Characterization of MEMS accelerometer self-noise by means of PSD and Allan Variance analysis

In this paper, we have studied the sources of error of a low-cost 3-axis MEMS accelerometer by means of Power Spectral Density and Allan Variance techniques. These techniques were applied to the signals acquired from ten identical devices to characterize the variability of the sensor produced by the same manufacturer. Our analysis showed as identically produced accelerometer have somehow variable behavior in particular at low frequency. It is therefore of paramount importance before their use in Inertial Navigation or Earthquakes Monitoring System, a complete characterization of each single sensors.

Geophysical study of the hydrothermal reservoir in the Panza area (Ischia, Italy)

The aim of the work is the reconstruction of the main geometric pattern and the characterisation with geophysical parameters of geological structures lying at small and medium depths in an area of the Ischia island (Italy), where a sensible hydrothermal activity is present.

Waveforms clustering and single-station location of microearthquake multiplets recorded in the northern Sicilian offshore region

In 2009 December, the OBSLab-INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) deployed an Ocean Bottom Seismometer with Hydrophone (OBS/H) near the epicentral area of the main shock of the Palermo seismic sequence of 2002. The monitoring activity had a total duration of about 8 months. During this experiment, the OBS/H recorded 247 very local microearthquakes, whose local magnitude is between -0.5 and 2.5 and TS - TP delay time between 0.2 and 5 s, almost all ofwhichwere undetected by the Italian National Seismic Network. This local microseismicity has been analysed using an innovative clustering technique that exploits the similarity between the waveforms generated by different events…

ERT and IPT surveys to check the integrity of the geomembrane in the landfill of Bellolampo (Palermo, Italy)

In landfills, changes in resistivity and chargeability can be related to the characteristics of the waste and they can be abrupt and considerable within short distances. These physical properties are function of generation, mobility and degree of saturation of the leachate, gas generation, compaction density and variability. These relationships mean that it can be possible to get an overall image of the quantity and characteristics of the waste from surface electrical measurements over the landfill. In this paper, we present and discuss the results of three electrical tomographies carried out in the landfill site of Bellolampo (Palermo, Italy). The main aim of these surveys was to check the…

Influence of different array datasets on reliability of electrical resistivity tomography

The goal of this work is to study how the reliability of inverse model depends on a few basic parameters, as the combination of potential spacing and dipolar distance and, consequently, the number of measurements and of current dipoles, considering also how error affects inversion. The number of current dipole used is crucial, when using multichannel resistivity-meters, because it determines the overall acquisition time. A systematic comparison is presented between four 2D resistivity models and their images, obtained by the inversion of synthetic datasets relating to four different arrays: dipole-dipole (DD), pole-dipole (PD), Wenner-Schlumberger (WS) and multiple gradient (MG). For DD, PD…

Cluster analysis to support microzonation studies

In recent times the use of microtremor techniques for subsoil investigation increased significantly. The use of HVSR (Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio)technique for seismic microzoning studies allows in many case to obtain detailed reconstruction of the roof of the seismic bedrock and to identify areas with similar seismic behaviour. Two different algorithms of clusteringhave been tested on a HVSR datasets acquired for studies of seismic microzoning in various Sicilian urban centers. HVSR data were previously properly processed to extract frequency and amplitude of peaks by a code based on clustering of HVSR curves determined in sliding time windows.To select an optimal set of time win…

MEMS-Based System for Structural Health Monitoring and Earthquake Observation in Sicily

The implementation of systems for Structural Health Monitoring and Earthquake Observation is increasing in the last years owing to the development of new technologies which enable low-cost and small-size devices to be installed in large-scale or high-density applications. This paper introduces the implementation of monitoring systems, either for structural health assessment and earthquake observation. The applications are based in Sicily (Italy), a region characterized by a high seismic hazard and where the buildings are often old and vulnerable. The system relies on a MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) sensor, a 3-axial accelerometer which has been specifically selected in order to en…

Improvement of HVSR technique by cluster analysis

The Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) technique, applied to ambient noise, is widely used to quickly estimate the fundamental frequency of a site. The HVSR technique is based on numerous assumptions about the propagation medium and the nature of the seismic noise, often hard to verified. In addition, in order to obtain reliable results, several acquisition and processing criteria must be respected. One of the most controversial aspects in the technique implementation are the reliable criteria for the identification in the microtremors signals of time windows appropriate for the calculation of the HVSR curves. Several authors suggest to remove spikes and transients because they br…

Centroid-based Cluster Analysis of HVSR Data for Seismic Microzonation

Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) datasets acquired for studies of seismic microzoning in various urban centers of Sicilian towns, have been used to test clustering analysis through a nonhierarchical centroid-based algorithm. In this context clustering techniques may be useful to identify areas with similar seismic behaviour through HVSR data. Centroid-based algorithms generally require the number of clusters, k, and the initial centroid coordinates to be specified in advance. This aspect is considered to be one of the biggest drawbacks of these algorithms. The proposed algorithm doesn’t limit the number of k clusters and choose the initial centroids automatically from the data s…

Analisi spettrale parametrica e di polarizzazione applicate agli eventi sismici registrati sul vulcano sottomarino Marsili

The integration of surface and subsurface stratigraphic data with HVSR measures for studies of seismic microzonation: the case of Oliveri (ME)

Because of its high seismic hazard the urban area of Oliveri has been subject of a study on seismic microzonation at first level (OPCM 3907/2010). The urban area develops on a large coastal plain made of Late Pleistocene and Holocene mixed fluvial/marine sediments, that mainly consist of silty sands and gravels. The eastern part of this plain is dominated by the alluvial deposits of the Elicona torrent. The coastal and alluvial sediments overlap a complexly deformed substrate made of Hercynian metamorphites (Aspromonte unit), the Capo d’Orlando Flysch, the Antisicilide Argille Scagliose and Pleistocene clays and calcarenites. This area is affected by high uplift rates as recently estimated …

Urban MEMS based seismic network for post-earthquakes rapid disaster assessment

Abstract. In this paper, we introduce a project for the realization of the first European real-time urban seismic network based on Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology. MEMS accelerometers are a highly enabling technology, and nowadays, the sensitivity and the dynamic range of these sensors are such as to allow the recording of earthquakes of moderate magnitude even at a distance of several tens of kilometers. Moreover, thanks to their low cost and smaller size, MEMS accelerometers can be easily installed in urban areas in order to achieve an urban seismic network constituted by high density of observation points. The network is being implemented in the Acireale Municipality (…

Seismic Characterization by Inversion of HVSR Data to Improve Geological Modelling

SUMMARY An application of HVSR inversion is presented in order to verify the effectiveness of this technique for purposes of geological reconstruction of the subsoil finalized to studies of seismic microzonation of heavily urbanized areas, where few stratigraphic and geophysical constraints are available and most of the information are derived from the geological maps. In such cases the uncertainty of the results is is enhanced by doubts on the nature of the H/V peaks, not always caused by stratigraphic discontinuities, and to the subjective choices done especially in the step of signal preprocessing. The investigated area (Altavilla Milicia, Sicily) includes the town center and the adjacen…

Evaluating the performance of a new picking algorithm based on the variance piecewise constant models

In this paper, a new picking algorithm for the automatic seismogram onset time determination is tested on a dataset of simulated waveforms. We aim at capturing the variations in the performance due to some characteristics of both the seismic event and its detection, which in turn affect some characteristics of the waveforms. We therefore simulate seismic events with different magnitude, and assumed to be detected with different distances from the nearest seismic station. Our tests permit to highlight the scenarios most suitable for our algorithm.

New ultraportable data logger to perform magnetic surveys

This article presents the realization of a device for magnetic surveys It is a flexible, user-reprogramable, lightweight, and compact tool that can be easily integrated with aerial and marine drones. The device can accurately measure the local magnetic anomalies. It is based on the Atmega 2560 microcontroller and a digital 3-axis fluxgate magnetometer.

Geological modeling of Altavilla Milicia (Sicily) using HVSR data

At today the use of inversion of HVSR curves is mainly limited to derive average parameters of the shear wave velocity, although recently they have been used also for a detailed reconstruction of the roof of the seismic bedrock (Di Stefano et al. 2014). Since ambient vibrations may contain waves travelling in all directions, as body waves and Rayleigh and Love waves, a limit of this method lies in the uncertain composition of seismic noise, in the lack of knowledge about the microseismic field and in the subjective choices regarding the data processing. This work aims to verify the potential and limits of the HVSR inversion for the purposes of geological reconstruction of the subsoil in hea…

Brief communication: Vehicle routing problem and UAV application in the post-earthquake scenario

Abstract. In this paper we simulate a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle's (UAV) recognition after a possible case of diffuse damage after a seismic event in the town of Acireale (Sicily, Italy). Given a set of sites (84 relevant buildings) and the range of the UAV, we are able to find the number of vehicles to employ and the shortest survey path. The problem of finding the shortest survey path is an operational research problem called Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) whose solution is known to be computationally time-consuming. We used the Simulated Annealing (SA) heuristic that is able to provide stable solutions in relatively short computing time. We also examined the distribution of the cost of the s…

Low-cost underwater navigation systems by multi-pressure measurements and AHRS data

This paper deals with accurate navigation for underwater remotely operated vehicles. A feasibility study for a multi-pressure device to be mounted on an ROV is presented. The device can provide accurate estimates of a ROV orientation and angular speed. It is based on the well-known total pressure principle, also used in a Pitot tube, and allows reconstruction of static and dynamic pressures, which in turn provide good estimates of the ROV's orientation and rotational speed, respectively. An appealing feature of the proposed device is its ability to provide accurate estimates even for low-speed movements.

Contribution of HVSR measures for seismic microzonation studies

The HVSR method applied to seismic noise can be a very useful technique to map the site effects of the territory, to identify the thickness of the soft covering and so the depth of the seismic bedrock. The case of the urban area of Oliveri is presented. Because of its high seismic hazard this area has been subject of first level seismic microzonation. The town lies on a large coastal plain made of mixed fluvial/marine sediments, overlapping a deformed substrate. In order to identify points on the area probably suffering of relevant site effects and to define a preliminary Vs subsurface model, 23 HVSR measurements were performed. A clustering technique of continuous signals has been used to …

Assessment of a geological model by surface wave analyses

A set of horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) and multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) measurements, carried out in the Altavilla Milicia (Sicily) area, is analyzed to test a geological model of the area. Statistical techniques have been used in different stages of the data analysis, to optimize the reliability of the information extracted from geophysical measurements. In particular, cluster analysis algorithms have been implemented to select the time windows of the microseismic signal to be used for calculating the spectral ratio H/V and to identify sets of spectral ratio peaks likely caused by the same underground structures. Using results of reflection seismic lines, ty…

Valutazione della performance di localizzazione della RSNC-INGV tramite simulazione numerica

A properly organized seismic network is a valuable tool formonitoring seismic zones and seismic risk assessment. This paper proposes a method for evaluating the performance in hypocenter location of a seismic network by numerical simulation (SNES, SeismicNetwork Evaluation through Simulation). The SNESmethod needs as input: the location of the stations that make the network and their noisiness, the velocity model used in the location routine and a law that allows to estimate the variance in the time residuals. This method gives, as function of magnitude, hypocentral depth and confidence level, the spatial distribution of: number of active stations in the location procedure and relative azim…

Spatial pattern analysis using hybrid models: an application to the Hellenic seismicity

Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural disasters and the spatial distribution of their epi- centres generally shows diverse interaction structures at different spatial scales. In this paper, we use a multi-scale point pattern model to describe the main seismicity in the Hellenic area over the last 10 years. We analyze the interaction between events and the relationship with geo- logical information of the study area, using hybrid models as proposed by Baddeley et al. ( 2013 ). In our analysis, we find two competing suitable hybrid models, one with a full parametric structure and the other one based on nonpara- metric kernel estimators for the spatial inhomogeneity.

Integration of HVSR measures and stratigraphic constraints for seismic microzonation studies: the case of Oliveri (ME)

Abstract. Because of its high seismic hazard the urban area of Oliveri has been subject of first level seismic microzonation. The town develops on a large coastal plain made of mixed fluvial/marine sediments, overlapping a complexly deformed substrate. In order to identify points on the area probably suffering relevant site effects and define a preliminary Vs subsurface model for the first level of microzonation, we performed 23 HVSR measurements. A clustering technique of continuous signals has been used to optimize the calculation of the HVSR curves. 42 reliable peaks of the H/V spectra in the frequency range 0.6–10 Hz have been identified. A second clustering technique has been applied t…

Comparison of different acquisition patterns for 2D tomographic resistivity surveys

A systematic comparison is presented between some 2D resistivity models and their images by the inversion of synthetic datasets relating to three different arrays, suitable for multichannel data acquisitions (dipole-dipole (DD), Wenner-Schlumberger (WS) and multiple gradient (MG)). The goal is to study how the measurement errors affects the resolution of the tomographic models and the ability to retrieve correct information on buried targets. We considered different data acquisition patterns, gradually increasing the complexity of the combinations of potential spacing and dipolar distance. To this end we increased the number of current dipoles to obtain approximately the same amount of meas…

A Lightweight Prototype of a Magnetometric System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Detection of the Earth’s magnetic field anomalies is the basis of many types of studies in the field of earth sciences and archaeology. These surveys require different ways to carry out the measures but they have in common that they can be very tiring or expensive. There are now several lightweight commercially available magnetic sensors that allow light-UAVs to be equipped to perform airborne measurements for a wide range of scenarios. In this work, the realization and functioning of an airborne magnetometer prototype were presented and discussed. Tests and measures for the validation of the experimental setup for some applications were reported. The flight sessions, appropriately programm…

Drones - New technologies for geophysics?

Drones, also referred as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), are aircraft without pilot on board. USA is today the leading country in the field of UAS but recently, seven European countries have pledged to launch joint programs for drones, with the aim of producing the next generation of UAS before 2020. According to some studies on the potential market of UAS in Europe, the geoscience sector is definitely one of the most promising. In this paper, we bring a short description and classification of drones, according to their sized and shaped, with particular attention to the advantages and drawbacks of each type in reference to …

Integrated Geophysical Investigations at the Greek Kamarina Site (Southern Sicily, Italy)

Kamarina, located in southern Sicily (Italy), was an important Greek colony since its foundation in the sixth century BC. Archaeological excavations, carried out since the twentieth century, uncovered only limited portions of the site so far. Despite the importance of the Greek colony, the presence of remarkable buildings that archaeologists expected to bring to light has not found fully correspondence in the archaeological excavations. Consequently, the integrated geophysical prospection carried out in the study area is aimed to support and address the future archaeological investigations. After the photographic and thermographic survey obtained by an unmanned aerial vehicle, we performed …

Cluster analysis of HVSR peak datasets to detect geological structures

A modified centroid-based algorithm has been applied to HVSR (Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio) datasets (Nakamura, 2000) acquired for studies of seismic microzoning in various urban centers of Sicilian towns also aimed to obtain detailed reconstruction of the roof of the seismic bedrock (Di Stefano et al. 2014). HVSR data were previously properly processed to extract frequency and amplitude of peaks by a code based on clustering of HVSR curves determined in sliding time windows. In centroid-based clustering, clusters are represented by a central vector, which may not necessarily be a member of the data set. After fixing the number of clusters, the algorithm find the cluster centers an…

Improvement of HVSR technique by cluster analysis

First simultaneous mercury and major volatiles characterization of atmospheric hydrothermal emissions at the Pisciarelli's fumarolic system (Campi Flegrei, Italy)

Abstract Hydrothermal systems with active surface expressions are important natural source of atmospheric mercury. Here we report on the first simultaneous assessment of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) and major volatiles (H2S and CO2) fluxes from the fumarolic system of Pisciarelli, currently the most active at the Campi Flegrei caldera (CFc), Naples (Italy). This was achieved via a GPS-synchronized Lumex and MultiGAS survey which extends similar investigations reported elsewhere. GEM concentrations measured in the fumarolic emissions were consistently above background air level close to the degassing area (mean ~ 8 ± 3 ng m−3 on average) and ranged up to 12,000 ng m−3. Our data evidenced …

Polarization and high resolution parametric spectral analysis applied to the seismic signals recorded on the Marsili submarine volcano

Clustering and Registration of Multidimensional Functional Data

In order to find similarity between multidimensional curves, we consider the application of a procedure that provides a simultaneous assignation to clusters and alignment of such functions. In particular we look for clusters of multivariate seismic waveforms based on EM-type procedure and functional data analysis tools.

The marine activities performed within the TOMO-ETNA experiment

<p>The TOMO-ETNA experiment was planned in order to obtain a detailed geological and structural model of the continental and oceanic crust beneath Mt. Etna volcano and northeastern Sicily up to the Aeolian Islands (southern Italy), by integrating data from active and passive refraction and reflection seismic methodologies, magnetic and gravity surveys. This paper focuses on the marine activities performed within the experiment, which have been carried out in the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, during three multidisciplinary oceanographic cruises, involving three research vessels (“Sarmiento de Gamboa”, “Galatea” and “Aegaeo”) belonging to different countries and institutions. During the o…

Comparison of different sets of array configurations for multichannel 2D ERT acquisition

Abstract Traditional electrode arrays such Wenner-Schlumberger or dipole-dipole are still widely used thanks to their well-known properties but the array configurations are generally not optimized for multi-channel resistivity measures. Synthetic datasets relating to four different arrays, dipole-dipole (DD), pole-dipole (PD), Wenner-Schlumberger (WS) and a modified version of multiple gradient (MG), have been made for a systematic comparison between 2D resistivity models and their inverted images. Different sets of array configurations generated from simple combinations of geometric parameters (potential dipole lengths and dipole separation factors) were tested with synthetic and field dat…

Un approccio generalizzato all'analisi SPAC dei microtremori

A Low Cost Customizable Micro-ROV for Environmental Research - Applications, Advances and Challenges

Summary Several shallow submarines areas are characterized by considerable releases of hydrocarbon gases, which, during earthquakes or volcanic activity, may suddenly and violently occur. In some instances, changes in chemical and physical properties of gas emissions, which are generated by geothermal systems connected to the volcanoes’ plumbing system, are important precursors of volcanic activity and useful indices for the study of the geothermal field. Furthermore, some superficial structures such faults, landslide slopes or archaeological relics should be studied with such a high detail that geophysical and bathymetric surveys are unable to provide. In response to the needs increasingly…

Integration of onshore and offshore seismic arrays to study the seismicity of the Calabrian Region: a two steps automatic procedure for the identification of the best stations geometry

Abstract. We plan to deploy in the Taranto Gulf some Ocean Bottom broadband Seismometer with Hydrophones. Our aim is to investigate the offshore seismicity of the Sibari Gulf. The seismographic network optimization consists in the identification of the optimal sites for the installation of the offshore stations, which is a crucial factor for the success of the monitoring campaign. In this paper, we propose a two steps automatic procedure for the identification of the best stations geometry. In the first step, based on the application of a set of a priori criteria, the suitable sites to host the ocean bottom seismic stations are identified. In the second step, the network improvement is eval…

Contribution of the cluster analysis of HVSR data for near surface geological reconstruction

The use of HVSR technique allows in many cases (Bonnefoy-Claudet et al. 2006) to obtain detailed reconstruction of the roof of the seismic bedrock (Di Stefano et al. 2014) and to identify areas with similar seismic behaviour. Theoretical considerations (Nakamura 1989) and experimental tests showed that amplification of horizontal motions between bottom and top of a sedimentary cover is well related to the ratio between the spectra of the horizontal and vertical components of the ground velocity (Nakamura 2000). This ratio is a measure of ellipticity of Rayleigh wave polarization, overlooking Love and body waves contribution. Assuming that subsoil can be represented as a stack of homogeneous…

Simultaneous seismic wave clustering and registration

In this paper we introduce a simple procedure to identify clusters of multivariate waveforms based on a simultaneous assignation and alignment procedure. This approach is aimed at the identification of clusters of earthquakes, assuming that similarities between seismic events with respect to hypocentral parameters and focal mechanism correspond to similarities between waveforms of events. Therefore we define a distance measure between seismic curves in R^d d>=1, in order to interpret and better understand the main features of the generating seismic process.

Integration of stratigraphic data with HVSR measures for studies of seismic microzonation: the case of Oliveri (ME)

The seismic microzoning is a technique of analysis of a territory which aims to recognize, at a small scale, the local geological and geomorphologic conditions that may significantly affect the characteristics of the seismic motion, generating stress on structures that could produce permanent and critical effects. In other words, this technique has the objective to predict and evaluate possible site effects as a result of an earthquake. The first phase of the seismic microzoning is the detailed partition of the territory in homogeneous areas with respect to the expected behavior of soils during an earthquake. The seismic micro-zoning is a tool for prevention and reduction of seismic risk pa…

Optimization of Low-Cost Monitoring Systems for On-Site Earthquake Early-Warning of Critical Infrastructures

In the last years, monitoring systems based on low-cost and miniaturized sensors (MEMS) revealed as a very successful compromise between the availability of data and their quality. Also applications in the field of seismic and structural monitoring have been constantly increasing in term of number and variety of functions. Among these applications, the implementation of systems for earthquake early warning is a cutting-edge topic, mainly for its relevance for the society as millions of peoples in various regions of the world are exposed to high seismic hazard. This paper introduces the optimization of an already established seismic (and structural) monitoring system, that would make it suit…

Caratterizzazione geofisica dell'acquiferio idrotermale dell'area di Panza (Ischia)

Evidenze sperimentali dell'attività del vulcano sottomarino Marsili

An Active Learning Approach for Classifying Explosion Quakes

In this work, an Active Learning approach for improving the classification of passed seismo-volcanic events is proposed. Here we study the specific case of Explosion Quakes from Stromboli Volcano versus other seismo-volcanic events, recorded as seismograms, and the use of Random Forest as a Classification method. In conformity with the active learning paradigm, the approach recalls the human intervention for the annotation of uncertain data. The uncertainty is established by the event probabilities, predicted by a trained random forest classifier. The human intervention consists of editing and relabelling the data into these main three classes: Explosion Quakes, Non-Explosion Quakes or Non-…

Coseismic Damage at an Archaeological Site in Sicily, Italy: Evidence of Roman Age Earthquake Surface Faulting

Archaeoseismology can provide a useful chronological tool for constraining earthquakes and documenting significant evidence that would otherwise be lost. In this paper, we report a case of surface faulting on ancient man-made structures belonging to the archaeological site of Santa Venera al Pozzo situated along the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano in eastern Sicily (southern Italy), which is affected by well-developed tectonic faults. Geological surveys highlight a set of fractures affecting the archaeological ruins, suggesting the occurrence of a capable fault zone across the area. An integrated geophysical survey was carried out in order to identify the main subsurface tectonic disconti…

The INGV's new OBS/H: Analysis of the signals recorded at the Marsili submarine volcano

Abstract The ocean bottom seismometer with hydrophone deployed on the flat top of the Marsili submarine volcano (790 m deep) by the Gibilmanna OBS Lab (CNT–INGV) from 12th to 21st July, 2006, recorded more than 1000 transient seismic signals. Nineteen of these signals were associated with tectonic earthquakes: 1 teleseismic, 8 regional (located by INGV) and 10 small local seismic events (non located earthquakes). The regional events were used to determine sensor orientation. By comparing the signals recorded with typical volcanic seismic activity, we were able to group all the other signals into three categories: 817 volcano–tectonic type B (VT-B) events, 159 occurrences of high frequency t…

“Messina 1908-2008” Progetto Di Ricerca Integrato Sull’area Calabro – Peloritana: La Campagna Obs/H

Familiarità, psicosi e cannabis: caratteristiche di un campione siciliano di pazienti al primo episodio psicotico

Selection of time windows in the horizontal-to-vertical noise spectral ratio by means of cluster analysis

The selection of the elementary analysis windows in continuous noise recordings for optimal estimation of the mean horizontal‐to‐vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) curve is generally performed by visual inspection of HVSR curves considered as functions of time. Starting from full‐length records, HVSR curves are determined in consecutive time windows of appropriate lengths. Time windows with HVSR curves that are anomalous on the basis of a simple visual inspection are generally ignored in the computation of the average HVSR curve. It is often very difficult to optimize the selection of time windows to be used for the calculation of the HVSR curve representative of a site. The use of nonobjective…

Seismic Network Evaluation through Simulation: An Application to the Italian National Seismic Network

Abstract A properly organized seismic network is a valuable tool for monitoring seismic zones and assessing seismic hazards. In this paper we propose a new method (seismic network evaluation through simulation, SNES) to evaluate the performance of hypocenter location of a seismic network. The SNES method gives, as a function of magnitude, hypocentral depth, and confidence level, the spatial distribution of the number of active stations in the location procedure and their relative azimuthal gaps, along with confidence intervals in hypocentral parameters. The application of the SNES method also permits evaluation of the magnitude of completeness ( M C ), the background noise levels at the sta…

Studio geochimico e geofisico del settore nord-occidentale delle Madonie