Understand what happens during the phase preceding major seismic events through data collected from satellite and from the ground. This is the aim of the Swarm for earthquake study project, coordinated by Ingv, with the collaboration of Planetek Italia.
The study, funded by ESA, will start on May 2nd
Earthquakes are among the most powerful and devastating natural phenomena that occur on earth both in terms of loss of human life and material damage. In the last century alone, more than three million people died in the world as a result of seismic events. Although numerous studies and the impressive amount of data collected over several decades have made it possible to improve knowledge of the physical phenomena that occur before, during and after an earthquake, prevention remains the only action capable of mitigating the effects of earthquakes, much could still be done to better understand the preparatory phase of an earthquake.
Studying what happens during the phase preceding major seismic events and identifying any electromagnetic signals from space are the main objectives of the Swarm for earthquake study (Safe) project coordinated by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv) and assisted by Planetek Italia . The research, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), will start on May 2, 2015 and will last 16 months.
"The project intends to study the preparatory phase of large seismic events through the analysis of electromagnetic data coming from the sensors on board the three satellites of ESA's Swarm constellation, in order to better understand the physical mechanisms involved", explains Angelo De Santis, research director of Ingv and coordinator of the study.
Safe is configured as an innovative application of the Swarm satellite mission, initially designed and built by ESA to provide useful data for the advancement of current knowledge of the Earth's electromagnetic properties.
“The approach used is the holistic one of geosystems, for which the planet Earth is considered a single large system, in which every single phenomenon is the product of the interaction of the parts that constitute it in the form of transfer of particles and/or power. In particular, the Safe project proposes the study of the coupling between the outermost part of the solid Earth, the lithosphere, where earthquakes occur, and the overlying fluid part, the atmosphere”, continues De Santis.
The goal is to capture the information exchanged between the two layers through the integration of the data acquired by the Swarm satellites with those collected by other satellites and by measuring stations located on the ground.
"To do this", underlines Cristoforo Abbattista, head of the Space Systems Business Unit of Planetek Italia, "it is necessary to organize and merge the satellite data with those from the ground to thus extract the information necessary for the aforementioned analysis".
Combining the data could provide a broad geophysical picture that can improve current understanding of the physics of earthquakes and their preparation processes detectable from space.
"To achieve the expected results and ensure their maximum diffusion", concludes Lucilla Alfonsi, researcher at Ingv, "experts in seismology, physics of the upper atmosphere, geomagnetism and satellite data processing contribute to the research".
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