An algorithm for the search of homogeneous strain-rate fields

The aim of this paper is to describe the theoretical fundamentals and the main features of a software suitably implemented to estimate the strain-rate tensor from continuous GPS data. Current softwares developed for geophysical applications generally estimate or compute bi-dimensional strain, since this is the most requested use. On the contrary, this software allows for a three-dimensional estimate of the strain-rate tensor. It accounts for all the significant GPS velocities and estimates the strain-rate components by the least squares method starting from the hypothesis of one homogeneous strain-rate field. An initial field has to be defined by at least 4 sites which pass the chi-squared test on the strain-rate homogeneity. The developed algorithm automatically searches for sites belonging to this initial homogeneous field, starting from the site nearest to the barycentre of the first 4 sites and proceeding until a user-defined limit distance. Each time a site is added, the homogeneity of the whole field is suitably tested by a number of statistic tests. In this work the algorithm has been also applied to some areas of geophysical interest

Current geodetic deformation in the South Africa region

We present a preliminary velocity field of the African continent derived from continuous GPS observations from 2004 to 2008. The aim of our work is to investigate the strain-rate pattern along the East Africa rift, in particular along the boundary of the two African plates (the Nubian and the Somalian) and in the South Africa region. We have processed GPS data in a time window spanning four years, i.e. from 2004 to 2008, involving IGS, TrigNet (a network of permanent GPS stations distributed throughout South Africa) and other sporadic sites. The GPS data have been processed by means of the Bernese software version 5.0 dividing the entire African network into two clusters. The combination of daily loosely constrained solutions provides the time series of about a hundred of permanent GPS sites mainly located in the African continent. Site velocities together with periodic signals, eventual steps, have been estimated simultaneously using the complete covariance matrices. Finally the velocity field has been expressed in the ITRF2005 reference frame. This investigation gives a preliminary idea of the velocity field and strain-rate pattern we can expect in the South-East Africa region, the observed deformations being barely measurable, below a few mm/year

Analysis of High-Rate GPS Data Collected During the L’Aquila Seismic Sequence

Four days before the 6th April M5.8 L’Aquila main-shock, a few GPS receivers recording at 10Hz and 1Hz sampling rates have been set up by INGV in the area affected by the seismic swarm in place by mid-January 2009. These data allowed us to measure for the first time in Italy the dynamic co-seismic displacements with periods ranging from fractions of seconds to several minutes and the full time spectra of the surface co-seismic and early post-seismic deformation with GPS instruments. We use TRACK, the kinematic module of the GAMIT/GLOBK software package, to perform epoch-by-epoch solutions of GPS raw data to obtain 3D time series of surface displacements. TRACK uses floating point LC (L3) observations between pairs of stations and the Mebourne-Wubena Wide Lane combination, with ionospheric constraints, to determine integer ambiguities at each epoch. It requires a fixed station and one, or more, kinematic stations. Usually, the static station is chosen to be far enough from the epicentral area not to be affected by the co-seismic displacements. Since no automatic processing engine exists for TRACK, we built a new shell script, which take full advantage of the Linux CPU-cluster routinely used to analyze 30 seconds GPS data with the GAMIT at INGV-Bologna. The new tool allows to automatically process pairs of stations (i.e., a network) and getting raw time series of several stations simultaneously (depending on the number of cluster nodes available) in a few seconds or minute, depending on the length of the session analyzed. TRACK uses broadcasted, ultra-rapid (containing predictions), rapid and final IGS orbits, thus making quasi-real time processing possible, and actually limited by the access to remote raw high rate GPS data archives. Since that the only two stations recording 10Hz data in the L’Aquila region are located close to the main shock epicenter and no data were available at other sites in Italy, we built a new tool to generate a virtual far field reference station acquiring 10Hz data by interpolating the available 1Hz RINEX data. The interpolated sites permit to properly solve the epoch-by-epoch position of the epicentral sites with the TRACK module. High frequency GPS data are severely affected by multipath noise, which can reach the same magnitude of the co-seismic displacements, and need to be removed consistently. For this reason, we investigate the effect of time and space-wise filters (sidereal and common mode filters) and set up a Matlab tool to perform time and spatial filtering on the raw time series produced by our processing tool. High rate data allow to measure the real static co-seismic offsets, which are not contaminated by early afterslip, which may occur in the next few hours after the earthquake. We analyze 10Hz data from 2 stations (Fig. 1) belonging to the CAGEONET network (Anzidei et al., 2009), and 1Hz data from 75 continuous GPS stations, located in central, southern and northern Italy, for which data are available for the 6th of April. A data quality inspection of the available high rate rinex files has been used to select the reference station, and single baselines solutions have been then resolved. We apply both spatial (common-mode) and temporal (sideral) filters to improve the signal to noise ratio of the observed displacements and estimate the epoch and the static co-seismic offsets. The 3D co-seismic displacement field has been used to invert, using rectangular (Okada, 1985), uniform-slip dislocations embedded in an elastic, homogeneous and isotropic half-space and a constrained, non-linear optimization algorithm (Burgmann et al., 1997), the best fit rectangular dislocation geometry and fault slip distribution, which has been compared with the fault geometry and slip model obtained from the analysis of standard 30 sec 24 hours data

The study of karstic aquifers by geodetic measurements in Bus de la Genziana station \u2013 Cansiglio Plateau (Northeastern Italy)

We propose an interdisciplinary study of karstic aquifers using titlmeters and GPS observations. The study region is located in northeastern Italy, in the seismic area of the Cansiglio Playeau. The Zollner type Marussi tiltmeters are installed in a natural cavity (Bus del la Genziana) that is part of an interesting karstic area of particular hydrogeologic importance. The Livenza river forms from a number of springs at the foothills of the karstic massif and flows through the Friuli-Veneto plain into the Adriatic Sea. Comparing the tiltmeter signal recorded at the Genziana station with the local pluviometrical series and the hydrometric series of the Livenza river, a clear correlation is recognized. Moreover, the data of a permanent GPS station located on the southern slopes of the Cansiglio Massif (CANV) show also a clear correspondence with the water runoff. Here we present the hydrologic induced deformations as observed by tiltmeter and GPS. After heavy rain events we record rapid deformations both by tiltmeters and GPS corresponding to the rainfall duration. In the following days a slow geodetic motion recovers the accumulated deformation with a distinctive pattern both in tilt and GPS data, which correlates with the runoff of the karstic aquifer. The purpose of this research is to open a new multidisciplinary frontier between geodetic and karstic system studies to improve the knowledge of the underground fluid flow circulation in karstic areas. Furthermore a better characterization of the hydrologic effects on GPS and tilt observations will have the benefit that these signals can be corrected when the focus of the study is to recover the tectonic deformation

A possible relationship between the Arctic Oscillation Index and atmosphere-triggered interannual long-wavelength

A host of geophysical processes contribute to temporal variations in the low-degree zonal harmonics of the Earth’s gravity field. The present paper focuses on atmosphere-based mass redistributions using global surface pressure data from the NOAA Climate Diagnostics Center for the period 1980-2002. We computed atmosphere-triggered temporal variations of the Earth’s low-degree zonal gravitational coefficients Jl (l = 2 : 4). Such atmosphere-triggered ΔJl(t) are compared with the Arctic Oscillation Index (AOI) and with the observed ΔJl(t) computed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) so as to investigate a possible coupling. We show that there is a significant agreement between the AOI and atmosphere-triggered ΔJl(t), as well as a particularly interesting correlation between the winter ΔJl(t) series and the AOI active season series

Hydrologically induced slope deformations detected by GPS and clinometric surveys in the Cansiglio Plateau, southern Alps

Changes in groundwater or surface water level may cause observable deformation of the drainage basins in different ways. We describe an active slope deformation monitored with GPS and tiltmeter stations in a karstic limestone plateau in southeastern Alps (Cansiglio Plateau). The observed transient GPS deformation clearly correlates with the rainfall. Both GPS and tiltmeter equipments react instantly to heavy rains displaying abrupt offsets, but with different time constants, demonstrating the response to different catchment volumes. The GPS movement is mostly confined in the horizontal plane (SSW direction) showing a systematic tendency to rebound in the weeks following the rain. Four GPS stations concur to define a coherent deformation pattern of a wide area (12 75km2), concerning the whole southeastern slope of the plateau. The plateau expands and rebounds radially after rain by an amount up to a few centimeters and causing only small vertical deformation. The effect is largest where karstic features are mostly developed, at the margin of the plateau where a thick succession of Cretaceous peritidal carbonates faces the Venetian lowland. Acouple of tiltmeters installed in a cave at the top of the plateau, detect a much faster deformation, that has the tendency to rebound in less than 6h. The correlation to rainfall is less straightforward, and shows a more complex behavior during rainy weather. The different responses demonstrate a fast hydrologic flow in the more permeable epikarst for the tiltmeters, drained by open fractures and fissures in the neighborhood of the cave, and a rapid tensile dislocation of the bedrock measured at the GPS stations that affect the whole slope of the mountain. In the days following the rain, both tiltmeter and GPS data show a tendency to retrieve the displacement which is consistent with the phreatic discharge curve. We propose that hydrologically active fractures recharged by rainfall are the most likely features capable to induce the observed strain variations

Strain rate relaxation of normal and thrust faults in Italy

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GPS Positioning and Velocity Field in the Apennines Subduction Zone

A stable geodetic reference frame permits to relate one position to another and to compute a reliable deformation field from geodetic observations. In order to satisfy scientific requirements, the reference frame should be accurate, reliable and internally consistent over time with unambiguously specified datum definition (origin, scale, orientation and their respective time evolution). Current reference frame stability between successive frame realizations suggests that the agreement is at the level of 1 cm and 0.3 mm/yr respectively for absolute and time derivative translation and scale factors. They represent the current stability over time of the reference frame and set the sensitivity for geodetic measurements. Here we will present the results of a GPS deformation field in the Italian region obtained from all the available permanent GPS stations operated in Italy. The complex nature of the ongoing tectonic deformation along the Alpine-Apennines orogenic systems is now evident and GPS data have proven its capability to measure millimetre scale deformations

Modeling ground deformations of Panarea volcano hydrothermal/geothermal system (Aeolian Islands, Italy) from GPS data.

Panarea volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy) was considered extinct until November 3, 2002 when a submarine gas eruption began in the area of the islets of Lisca Bianca, Bottaro, Lisca Nera, Dattilo and Panarelli, about 2.5 km east of Panarea Island. The gas eruption decreased to a state of low degassing by July 2003. Before 2002 the activity of Panarea volcano was characterized by mild degassing of hydrothermal fluid. The compositions of the 2002 gases and their isotopic signatures suggested that the emissions originated from a hydrothermal/geothermal reservoir fed by magmatic fluids. We investigate crustal deformation of Panarea volcano using the GPS velocity field obtained by the combination of continuous and episodic site observations of the Panarea GPS network in the time span 1995-2007. We present a combined model of Okada sources which explains the GPS results acquired in the area after December 2002. The kinematics of Panarea volcano show two distinct active crustal domains characterized by different styles of horizontal deformation, supported also by volcanological and structural evidences. A subsidence in the order of several mm/yr is affecting the entire Panarea volcano and a shortening of 10-6 yr-1 has been estimated in the Islets area. Our model reveals that the degassing intensity and distribution are strongly influenced by geophysical-geochemical changes within the hydrothermal/geothermal system. These variations may be triggered by changes in the regional stress field as suggested by the geophysical and volcanological events that occurred on 2002 in the Southern Tyrrhenian area