The Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network - ASAIN Improving the instrumental coverage in Antarctica

Scientific investigations of the Scotia Sea region are crucial to understand the history of the Antarctic continent tectonic evolution and the influence of the aperture of the Drake passage in establishing the Circumpolar Antarctic Current, as stressed by many authors (e.g. Lodolo, 2008). The Scotia Sea occupies a roughly rectangular area of about 900.000 km . This area is limited on three sides by the Scotia Arc, formed by islands and oceanic ridges, which is a remnant of the mountain chain that joined the South American Andes to the Antarctic Peninsula. The western border is represented by the about 1000 km wide Drake passage, that separates today the Tierra del Fuego in South America from the Antarctic continent. A review of the tectonics and evolution of the Scotia Sea can be found in Barker, 2001. The start of the geophysical studies in this area dates back to several decades ago, but only after 1990 instrumental passive seismology started to be widely applied to investigate the crustal properties and the properties of the seismic sources responsible for the strong seismicity level observed along the Scotia plate boundaries. ASAIN started operation in 1992 when a temporary seismograph was installed at the Argentinean Base Esperanza. It grew quickly during the nineties and today five stations are operated in Antarctica and two in Tierra del Fuego. All the Antarctic stations transmit real-time data to the OGS and to the Instituto Antartico Argentino. Esperanza (ESPZ), Jubany (JUBA), San Martin (SMAI) and Orcadas(ORCD) stations also participate in the Virtual European Seismographic Broadband Network (VEBSN) transmitting real time data to the Orfeus Data Centre. On January 16 , 2009 BELA station was added to the network. It is operated at the southernmost Argentinean Base Belgrano II (77° 52' S, 34° 37' W ) located on a rocky outcrop (Nunatak Bertrab) on the Filchner barrier. Its inclusion in the VEBSN is also planned. ASAIN data real-time acquisition is performed using SCREAM software, but also Earthworm and Antelope software are being tested at the OGS Seismological Research Centre

Testing the global capabilities of the Antelope software suite: fast location and Mb determination of teleseismic events using the ASAIN and GSN seismic networks

The Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, OGS) is running the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN), made of 5 seismic stations located in the Scotia Sea region in Antarctica and in Argentina: data from these stations are transferred in real time to the OGS headquarters in Trieste (Italy) via satellite links. OGS is also running, in close cooperation with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Civil Defense, the North East (NI) Italy seismic network, making use of the Antelope commercial software suite from BRTT as the main acquisition system. As a test to check the global capabilities of Antelope, we set up an instance of Antelope acquiring data in real time from both the regional ASAIN seismic network in Antarctica and a subset of the Global Seismic Network (GSN) funded by the Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology (IRIS). The facilities of the IRIS Data Management System, and specifically the IRIS Data Management Center, were used for real time access to waveform required in this study. Preliminary results over 1 month period indicated that about 82% of the earthquakes with magnitude M>5.0 listed in the PDE catalogue of the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) were also correctly detected by Antelope, with an average location error of 0.05 degrees and average body wave magnitude Mb estimation error below 0.1. The average time difference between event origin time and the actual time of event determination by Antelope was of about 45’: the comparison with 20’, the IASPEI91 P-wave travel time for 180 degrees distance, and 25’, the estimate of our test system data latency, indicate that Antelope is a serious candidate for regional and global early warning systems. Updated figures calculated over a longer period of time will be presented and discussed

The Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network - ASAIN Improving the instrumental coverage in Antarctica

Scientific investigations of the Scotia Sea region are crucial to understand the history of the Antarctic continent tectonic evolution and the influence of the aperture of the Drake passage in establishing the Circumpolar Antarctic Current, as stressed by many authors (e.g. Lodolo, 2008). The Scotia Sea occupies a roughly rectangular area of about 900.000 km . This area is limited on three sides by the Scotia Arc, formed by islands and oceanic ridges, which is a remnant of the mountain chain that joined the South American Andes to the Antarctic Peninsula. The western border is represented by the about 1000 km wide Drake passage, that separates today the Tierra del Fuego in South America from the Antarctic continent. A review of the tectonics and evolution of the Scotia Sea can be found in Barker, 2001. The start of the geophysical studies in this area dates back to several decades ago, but only after 1990 instrumental passive seismology started to be widely applied to investigate the crustal properties and the properties of the seismic sources responsible for the strong seismicity level observed along the Scotia plate boundaries. ASAIN started operation in 1992 when a temporary seismograph was installed at the Argentinean Base Esperanza. It grew quickly during the nineties and today five stations are operated in Antarctica and two in Tierra del Fuego. All the Antarctic stations transmit real-time data to the OGS and to the Instituto Antartico Argentino. Esperanza (ESPZ), Jubany (JUBA), San Martin (SMAI) and Orcadas(ORCD) stations also participate in the Virtual European Seismographic Broadband Network (VEBSN) transmitting real time data to the Orfeus Data Centre. On January 16 , 2009 BELA station was added to the network. It is operated at the southernmost Argentinean Base Belgrano II (77° 52' S, 34° 37' W ) located on a rocky outcrop (Nunatak Bertrab) on the Filchner barrier. Its inclusion in the VEBSN is also planned. ASAIN data real-time acquisition is performed using SCREAM software, but also Earthworm and Antelope software are being tested at the OGS Seismological Research Centre.UnpublishedErice (PA), Italy1.8. Osservazioni di geofisica ambientaleope

Testing the global capabilities of the Antelope software suite: fast location and Mb determination of teleseismic events using the ASAIN and GSN seismic networks

The Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, OGS) is running the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN), made of 5 seismic stations located in the Scotia Sea region in Antarctica and in Argentina: data from these stations are transferred in real time to the OGS headquarters in Trieste (Italy) via satellite links. OGS is also running, in close cooperation with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Civil Defense, the North East (NI) Italy seismic network, making use of the Antelope commercial software suite from BRTT as the main acquisition system. As a test to check the global capabilities of Antelope, we set up an instance of Antelope acquiring data in real time from both the regional ASAIN seismic network in Antarctica and a subset of the Global Seismic Network (GSN) funded by the Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology (IRIS). The facilities of the IRIS Data Management System, and specifically the IRIS Data Management Center, were used for real time access to waveform required in this study. Preliminary results over 1 month period indicated that about 82% of the earthquakes with magnitude M>5.0 listed in the PDE catalogue of the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) were also correctly detected by Antelope, with an average location error of 0.05 degrees and average body wave magnitude Mb estimation error below 0.1. The average time difference between event origin time and the actual time of event determination by Antelope was of about 45’: the comparison with 20’, the IASPEI91 P-wave travel time for 180 degrees distance, and 25’, the estimate of our test system data latency, indicate that Antelope is a serious candidate for regional and global early warning systems. Updated figures calculated over a longer period of time will be presented and discussed.PublishedVienna, Austria5.2. TTC - Banche dati di sismologia strumentaleope

Testing the global capabilities of the Antelope software suite: fast location and Mb determination of teleseismic events using the ASAIN and GSN seismic networks

The Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, OGS) is running the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN), made of 5 seismic stations located in the Scotia Sea region in Antarctica and in Argentina: data from these stations are transferred in real time to the OGS headquarters in Trieste (Italy) via satellite links. OGS is also running, in close cooperation with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Civil Defense, the North East (NI) Italy seismic network, making use of the Antelope commercial software suite from BRTT as the main acquisition system. As a test to check the global capabilities of Antelope, we set up an instance of Antelope acquiring data in real time from both the regional ASAIN seismic network in Antarctica and a subset of the Global Seismic Network (GSN) funded by the Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology (IRIS). The facilities of the IRIS Data Management System, and specifically the IRIS Data Management Center, were used for real time access to waveform required in this study. Preliminary results over a few months period indicated that over 80% of the earthquakes with magnitude M>5.0 listed in the PDE catalogue of the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) were also correctly detected by Antelope, with an average location error of 0.05 degrees and average body wave magnitude Mb estimation error of about 0.1. The average time difference between event origin time and the actual time of event determination by Antelope was of about 45’: the comparison with 20’, the IASPEI91 P-wave travel time for 180 degrees distance, and 25’, the estimate of our test system data latency, indicate that Antelope is a serious candidate for regional and global early warning systems. Updated figures calculated over a longer period of time will be presented and discussed.PublishedAustria, Vienna5.2. TTC - Banche dati di sismologia strumentaleope

Teach & learn seismic safety at high school: The SISIFO project

We present the educational activities developed within a project that aims at disseminating the knowledge about seismic safety at high schools. SISIFO (SIcurezza SIsmica nella FOrmazione scolastica, that in English sounds like "seismic safety in school training"), is the name of the project and during the school year 2013-2014, fourteen high schools of north-eastern Italy joined it, working in different activities to comply with the school curricula. We provided the teachers with conceptual guidelines together with some educational materials in order to stimulate the inventiveness and the interest of the students. The students were engaged in labs on the earthquake source, in the detection of non-structural seismic safety elements, in monitoring of the local site and building responses and in risk perception surveys. They provided a stimulating, bi-directional learning process that culminated in a workshop, held at the University of Udine (Italy) on April 7, 2014, when the students illustrated their work. The project experience has been positive and we believe that it can be replicated and properly integrated in the future training of high school students. \ua9 2016-OGS

The Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN): Recording Earthquakes in the Scotia Sea Region

The Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN) is a permanent broadband seismic network that has operated since 1995 in the Scotia Sea region, the Antarctic peninsula, and the polar area. It was deployed and is managed in the framework of cooperation between the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics and Dirección Nacional del Antártico–Instituto Antártico Argentino and is financially supported by the Programma Nazionale di Ricerca in Antartide. The network consists of seven seismological stations with broadband sensors. ASAIN provides data to Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology, and GEOFOrschungsNetz. It improves the worldwide seismic networks’ detection capabilities and contributes to refining regional earthquake locations released by the U.S. Geological Survey. The proximity of the seismic stations to the Antarctic continent and their continuous operation in the long term also allows for having a privileged observatory on the ice‐related seismicity along the Antarctica peninsula.In this article, we discuss the historical development of ASAIN, its current configuration, and the main characteristics of the seismic stations. Finally, we also provide information on the ASAIN data exchange and the contribution to the scientific research in Antarctica