98 research outputs found

    Crustal movements in northeastern Italy from permanent GPS stations

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    The horizontal absolute motion vectors of northeastern Italy, obtained from the GPS data of a permanent network are compared to the NUVEL1A NNR plate motion model. The results indicate that these sites are moving faster than predicted by the model and with azimuths slightly more northward oriented. The directions of absolute motion in the no-net-rotation system confirm the motion of the Adriatic plate in the global circuit where Africa, Europe and the intervening Adriatic plate are moving north-eastward, although at different velocities and with small variable azimuths which determine relative plate interactions. The data suggest shortening of a few mm/yr between Trieste, located at the leading edge of the Dinarides orogen and the Emilia-Romagna Marina di Ravenna, Medicina and Bologna sites positioned above the Apennines accretionary prism. This can be interpreted either as active thrusting of the Dinarides or/and active thrusting in the Apennines accretionary prism. Seismic reflection profiles and seismicity indicate that both orogens are active, but the Dinarides appear to have slower convergence rates. Active thrusting supports the notion of a lively and retreating subduction beneath the northern Apennines. The height time data of the same sites show subsidence rates of different magnitude. The rates of Marina di Ravenna and Bologna are, to a large extent, of anthropogenic nature

    «Ne nous faites pas de cadeaux». Une enquête sur des intellectuels communistes

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    Frédérique Matonti: «Don't let each other off lightly». A survey on Communist intellectuals How does one go about surveying one's peers? How can a survey be conducted on an experience that apparently belongs to the past? Making use of a three-pronged method involving content analysis, ethnographic survey and working on records applied to La Nouvelle Critique, a journal put out by Communist intellectuals, the author is able to analyse their connection to party authority. It also demonstrates the special constraints placed on the sociologist due to the fact that both interviewer and survey participants belong to a common intellectual sphere and that those surveyed all belong to a common political sphere. How, for example, is the sociologist supposed to handle a request for intellectual and political rehabilitation?■ Frédérique Matonti: «Ne nous faites pas de cadeaux». Une enquête sur des intellectuels communistes Comment enquêter sur ses pairs? Comment enquêter sur une expérience politique apparemment révolue? L'articulation d'une triple méthode - analyse de contenu, enquête ethnographique, travail sur archives - appliquée à une revue d'intellectuels communistes, La Nouvelle Critique, permet d'analyser leur rapport à l'autorité partisane. Elle permet également de faire apparaître que la commune appartenance de l'enquêteur et des enquêtes au champ intellectuel, ainsi que celle des enquêtes au champ politique fait peser sur le sociologue des contraintes particulières. Comment, en particulier, gérer la demande de réhabilitation intellectuelle et politique qui lui est adressée?Matonti Frédérique. «Ne nous faites pas de cadeaux». Une enquête sur des intellectuels communistes. In: Genèses, 25, 1996. Ethnographie économique, sous la direction de Susanna Magri . pp. 114-127

    A combined GPS and Gravity analysis to study the effect of environmental parameters

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    Geodetic in-situ observations are always effected by environmental parameters like atmosphere, ocean and hydrology. It is often criticised that seasonal effects accounted for global network analysis do not significantly improve the resulting parameters. In a local case study at Medicina, space geodetic (GPS and VLBI) and gravity observations (SCG and FG5) are used together with environmental observations and models to provide significant information both on the seasonal fluctuation as well as on the linear and non-linear long-term trend in height. Models of seasonal height and gravity components have been achieved by accounting for loading and mass effects, by atmosphere, non tidal ocean and the local hydrology. This last component shows to be a major contribution of the seasonal variations not only in terms of loading and mass variations but also for soil consolidation effects induced by water table decrease / increase on the clayey soil in Medicina. The local hydrology is an important component to understand the seasonal effects but it is difficult and / or expensive to get sufficient information at the observation sites. It will be demonstrated that regional and global information on hydrology, the Hydrological Balance and GRACE results used as input can satisfactory replace locally observed environmental data. The experiment carried out in Medicina demonstrates that only the combined reduction of the effect of environmental parameters will improve the overall analysis. Rigorously applied it allows to study linear and non-linear long-term station variations. There is a high probability that the consequent consideration of environmental parameters will have positiv effects on the long-term evolution of the global reference frame

    Comparing and combining space and terrestral geodetic techniques to monitor crustal deformation

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    It is of particular importance to define and establish appropriate observational strategies characterized by the ability to measure, with high accuracy, spatially and time continuous deformations of the land surface. An ensemble of space, airborne and terrestrial techniques can be adopted by taking advantage of the complementary strengths of the different observations. We present a network encompassing northeastern Italy, which extends from the Apennines to the southeastern Po Plain and, along the Adriatic coast, to the Venice area and Trieste. First results mainly concern a study of land subsidence performed by comparing and combining different space and terrestrial techniques, which were co-located in several stations of the network. High-accuracy knowledge of subsidence rates is of particular importance in the Venice area for the re-organization of the lagoon territory and for building an adequate protection from increasing sea level and extreme events. Examples are provided for the stations in the network such as Medicina, Bologna and Marina di Ravenna where the available data series are several years long. At Medicina, the results of CGPS, superconducting and absolute gravimeter and InSAR observations, in combination with several meteoclimatic data series, are compared and combined. At the Bologna station, CGPS, absolute gravity and InSAR data are acquired while at Marina di Ravenna, on the Adriatic coast, CGPS and InSAR observations are available. All InSAR data are processed by means of the PS technique, thus obtaining a dense grid of measures over the study area. The ensemble of adopted space and terrestrial techniques will make it possible to acquire a thorough understanding of seasonal, long-term regional/local geophysical phenomena as well as climate-related impacts affecting the station motions

    Height seasonal oscillations and long-term trends from a combination of GPS, gravity and InSAR data

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    A fundamental development of the next coming years shall be the definition and the implementation of a high-accuracy and space-time continuous observation system for monitoring Earth’s surface deformation. The IAG project GGOS (Global Geodetic Observing System) will be the geodetic contribution to such a realization. A detailed knowledge of the crustal deformation is a key element to achieve a thorough comprehension of how the solid Earth responds to deformational forces and for an improved understanding of the seismogenetic cycle. We have studied and applied a combined observational strategy for monitoring and reliably identifying both seasonal and log-term crustal movements, namely height variations/changes. The strategy adopted is based on a multidisciplinary approach that combines the information provided by GPS, InSAR and terrestrial gravimetry. The results of these different techniques are compared and combined in a study on land subsidence in the southeastern Po Plain and the northern Adriatic coast, in Italy
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