessment, yet the physico-chemical melt controls on magma dynamics remain poorly constrained. We present an experimental and numerical investigation of magma ascent, incorporating a newly developed temperatureand water-dependent viscosity model for the phonotephritic melt involved in the climactic phase of the eruption. Hydrous glasses with water contents up to 5.18 wt. % were synthesized and characterized using electron microprobe analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and small/wide-angle Xray scattering. Glass transition temperatures and melt fragility were determined through differential scanning calorimetry and Brillouin spectroscopy, respectively, avoiding nanocrystallization and dehydration artifacts inherent to traditional viscometry. Our results reveal that empirical viscosity models systematically overestimate melt viscosity at eruptive conditions. The newly parameterized model shows that melt fragility increases with water content, leading to dramatically enhanced viscosity sensitivity during dehydration. At an estimated eruptive temperature of 950 • C, viscosity increases by approximately 23,500-fold from hydrous (5 wt. % H 2 O) to anhydrous conditions, representing a much larger variation than predicted by existing models. The integration of this improved viscosity parameterization into a one-dimensional conduit model provides new insights into the syn-eruptive processes controlling the 472 CE eruption, highlighting the role of rheological models in providing important constraints for understanding the dynamics of explosive volcanic activity.PublishedOSV2: Complessità dei processi vulcanici: approcci multidisciplinari e multiparametriciJCR Journa
Integrating water quality assessment and circulation models for a sustainable management of a strategic carbonate system: Clues from the Mt. Nerone-Mt. Catria Ridge (Central Italy)
No full textThis study provides an updated hydrogeochemical characterization and circulation model of the Mt. Nerone-Mt. Catria carbonate ridge (NCCR) groundwater system, a vital water resource for the ~360,000 inhabitants of the Pesaro-Urbino province (Marche Region, Italy). Chemical analyses of an extensive dataset of water samples revealed that they exhibit a Ca-HCO 3 composition with a relatively low Total Dissolved Solids (TDS < 400 mg/L), suggesting limited interaction with the surrounding carbonates and silicates, and short and shallow pathways. A few samples show SO 4-enrichments and higher TDS (up to 3350 mg/L), likely related to relatively deep flow paths interacting with the evaporitic Triassic Burano formation, while the presence of some Na-HCO 3 (TDS up to 1000 mg/L) waters suggests prolonged circulation within Na-rich terrigenous formations. The Chemical Water Quality Index (CWQI) confirms that most NCCR waters are qualitatively good since the anthropogenic contamination is practically negligible, as testified by the low contents of nitrate and chloride. Nonetheless, a few mineralized springs display high CWQI values, indicating poor quality. The latter usually occur along the main fault systems and mix, at different degrees, with the low-salinity shallow Ca-HCO₃ waters. This implies that excessive groundwater exploitation might be able to pump the mineralized waters, thus increasing the risk of quality deterioration. This study underscores the importance of continuous monitoring and sustainable management practices to preserve the NCCR resource, especially under the effects of climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Our integrated hydrogeochemical approach and the conceptual model of water circulation offer valuable insights into groundwater dynamics, and it can be applied to similar (karstic) systems worldwide.PublishedJCR Journa
Broadband Near-Fault Ground-Motion Simulations Using a Modified f-k Method in Central Italy
No full textIn this study, we simulate ground motions for three major earthquakes that occurred in Central Italy: the 2009 M w 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake and the two largest events of the 2016 Amatrice-Visso-Norcia sequence, the M w 6.2 Amatrice and M w 6.5 Norcia earthquakes. These events caused widespread damage, intense ground shaking, and casualties, making them key cases for evaluating and improving ground-motion modeling techniques, especially given the high-quality recordings available from near-source stations. We use the frequency-wavenumber (f-k) method to generate broadband synthetic ground motions ≤ 7 Hz. This approach balances computational efficiency with physical accuracy, making it well suited for regional-scale applications. Green's functions are computed from the Central Italian Apennines 1D layered velocity model (Herrmann et al., 2011), and kinematic rupture models are generated using the methodology of Graves and Pitarka (2016; hereafter, GP16), implemented into the f-k framework. Site response is incorporated using frequency-dependent nonlinear amplification factors (Borcherdt, 1994). We evaluate the simulations through a detailed comparison with observed ground motions using RotD50 spectral acceleration and a goodness-of-fit analysis. In addition to simulations at recorded stations, we compute ground motions over a dense grid of virtual sites to assess spatial variability and source-related effects such as rupture directivity and regional amplification. Results are benchmarked against predictions from the empirical ground-motion model ITA18 (Lanzano et al., 2019). Our findings demonstrate that the f-k method can reproduce key features of observed ground motion with good agreement, capturing both near-fault effects and broader regional trends. This study demonstrates that the f-k approach offers a computationally efficient and physically robust alternative for deterministic groundmotion simulation, bridging empirical models and 3D simulations for practical use in hazard scenarios and urgent computing workflows. KEY POINTS • The frequency-wavenumber (f-k) method with 1D models efficiently simulates broadband ground motion ≤7 Hz. • Hybrid rupture models capture rupture directivity effects observed in the L'Aquila and Amatrice events. • Simulations show satisfactory agreement with recorded data and enable rapid regional seismic hazard assessment.PublishedJCR Journa
Exploring Vision Transformers and Convolution Neural Networks for the Thermal Image Classification of Volcanic Activity
No full textThis paper addresses the classification of images depicting the eruptive activity of Mount Etna that were captured by a network of ground-based thermal cameras. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of Vision Transformers (ViTs), such as the Swin Trans- former, compared with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), including AlexNet and ShuffleNet. A dataset of 3000 images, evenly distributed across six classes, was utilized for training and testing. The results indicate that for this specific application, the performance advantage of Vision Transformers over CNNs was marginal, likely due to the nature of the classification task. While the Transformer-based models, like the Swin Transformer, demon- strated a slightly improved accuracy for certain complex classes, the CNN-based models, such as AlexNet and ShuffleNet, exhibited superior computational efficiency, particularly in terms of the classification speed. These findings highlight the suitability of CNNs for real-time volcanic activity monitoring. Additionally, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the various CNN and Vision Transformer architectures, offering insights into their strengths and limitations in the context of volcanic activity classification.Supported by the Italian Research Center on High Performance Computing Big Data and Quantum Computing (ICSC), a project funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU—and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)—Mission 4 Component 2 within the activities of Spoke 3 (Astrophysics and Cosmos Observations). Sonia Calvari also acknowledges the financial support of the Project FIRST—ForecastIng eRuptive activity at Stromboli volcano (Delibera n. 144/2020; Scientific Responsibility: S.C.). Vulcani 2019.PublishedOSV3: Sviluppo di nuovi sistemi osservazionali e di analisi ad alta sensibilitàJCR Journa
Ionospheric response to the January 2022 geomagnetic storm using LOFAR and GNSS
No full textPublishedJCR Journa
Galleria di pensieri, riflessioni e opere d’arte del celebre vulcanologo e dei suoi amici siciliani: Renato Guttuso, Leonardo Sciascia e Andrea Camilleri
No full textQuest’omaggio alla figura di Marcello Carapezza, in occasione del centenario dalla nascita, è concepito come una mostra d'arte che si può "leggere".
La si deve intendere, quindi, come un percorso espositivo che, attraverso le pagine e le sue suggestioni, offre un'esperienza immersiva e coinvolgente, stimolando la riflessione e l'interpretazione del lettore/visitatore.
Un libro d’artista in formato digitale che si può sfogliare e un catalogo d’arte in versione ebook capace di esplorare la relazione tra arte, letteratura e scienza.
In quanto "libro d'artista”, l'arte da leggere in formato digitale utilizza il testo e le immagini come opera d'arte complessiva e strumento di narrazione.
Questa esposizione sui generis, dedicata alla vita e all’opera di Marcello Carapezza, si sviluppa attraverso i suoi scritti e le opere dei suoi amici siciliani, celebri artisti e intellettuali come Renato Guttuso, Leonardo Sciascia e Andrea Camilleri.
Un’occasione unica per scoprire o riscoprire capolavori inestimabili, come gli splendidi quadri di Renato Guttuso, protagonista della pittura neorealista italiana che si espresse insieme agli artisti del Fronte Nuovo delle Arti, oppure alcuni scritti di Leonardo Sciascia, una delle più grandi figure letterarie del Novecento italiano ed europeo e, infine, i ricordi di Andrea Camilleri, amico di gioventù di Marcello Carapezza, nonché artista poliedrico, noto soprattutto per i suoi romanzi sul Commissario Montalbano.
Con il presente lavoro, ci proponiamo perciò di far immergere il lettore, unendo la dimensione visiva a quella testuale, nel mondo di una intellighèntia straordinaria che contraddistinse la Palermo dei primi del ‘900, per poi estendere il proprio talento nel resto dell’Italia, fino a toccare i confini internazionali.
Oltre alla sua attività di scienziato, Marcello Carapezza ha dedicato gran parte della sua vita alla scrittura di articoli di argomento scientificosociale, rivolti al pubblico più ampio e generalista, sui quotidiani Il Giornale di Sicilia e L’Ora, alcuni dei quali sono stati raccolti in una bellissima pubblicazione edita da Sellerio, intitolata “Molti fuochi ardono sotto il suolo, di terremoti, vulcani e statue”. Un prezioso volumetto che è stato il nostro punto di partenza per la realizzazione di questo atto di ossequio a uno degli studiosi più rappresentativi del nostro paese, nell’ambito delle scienze della Terra, ma anche un grande umanista scienziato, capace di approcciare sapientemente e con uno spiccato senso critico qualsiasi disciplina. Un polìmata a tutto tondo, in onore del quale, il presente lavoro vuole essere un momento più artistico/creativo di commemorazione della figura di Marcello Carapezza.
Rivolgiamo un sentito ringraziamento all'INGV, al suo settore Editoria scientifica e, naturalmente, alla famiglia Carapezza per aver accolto il progetto con tanta cortese disponibilità e, in particolare alla dott.ssa Maria Luisa Carapezza, per l'attenzione e la scrupolosità nell'analisi del testo.This tribute to Marcello Carapezza, on the centenary of his birth, is conceived as an art exhibition that can be "read."
It should therefore be understood as an exhibition that, through its pages and its suggestions, offers an immersive and engaging experience, stimulating reflection and interpretation in the reader/visitor.
A digital artist's book that can be browsed and an art catalog in e-book format capable of exploring the relationship between art, literature, and science.
As an "artist's book," art to be read in digital format uses text and images as an overall work of art and a narrative tool.
This unique exhibition, dedicated to the life and work of Marcello Carapezza, unfolds through his writings and the works of his Sicilian friends, famous artists and intellectuals such as Renato Guttuso, Leonardo Sciascia, and Andrea Camilleri.
A unique opportunity to discover or rediscover priceless masterpieces, such as the splendid paintings of Renato Guttuso, a leading figure of Italian Neorealist painting who expressed himself alongside the artists of the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti (New Arts Front), or some of the writings of Leonardo Sciascia, one of the greatest literary figures of twentieth-century Italy and Europe; and, finally, the memories of Andrea Camilleri, a youthful friend of Marcello Carapezza and a multifaceted artist, best known for his novels about "Il Commissario Montalbano" ("Inspector Montalbano").
With this work, we aim to immerse the reader, combining the visual and textual dimensions, in the world of an extraordinary intelligentsia that distinguished Palermo in the early 1900s, before extending its talent throughout the rest of Italy and even international borders.
In addition to his work as a scientist, Marcello Carapezza dedicated much of his life to writing articles on social sciences, aimed at a broader and more general audience, for the newspapers Il Giornale di Sicilia and L’Ora. Some of these articles were collected in a beautiful publication published by Editor Sellerio, entitled “Many Fires Burn Beneath the Ground, from Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Statues.”
This precious little volume served as our starting point for this tribute to one of Italy's most iconic scholars in the field of Earth sciences, but also a great humanist and scientist, capable of approaching any discipline with skill and a keen critical eye. A well-rounded polymath, in whose honor, this work aims to be a more artistic/creative moment of commemoration of Marcello Carapezza.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the INGV, its Scientific Publishing Department, and, of course, the Carapezza family for their kind and generous support of the project, and especially to Dr. Maria Luisa Carapezza for her careful and meticulous analysis of the text.PublishedOS: Terza missioneN/A or not JC
Assessing the ionospheric scintillations occurrence on L-band in the southern Mediterranean sector
No full textWe assess the ionospheric scintillation occurrence on Global Navigation Satellite Signals (GNSSs) over the Mediterranean sector under the rising phase of the current solar cycle. To the scope, we leverage on a network of three Ionospheric Scintillation Monitoring Receivers (ISMRs), being part of the electronic Space Weather upper atmosphere (eSWua: eswua.ingv.it) system. Such ISMRs are located in Lampedusa Island (Italy, Lat: 35.52°N–Lon: 12.63°E), Chania (Crete, Greece, Lat: 35.52°N, Lon: 24.04°E) and Nicosia (Cyprus, Lat: 35.18°N–Lon: 33.38°E). To our knowledge, this is the first thorough assessment of the scintillation patterns in the Southern Mediterranean sector, aimed at depicting how small-scale irregularities that form in the area can potentially affect the GNSS-based positioning and related application and services. We analyse the period from January 2021 to December 2023, reporting that the bulk of the scintillation occurrence is due to small-scale irregularities forming in the southernmost area of the field of view of the network. Irregularities of such a scale are formed during the evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability featuring the Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPB), which may spill-over in the field of view (FoV) of the receivers, i.e. at low elevation angles in the southernmost azimuthal range. As observations at low elevation angles are subject to multipath mimic weak to moderate scintillation conditions, we focus exclusively on severe amplitude scintillation occurrence (S4 > 0.7) in the azimuthal range 110–250°, w.r.t the FoV of the receivers, subsequently reaching down to the Saharian ionosphere. To further confirm the nature of the detected GNSS scintillation occurrence, we compare the results with the Swarm Level-2 Ionospheric Bubble Index (IBI) evaluated within the same period. In the context of the April 2023 geomagnetic storm, a worst-case scenario is also documented, illustrating the potential impact of ionospheric disturbances associated with EPBs in the Southern Mediterranean area.PublishedJCR Journa
DIVEnet: a local seismographic network monitoring the lower continental crust drilling activities for the ICDP‑DIVE project
No full textThe ICDP DIVE project (Drilling the Ivrea‑Verbano zonE) addresses fundamental questions about
the nature of the lower continental crust and its transition to the mantle. In its first phase, the
project has drilled two, scientific, fully cored boreholes in the Ivrea Verbano Zone (IVZ) in Italy.
The IVZ, considered the world’s best outcrop of lower crustal continental rocks, is structurally and
historically connected to the underlying Ivrea Geophysical Body, a major, high density and high
seismic‑velocity anomaly studied since the 1960s and a characteristic feature of the Western Alps.
The two boreholes were conducted between 2022‑2024 in Val D’Ossola: the first in Ornavasso and
the second in Megolo, 7 km apart. Within this framework, a dedicated seismographic network,
named DIVEnet, has been monitoring natural earthquakes and possible operation‑related seismic
activity for three years. Eleven seismographic stations (short period and broadband), provided by
INGV and the University of Lausanne, were installed within a maximum distance of 15 km from the
midpoint between the two drilling sites. All stations recorded data continuously and 10 provided
data in real time. One broadband sensor was installed in a borehole, and its horizontal components’
orientation was determined by multiple methods. The stations occupied
14
different locations
and operated from autumn 2021 to summer 2024, with varying recording durations. Being in an
area characterized by low natural local seismicity and a relatively sparse distribution of seismographic
stations, it is particularly important to record background activity and noise for as long as possible,
especially before and after the start of drilling activities. Daily monitoring was conducted at INGV in
quasi real time, and probabilistic power spectral density distributions (PPSD) have been computed.
In total, 28 events with magnitudes ranging from 0 to 2.6 MLv were recorded within a distance
of about 20 km from the boreholes, most of them aligned with the Insubric Line, that is thought to
be tectonically inactive, and 612 events were recorded in the larger study region. No events were
related to the drilling activities, which have only very slightly increased noise levels, mostly in the
0.1‑0.3 Hz frequency range.PublishedJCR Journa
Investigating the drivers of long-term trends in the upper atmosphere over Rome across four decades
Full text linkThe nature of the long-term changes in the upper atmosphere morphology at mid-latitude remains a subject of debate, particularly regarding whether these changes are purely driven by geomagnetic and solar activities or whether forcing from the lower atmosphere, such as CO2 variations, may play a role. To contribute to this debate, we investigate the nature of the long-term trends of the ionospheric and thermospheric parameters by leveraging on ionosonde data digitally recorded at the Rome Observatory since 1976. The following parameters have been investigated under sunlit conditions (12:00 Local Time): critical frequency of the F1 layer (foF1); critical frequency of the F2 layer (foF2), atomic oxygen concentration at 300 km ([O]); ratio between atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen concentrations at 300 km altitude ([O]/[N 2 ]); exospheric temperature (Tex); thermospheric density at 300 km (q). The ionospheric parameters are manually scaled from digital ionograms, whereas thermospheric parameters are retrieved using the THERmospheric parameters from IONosonde observations (THERION) method, which utilises ionosonde observations and a physical model of the ionospheric F region. To investigate the influence of the solar and geomagnetic activity on long term variations, we consider the solar radio flux at 10.7 cm (F10.7) and the geomagnetic disturbance index Ap. To identify the various frequency/period components of the time series under consideration and identify the trends, we leverage the high scale/time resolution offered by the Fast Iterative Filtering (FIF) algorithm. A regression analysis of thermosphere/ionosphere parameters against geomagnetic/solar activity indices has then been conducted to investigate the drivers of long-term variability. Our findings reveal that the identified trends are predominantly controlled by external drivers, particularly long-term solar and geomagnetic activity variations. The adopted methodology, based on regression modelling, demonstrates that variability in F10.7 and Ap accounts for nearly all of the observed changes, with the exception of atomic oxygen ([O]), which displays a slightly higher unexplained variability (~7%). The inclusion of CO2 concentration as an additional driver improves the regression model for [O]. However, the effect remains statistically limited, indicating that the impact of CO2 on thermospheric cooling might be of little significance. Further studies with extended time series are necessary to better quantify this relationship and evaluate its importance. These results highlight the predominant influence of solar and geomagnetic activity in determining upper atmosphere long-term trends at mid-latitudes.PublishedOSA3: Climatologia e meteorologia spazialeJCR Journa
New Advances Towards Early Warning Systems in the Mediterranean Sea Using the Real-Time RING GNSS Research Infrastructure
No full textNowadays, information obtained through Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs)
is widely employed in modern geodesy. The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) approach,
which leverages signals from multiple GNSS constellations (e.g., GPS, GLONASS, Galileo,
and BeiDou), enables high-precision positioning—crucial for seismic monitoring and early
tsunami warning systems (EEWs). Recent advances, such as increased satellite availability
and additional frequency bands, have significantly improved PPP performance, particularly
in terms of positioning accuracy and convergence time. This study focuses on the Rete
Integrata Nazionale GNSS (RING) network, managed by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica
e Vulcanologia (INGV), which comprises dual-frequency GNSS receivers distributed across
the Italian peninsula and parts of the Mediterranean Basin. We evaluate the performance
show that the PPP-RA approach enhances positioning accuracy and reduces convergence
time, especially when comparing GPS-only datasets with those incorporating full multi-
GNSS configurations. For the daily solution, in the optimal setup (i.e., full GNSS with RA),
real-time solutions exhibit average accuracies of 2.05, 1.73, and 4.35 cm for the North, East,
and vertical components, respectively. Sub-daily accuracies’ analysis, using 300 s sliding
windows, showed even better uncertainties, exhibiting median values of 0.41, 0.32, and
0.9 cm for the North, East and vertical components, respectively. Based on the outcomes
for network-wide sub-daily accuracies, 84% of the stations demonstrate average errors
within 2 cm for North and East components and 3 cm for the vertical one. The analysis on
the convergence time after data gaps occurred during the investigation period shows that
87% of the RING stations experienced convergence times lower than five minutes in the
GNSS PPP-RA solution. These findings underscore the potential of RT-GNSS RING data
for enhancing seismic monitoring and early warning systems, particularly in tectonically
active regions.
of the RING data (GPS and GNSS) acquired in a period of three weeks between 19 January
2024 and 9 February 2024 and analyzed in real time by using different PPP strategies:
standard PPP and PPP with Regional Augmentation (PPP-RA). The preliminary resultsPublishe