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The cartography laboratory, also known as MAPlab, has the main objective of mapping the products of the effusive activity of Sicilian volcanoes and of the morpho-structural reliefs associated with the eruptive dynamics. We asked the manager Emanuela De Beni to tell us more about this important laboratory of the INGV Etna Observatory.

How does your field activity develop and how are the surveys carried out?

laboratoryThe survey of the eruptive phenomena is based on the processing of data collected during land surveys and remotely through visible and thermal aerial images taken during overflights with drones, helicopters and satellite images. The integration of these activities allows the cartographic updating of the areas covered by the lava flows, of the new morphologies associated with the volcanic activity and the mapping of the fields of fractures, in order to reconstruct the volcanological and morphostructural evolution of the eruptive phenomena. 

What happens next?

The data acquired during land surveys and remotely are processed by MAPlab to update the morphology of the areas affected by eruptive phenomena, producing orthophotos (georeferenced image without distortion), 3D models and DEM (Digital Elevation Model, which is the distribution of land shares) of the affected areas. The laboratory also takes care of estimating the volcanological parameters of the effusive activity such as: length, areal extension, thickness and consequently volume and finally the effusive rate. 

How is this data used?

All the volcanological data characterizing the eruptive event are entered in a geodatabase and transferred directly to the geoportal dedicated to the DPC.

Drones have really changed the way you do research…

Since 2016, drones have supported the activities of the MAPlab and with them came the requests for international and national collaborations, among the most important we can mention the one with the drone group of GEOMAR (Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel) which allowed the creation of the DEM and of the orthophoto of Stromboli after the two paroxysms of 2019 and the one with the Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences of the University of Milan Bicocca which allowed the creation, not only of scientific publications, but also of 3D models of objects navigable volcanological sites through Immersive Virtual Reality (https://geovires.unimib.it/geosites/geosites_001/).