The new edition of Planet Earth Week is starting. Excursions, educational activities, role-playing games, exhibitions and seminars are just some of the events organized by INGV in Naples, Milan, Varese, La Spezia, Rome and Catania
Planet Earth Week is back from 14 to 21 October - Italy discovering the Geosciences - A more informed society is a more involved society - the scientific festival which once again sees the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV ) among the partners of the event. In the year dedicated by Europe to the enhancement of cultural heritage, the event, now in its sixth edition, aims to involve citizens in the interactive discovery of geosciences, spread respect for the environment and care for the territory, thus such as awareness of the risks to which we are exposed.
The Geoeventi program is rich:
Nisida, a volcano on the Campi Flegrei sea, and its castle: nature, history and social commitment is the event proposed for Sunday 14 October by the Vesuvian Observatory, Naples section of the INGV. Preceded by an introductory meeting on the historic landscape of Nisida and on the architecture of the Castello Piccolomini, as well as on the current activity of the Campi Flegrei, an excursion will take place in the company of INGV researchers and the University of Naples Federico II to discover Nisida, the islet formed 4000 years ago following an explosive eruption of Campi Flegrei, to learn more about the active volcanic areas in which we live.
On 20 October it will also be possible to participate in the event proposed by the Vesuvius Observatory, Naples Section of INGV together with the Neapolitan Coordination Women in Science entitled Nature and Landscape: Campania and its volcanoes. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Vesuvius Observatory -INGV, the Universities of Campania, the National Research Council (CNR) and the Naples Section of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) will accompany those interested in an urban volcanology trek in the heart of Naples. The excursion will be preceded by a seminar at the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II.
Monday 15, Wednesday 17 and Friday 19 October will be the turn of meetings with INGV researchers in Milan, Varese and La Spezia with Recognizing natural risks: experiments and games. The activities, aimed at lower secondary school children, are designed to educate about natural hazards by stimulating the interest and participation of the youngest. In particular, attention will be paid to testing the harmful effects of the earthquake through simulations on a mini-shaking table. Team Games, Do it Right! (to explore the simple gestures that can reduce the vulnerability of one's home) and Risk Detective (to reflect on risk), will complete and make the event more captivating. The activities were carried out by INGV as part of projects dedicated to scientific dissemination and risk communication, such as Know your city, Reduce selSmic risK through non-structural elements (Know RISK, co-funded by the European Commission) and Pianeta Terra-Mate2.0 (MaTer 2.0, co-funded by MIUR).
The myths surrounding the geological history of the capital will be the theme of the conference Earthquakes in Rome: beyond the legends, what does geology tell us? curated by INGV researchers and scheduled for Friday 19 October. Welcomed in the headquarters of the "Orazio" State High School, visitors will be able to attend an exhibition and participate in a seminar which, starting from the theories of Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, will retrace the history of the geological processes that have produced the current Roman landscape .
A journey dedicated to virtual and augmented reality is, however, the geo-event proposed for Saturday 20 October by the Etnean Observatory of Catania (OE - INGV), Virtual journey on volcanoes using augmented reality and 3D viewers. Through advanced 3D techniques and virtual models created with shots taken by drones on Etna and the Icelandic volcanoes, the participants, equipped with special glasses, will be able to walk or fly on the ground to explore the natural volcanic environment in an unusual and fun way.