Geochemical Patterns Classification of recent Mt. Etna volcanic products based on a synopsis of Kohonen Maps and Fuzzy Clustering

During the last two decades Mt. Etna experienced many summit and flank eruptions with different styles of activity, ranging from quiet lava effusion to explosive activity consisting of Strombolian explosions and/or spectacular fire fountains. This complex picture entails the presence of a complex plumbing system where magma dynamics strongly controls both the eruptive style and magma differentiation. All these eruptive events have furnished volcanic products on which systematic petrographic and geochemical analyses have been carried out since the mid 1990s. In particular, the content of major and trace elements of lavas is a key-point to characterize the composition of a magma emitted during an eruption. Petrologic investigations are traditionally based on the interpretation of compositional patterns described by selected oxides and/or elements in binary and ternary petrologic systems. This kind of analysis provides useful information about the magmatic processes occurring in the plumbing system. In this presentation we investigate whether the quality of petrologic investigations is improved by the application of more sophisticated analytical techniques based on the use of a relatively large number of parameters. To this purpose, we selected 13 components, i.e., SiO2, K2O, CaO/Al2O3, Mg#, Th, La, Nb, Nd, Sr, Tb, Cr, Ni and Rb/Nb. This choice brings along the problem of designing a suitable statistics and a convenient visualization of the results. As a way out, we propose advanced concepts of multivariate classification based on a synopsis of Kohonen Maps and Fuzzy Clustering, and apply them to the study of volcanics erupted from Mt. Etna between 1995 and 2005. Lavas erupted during the fire fountains (in 2000) and during the flank eruptions (2001, 2002-03) represent the most primitive products erupted from Mt. Etna in the investigated period. The literature data suggest that during the 2001 and 2002-03 eruptions two magmas with different geochemical characteristics were contemporaneously erupted. One magma type ascended from a deep portion of the plumbing system (> 5 km), and was emitted from the so called “Lower” (2001) and “Southern” vents (2002-03). Another one rose from a shallower reservoir (<5 km) and was erupted from the so called “Upper” (in 2001) and “Northern” vents (in 2002-03). In our analysis the “Lower” and “Southern” vent lavas are assigned to the same cluster ID and are grouped together also in the Kohonen Map. On the other hand, “Upper” vent lavas and “Northern “ vent lavas are clearly distinguished from each other as well as from the afore mentioned products. Volcanics emitted by the South-East crater during the fire fountains in 2000 belong to the same fuzzy cluster as the “Lower” and “Southern” vent lavas, however, a neat distinction with respect to 2001 and 2002-03 lavas becomes evident in the Kohonen Map. Besides this we observe differences in the seismic signal characteristics between the fire fountain events and flank eruptions, supporting the hypothesis that various eruptive sources were active on Mt Etna in 2000, 2001 and 2002-03. The relation of the products to eruptive sources is less clear in the time span between 1995 and 1999, when essentially only the summit craters were active

DISSEMINATION: STEPS TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE ACTION OF SEISMIC RISK REDUCTION FOR NON-STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

"Move, protect, secure" were the three key points that the KnowRISK project posed at the core of its communication and dissemination strategy. This three key points enable each person, professional or not, to reduce non-structural damage caused by earthquakes. Dissemination is usually the last but never least step of a communication plan, and indeed it played a crucial role in KnowRISK for conveying the three key-point message to the widest audience. Standard dissemination activities, such as open-door events, and internet allowed us to achieve a wide spreading of ideas and best practices, reaching more than 4000 non-professionals and almost 50000 page views of the KnowRISK website (in three years), respectively. As communication was recipient-targeted, the dissemination task of the project was similarly addressed to professionals, layman, and schools. In particular, schools were chosen in order to profit from the chain-reaction action that is capable to spread a message from students to the surrounding environment

Improving natural risk management by means of virtual surveys through hazardous volcanic contexts by using Augmented and Virtual Reality

To ensure an efficient natural risk management, we need an in-depth understanding and assessment of risk as well as the adoption of effective prevention measures. Modern techniques such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) offer the opportunity to explore our environment for professional as well as educational purposes, conveying useful information not only to scientists, but also to at-risk populations. “Virtual navigation on volcanoes by Augmented Reality and 3D-headset” was a geoevent we organized in the framework of the 6th edition of the Italian “Settimana del Pianeta Terra” (Week of Planet Earth) in October 2018. The geoevent featured AR and Virtual Reality exhibits, highlighting the benefits of these tools in applications for Earth monitoring, also with positive contributions in mitigation actions to reduce the impact of natural hazards. We proposed virtual 3D models of volcanic regions in Iceland and Italy (at Etna volcano), which guided the visitors in a virtual survey through hazardous contexts like landslide prone areas and fault zones. The event was supported as part of the 3DTeLC project funded through the Erasmus+ Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education scheme (Project Reference: 2017-1-UK01-KA203-036719).3DTeLC project funded through the Erasmus+ Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education scheme (Project Reference: 2017-1-UK01-KA203-036719)PublishedVienna, Austria1TM. Formazion

Seismological constraints for the dyke emplacement of the July-August 2001 lateral eruption at Mt. Etna volcano, Italy

In this paper we report seismological evidence regarding the emplacement of the dike that fed the July 18 - August 9, 2001 lateral eruption at Mt. Etna volcano. The shallow intrusion and the opening of the eruptive fracture system, which mostly occurred during July 12, and July 18, were accompanied by one of the most intense seismic swarms of the last 20 years. A total of 2694 earthquakes (1 £ Md £ 3.9) were recorded from the beginning of the swarm (July 12) to the end of the eruption (August 9). Seismicity shows the upward migration of the dike from the basement to the relatively thin volcanic pile. A clear hypocentral migration was observed, well constraining the upwards propagation of a near-vertical dike, oriented roughly N-S, and located a few kilometers south of the summit region. Earthquake distribution and orientation of the P-axes from focal mechanisms indicate that the swarm was caused by the local stress source related to the dike intrusion

A new automatic pattern recognition approach for the classification of volcanic tremor at Mt. Etna, Italy

In this study, an automatic pattern recognition approach is developed for the classification of volcanic tremor at Mount Etna, Italy. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is trained by means of a supervised learning algorithm to recognize time series recorded during different states of the volcanic system. The classification of the signal is based on the seismic data recorded at the three-component, broadband station ESPD, located about 6 km southeast from the summit craters. In particular, we analyze the data recorded throughout the 17 July - 9 August, 2001 flank eruption. This episode, with its 23 days-long effusive activity, allows us to investigate thoughtfully the whole development of the volcano unrest. Our analysis covers the time span from 1 July to 15 August, 2001, i.e., it includes several days before the onset and after the end of the flank eruption. Up to 142 time series are extracted as windows of approximately 10 minutes for each component of station ESPD. Then spectrograms are calculated for each time series applying a sliding window technique, and the values obtained averaging the rows of each spectrogram are used as classification features. Following this approach, the frequency content averaged over time is hence used for discriminating different states of activity. In particular, we distinguish four stages, i.e., pre-eruptive, lava fountains, eruptive and post-eruptive. Following a boot-strap strategy, we repeat a random selection of the training set (ca. 80% of the entire data set) and testing set (ca. 20%) 100 times. On the basis of the data set encompassing the three components (426 examples), SVM correctly classifies 94.65 +/- 2.43% of the data. Classification performances can be further improved by reducing the number of classes, namely considering lava fountains as either pre-eruptive or eruptive states depending on their position in time. In this case, SVM correctly classifies 97.25 +/- 1.63% of the data

Activity regimes inferred from automatic classification of volcanic tremor at Mt. Etna, Italy

A renewal of eruptive activity at Mt Etna started from the Southeast Crater on 14 July 2006, about 16 months after the end of the last effusive episode. This new eruption reiterated the importance of continuous volcanic monitoring as well as the need of automatic processing and classification of those signals which might be used to disclose such impending eruptive stages. Among seismic signals, volcanic tremor - the persistent background radiation continuously recorded on open conduit, basaltic volcanoes like Mt Etna - is of utmost importance for the identification of different regimes of volcanic activity. Indeed, changes in amplitude and frequency content of volcanic tremor usually herald the unrest of the volcano. The application of the Support Vector Machine classifier to spectrograms of volcanic tremor was carried out on data recorded at Mt Etna in 2001, in a time span of 46 days encompassing episodes of lava fountains and effusive activity. Moving on from the positive results obtained from this automatic classification - with less than 6% of misclassifications - we propose a new application using tools with supervised (Artificial Neural Networks, Support Vector Machine) and unsupervised (Cluster Analysis) learning to the new data set recorded in July 2006. In doing so, we discuss issues such as data transformations for the definition of the patterns, learning and testing strategies as well as the optimization of the classifier configuration (e.g., trial and error, Genetic Algorithms). The performance of each method is analyzed and discussed in terms of identification of the different states of the volcano. Finally, we carry out a careful a-posteriori analysis of the misclassifications, devoting particular attention to their temporal distribution and relation to transitional states of volcanic activity

The Contribution to Earth Science Outreach from the Staff of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italy)

Science outreach is traditionally committed to individual scientists, who communicate to the public to promote awareness of science. Becoming increasingly important to bring science to a wide audience, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, shortly after its foundation in 2001, has organized a team of part-time outreach scientists aimed at promoting science education, with particular emphasis to volcanic and seismic hazard. We present here an overview of the science outreach activities developed by our Institute, which have schools and public as their target groups. There are several venues of these activities: the headquarters of INGV in Rome and its many departments in Italy, from Milan to Catania. The Neapolitan region, with Vesuvius and the Phlegrean fields, and Sicily, with Stromboli, Vulcano, and Etna volcanoes, are the subject of several initiatives of scientific dissemination we organize, sometimes with the contribution of local authorities and Civil Defense, to explain how volcanoes work. Aim of these initiatives is to convey public understanding of the many-facet risks of Italian volcanoes, from paroxysmal eruptive activity to the menace of lava flows and ash fallout to infrastructures and inhabited areas, to landslides and tsunamis. Our activities also encompass a wide variety of formats, such as the opening of our labs to guided visits, contributing to national (e.g., the Italian “Week of the Scientific Culture”, launched by the Ministry of Education and Research) and international (e.g., the European “Night of the Researchers”) events, editing educational videos, creating multimedia tools also available on web. In museums and academies, and in concomitance of expositions and science festivals, we also organize exhibitions with experiments, models and exhibits designed to teaching and learning geophysics. Finally, we offer guided visits to the control rooms run by our institute, which ensures the round-the-clock volcanic and seismic surveillance of the whole Italian territory.PublishedPuerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain5.9. Formazione e informazioneope

Augmented Reality in Seismic Risk Management: A Contribution to the Reduction of Non-Structural Damage

To increase seismic resilience is one of the challenges the developers of new technologies face to reduce seismic risk. We set up an augmented reality (AR) exhibition with which users&rsquo; curiosity was confronted with the opportunity to have a wealth of information on damaging earthquakes that could be a multimedia add-on to the plain &ldquo;single-layer exhibit&rdquo;. AR is an emergent technology developed to &ldquo;augment&rdquo; reality through various devices; it combines the real world with virtual items, such as images and videos. Our AR exhibition aims to: (i) show the effects of earthquakes even in cases of moderate magnitude; and (ii) promote preventive actions to reduce non-structural damage. It can be customized for different seismic scenarios. In addition, it offers a holistic approach to communicate problems and solutions&mdash;with the cost and degree of ease of execution for each solution&mdash;to reduce non-structural damage at home, school, and office. Our AR exhibition can do more than just a plain text or a preconceived video: it can trigger fruitful interaction between the presenters, or even the stand-alone poster, and the public. Such interactivity offers an easy engagement to people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. AR is, indeed, extremely flexible in raising recipients&rsquo; interest; moreover, it is an appealing tool for the digital native generations. The positive feedback received led us to conclude that this is an effective way to raise awareness and individual preparedness to seismic risk

Augmented Reality in Seismic Risk Management: A Contribution to the Reduction of Non-Structural Damage

To increase seismic resilience is one of the challenges the developers of new technologies face to reduce seismic risk. We set up an augmented reality (AR) exhibition with which users’ curiosity was confronted with the opportunity to have a wealth of information on damaging earthquakes that could be a multimedia add-on to the plain “single-layer exhibit”. AR is an emergent technology developed to “augment” reality through various devices; it combines the real world with virtual items, such as images and videos. Our AR exhibition aims to: (i) show the effects of earthquakes even in cases of moderate magnitude; and (ii) promote preventive actions to reduce non-structural damage. It can be customized for different seismic scenarios. In addition, it offers a holistic approach to communicate problems and solutions—with the cost and degree of ease of execution for each solution—to reduce non-structural damage at home, school, and office. Our AR exhibition can do more than just a plain text or a preconceived video: it can trigger fruitful interaction between the presenters, or even the stand-alone poster, and the public. Such interactivity offers an easy engagement to people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. AR is, indeed, extremely flexible in raising recipients’ interest; moreover, it is an appealing tool for the digital native generations. The positive feedback received led us to conclude that this is an effective way to raise awareness and individual preparedness to seismic risk

The Contribution to Earth Science Outreach from the Staff of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italy)

Science outreach is traditionally committed to individual scientists, who communicate to the public to promote awareness of science. Becoming increasingly important to bring science to a wide audience, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, shortly after its foundation in 2001, has organized a team of part-time outreach scientists aimed at promoting science education, with particular emphasis to volcanic and seismic hazard. We present here an overview of the science outreach activities developed by our Institute, which have schools and public as their target groups. There are several venues of these activities: the headquarters of INGV in Rome and its many departments in Italy, from Milan to Catania. The Neapolitan region, with Vesuvius and the Phlegrean fields, and Sicily, with Stromboli, Vulcano, and Etna volcanoes, are the subject of several initiatives of scientific dissemination we organize, sometimes with the contribution of local authorities and Civil Defense, to explain how volcanoes work. Aim of these initiatives is to convey public understanding of the many-facet risks of Italian volcanoes, from paroxysmal eruptive activity to the menace of lava flows and ash fallout to infrastructures and inhabited areas, to landslides and tsunamis. Our activities also encompass a wide variety of formats, such as the opening of our labs to guided visits, contributing to national (e.g., the Italian “Week of the Scientific Culture”, launched by the Ministry of Education and Research) and international (e.g., the European “Night of the Researchers”) events, editing educational videos, creating multimedia tools also available on web. In museums and academies, and in concomitance of expositions and science festivals, we also organize exhibitions with experiments, models and exhibits designed to teaching and learning geophysics. Finally, we offer guided visits to the control rooms run by our institute, which ensures the round-the-clock volcanic and seismic surveillance of the whole Italian territory