There SISMMIC STARD SOCKIN deeper than Mediterraneancalled Mhppl (Marine Hazard Portopalo) and installed last October a 3 443 m depthis now fully operational. It is located on the seabed of Ionian Seaabout 90 km south-east of the coasts of Sicily, at the largest underwater telescope for the Mediterranean neutrinos. The station, carried out thanks to a collaboration between the INGV (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) and the Infn (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), is able to transmit In real time acoustic, seismic and chemical-physical data water. Thanks to its advanced technology and its strategic position it will play a crucial role in seismic monitoringproviding very precise information on the earthquakes of the area, such as that of magnitude 4.8 which took place on the night between 15 and 16 April.
The characteristics of the submarine seismic station
The seismic station is found off the Portopalo di Capo Passeroin the province of Syracuse, at the Km3net/Arcathe largest submarine telescope for Mediterranean neutrinos. It is a High sensitivity Sismic-ACUSTIC STATION made in the context of IdMar search project financed by the European regional development fund. The station is equipped with sensors able to detect the conductivity and water temperature and the pressure of the column of water above. A hydrophone It then allows you to study the low frequencies of the acoustic waves that spread in marine waters with environmental consequences. Finally, a seismometer With high sensitivity intercepted with great precision the seismic waves of earthquakes that also take place very far. Special watertight containers make this equipment capable of resisting the enormous pressures present at these depths.
Because the new seismic station is important
Thanks to its depth and distance from the coasts, the seismic station has a crucial role for determine the parameters more precisely relating to the earthquakes that originate in the Mediterranean area, but also to those that take place further. For example, his seismometer recorded the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that took place in Myanmar on 28 March last, whose epicenter is over 7500 km away. The tool will also be essential to study earthquakes related to Hybleo-Maltese fault and relating to the area of Strait of Messina. The station, as Sergio Sciré Scappuzzo of the Ingv points out, represents a “significant extension of the national seismic monitoring network towards the Ionian Sea”. The station was in fact integrated into the Ingv seismic monitoring system And it was connected to the European Eida data archive, always managed by the Ingv. Will also be integrated into Ingv Tsunami Alert Centerwith the aim of improving the Maremoti alert system for the Ionian Sea area.
