ALBERT

Description: In this paper, we analyze the strong unidentified emission near 3.28 micron in Titan's upper daytime atmosphere recently discovered by Dinelli et al.We have studied it by using the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), after absorbing UV solar radiation, are able to emit strongly near 3.3 micron. By using current models for the redistribution of the absorbed UV energy, we have explained the observed spectral feature and have derived the vertical distribution of PAH abundances in Titan's upper atmosphere. PAHs have been found to be present in large concentrations, about (2-3) 10(exp 4) particles / cubic cm. The identified PAHs have 9-96 carbons, with a concentration-weighted average of 34 carbons. The mean mass is approx 430 u; the mean area is about 0.53 sq. nm; they are formed by 10-11 rings on average, and about one-third of them contain nitrogen atoms. Recently, benzene together with light aromatic species as well as small concentrations of heavy positive and negative ions have been detected in Titan's upper atmosphere. We suggest that the large concentrations of PAHs found here are the neutral counterpart of those positive and negative ions, which hence supports the theory that the origin of Titan main haze layer is located in the upper atmosphere.

Description: In the last 100 years, the global population has more than quadrupled to over seven billion people. At the same time, the demand for food and standard of living has been increasing which has amplified the global water use by nearly eight times from approximately 500 to 4000 cu km per yr from 1900 to 2010. With the increasing concern to sustain the growing population on Earth it is necessary to seek other approaches to ensure that our planet will have resources for generations to come. In recent years, the advancement of space travel and technology has allowed the idea of mining asteroids with resources closer to becoming a reality. During the duration of the internship at NASA Kennedy Space Center, several geotechnical tests were conducted on BP-1 lunar simulant and asteroid simulant Orgueil. The tests that were conducted on BP-1 was to practice utilizing the equipment that will be used on the asteroid simulant and the data from those tests will be omitted from report. Understanding the soil mechanics of asteroid simulant Orgueil will help provide basis for future technological advances and prepare scientists for the conditions they may encounter when mining asteroids becomes reality in the distant future. Distinct tests were conducted to determine grain size distribution, unconsolidated density, and maximum density. Once the basic properties are known, the asteroid simulant will be altered to different levels of compaction using a vibrator table to see how compaction affects the density. After different intervals of vibration compaction, a miniature vane shear test will be conducted. Laboratory vane shear testing is a reliable tool to investigate strength anisotropy in the vertical and horizontal directions of a very soft to stiff saturated fine-grained clayey soil. This test will provide us with a rapid determination of the shear strength on the undisturbed compacted regolith. The results of these tests will shed light on how much torque is necessary to drill through the surface of an asteroid. Most of the known asteroids are believed to be left over material during the formation of the solar system that never accreted to form planets. Asteroids can be found in several groups such as Trojan Asteroids, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and the main asteroid belt. The Trojan Asteroids orbit the 4th and 5th Lagrange points of major planets in the Solar System while the NEA's have orbits that are close to and sometimes intersect with Earths orbit and the Main Asteroid Belt which is found between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. Gravitational perturbations can alter the orbit of asteroids in the Main Asteroid Belt causing them to move closer to earth causing them to become in the NEA class.

Description: The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security Regolith Explorer(OSIRISREx) mission observed the The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and SecurityRegolith Explorer (OSIRISREx) mission observed the Moon during the spacecraft's Earth gravity assist in 2017. From the spacecraft view, the lunar phase was 42, and the inview hemisphere was dominated by anorthositic highlands terrain. Lunar spectra obtained by the OSIRISREx Visible and InfraRed Spectrometer show evidence of several candidate absorption features. We observe the 2.8m hydration band, confirming the spectral results from other missions, but detected in fulldisk spectra. We also tentatively identify weak spectral features near 0.9 and 1.3 m, consistent with lunar regolith containing a mixture of plagioclase and orthopyroxene minerals, as expected for highlands terrain.

Description: This paper presents the Orion Exploration Mission 1 Linear Covariance Analysis for the DRO mission using ground-based navigation. The Delta V statistics for each maneuver are presented. In particular, the statistics of the lunar encounters and the Entry Interface are presented.

Description: L’Italia e l’Indonesia hanno avviato nel 2005-2006 un progetto di cooperazione sulle tematiche della mitigazione del rischio vulcanico. Nell’ambito di questo progetto è stata individuata la zona ovest di Sumatra come area di intervento. In particolare è stato preso in considerazione il vulcanoMarapi. Questo vulcano ha avuto frequente attività eruttiva nelle ultime decine di anni. L’ultima eruzione si è verificata nel 2004. La sua attività, sebbene di moderata intensità, pone un problema di protezione civile, poiché dal 1980 ad oggi ha causato diversi feriti e alcune vittime tra i turisti che hanno visitato l’area craterica sommitale. Allo scopo di monitorare lo stato di attività del Marapi, nell’ambito del citato progetto è stata realizzata una rete sismica a larga banda composta da 4 stazioni e basata su sensori Guralp GMG-40T da 60s di periodo e su acquisitori di tipo GAIA2, prodotti presso l’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. La strumentazione è stata portata dall’Italia ed è stata installata da un gruppo di lavoro formato da italiani ed indonesiani. Oltre all’installazione della strumentazione in campagna è stato necessario allestire un vero e proprio Centro di Monitoraggio presso l’Osservatorio di Bukittinggi, in prossimità delle pendici nordoccidentali del vulcano, dotato di calcolatori per l’acquisizione, l’analisi dei dati e la loro archiviazione. Il sistema per ilmonitoraggio sismologico realizzato alMarapi costituisce un importante strumento di prevenzione del rischio associato all’attività di questo vulcano e sta permettendo di creare un ricco data set utile a caratterizzare la sismicità della struttura vulcanica e dell’area circostante. Da un’analisi preliminare dei dati registrati nel periodo 19/10/2006 - 24/11/2008 si evidenzia che il vulcanomanifesta una sismicità di tipo VT ed LP. Nell’ agosto 2007 sono stati inoltre registrati segnali probabilmente attribuibili a modesta attività esplosiva nell’area sommitale. Italy and Indonesia started a cooperation project in 2005-2006 to cover issues for the mitigation of volcanic risk. In this project, the west area of Sumatra was identified as the area for intervention. In particular, the Marapi volcano was considered. This volcano has shown frequent eruptive activity over recent decades, with the last eruption occurring in 2004. Although its activity is of moderate intensity, it creates a civil protection problem, because since 1980 it has resulted in several injuries and a number of deaths among the tourists who visit the summit crater area. To monitor the activity of Marapi volcano as part of this project, a broadband seismic network has been implemented that consists of four stations based on Guralp GMG 40T sensors with period of 60 s and on GAIA2 data-loggers, which are produced at the INGV. The instrumentation was brought from Italy and was installed by a working group comprising Italians and Indonesians. In addition to the instrumentation in the field, it was necessary to set up a monitoring centre in the Bukittinggi Observatory, which is near the north-western slopes of the Marapi volcano. This is equipped with computers for data acquisition, analysis and archiving. The system for seismological monitoring that has been realized atMarapi volcano is an important tool in the prevention of the risk associated with this volcano, and it is providing a rich dataset that will be of great use for the characterization of the seismicity of the Marapi volcanic structure and the surrounding area. A preliminary analysis of the data recorded during the period 19/10/2006 - 24/11/2008 evidences that the volcano shows VT and LP seismicity. In August 2007 were also recorded signals probably attributable to small explosive activity in the summit area.

Description: INGV Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

Description: Published

Description: 5-21

Description: 1.4. TTC - Sorveglianza sismologica delle aree vulcaniche attive

Description: N/A or not JCR

Description: open

Description: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Sezione di Napoli Osservatorio Vesuviano

Description: Published

Description: 2.6. TTC - Laboratorio di gravimetria, magnetismo ed elettromagnetismo in aree attive

Description: open

Description: We have analyzed a focal mechanism data set for Mount Vesuvius, consisting of 197 focal mechanisms of events recorded from 1999 to 2012. Using different approaches and a comparison between observations and numerical models, we have determined the spatial variations in the stress field beneath the volcano. The main results highlight the presence of two seismogenic volumes characterized by markedly different stress patterns. The two volumes are separated by a layer where the seismic strain release shows a significant decrease. Previous studies postulated the existence, at about the same depth, of a ductile layer allowing the spreading of the Mount Vesuvius edifice. We interpreted the difference in the stress pattern within the two volumes as the effect of a mechanical decoupling caused by the aforementioned ductile layer. The stress pattern in the top volume is dominated by a reverse faulting style, which agrees with the hypothesis of a seismicity driven by the spreading process. This agrees also with the persistent character of the seismicity located within this volume. Conversely, the stress field determined for the deep volume is consistent with a background regional field locally perturbed by the effects of the topography and of heterogeneities in the volcanic structure. Since the seismicity of the deep volume shows an intermittent behavior and has shown to be linked to geochemical variations in the fumaroles of the volcano, we hypothesize that it results from the effect of fluid injection episodes, possibly of magmatic origin, perturbing the pore pressure within the hydrothermal system.

Description: Published

Description: 1181–1199

Description: 4T. Fisica dei terremoti e scenari cosismici

Description: 2V. Dinamiche di unrest e scenari pre-eruttivi

Description: 5V. Sorveglianza vulcanica ed emergenze

Description: JCR Journal

Description: restricted

Description: Twenty-five lava fountains occurred on Mt. Etna from January 2011 to April 2012. In summer 2012 volcanic activity resumed in a milder form within the Bocca Nuova crater, before it came to an essential halt in August 2012. All these unrests offer rich material for testing automatic procedures of data processing and alert systems, running 24/7, in the context of volcano surveillance. We focus on the seismic background radiation – volcanic tremor – which plays a key role in the monitoring of Mt. Etna. Since 2006 a multistation alert system has been established in the INGV operative centre of Catania exploiting STA/LTA ratios. Besides, also the spectral characteristics of the signal, which change correspondingly to the type of volcanic activity, can be exploited for warning purposes. Here we apply Self Organizing Maps and Fuzzy Clustering which offer an efficient way to visualize signal characteristics and its development with time. All these techniques allow to identify early stages of eruptive events, and automatically flag a critical status before this becomes evident in conventional monitoring techniques. Changes of tremor characteristics are related to the position of the source of the signal. The location of the sources exploits the distribution of the amplitudes across the seismic network. The locations were extremely useful for warning, throughout both the flank eruption in 2008 as well as the 2011 lava fountains, during which a clear migration of tremor sources towards the eruptive centres could be noticed in advance. The location of the sources completes the picture of an imminent volcanic unrest, and corroborates early warnings flagged by the changes of signal characteristics. Real time data processing requires computational efficiency, robustness of the methods and stability of data acquisition. The amplitude based multi-station approach is not sensitive to the failure of single stations and therefore offers a good stability. The single station approach, exploiting unsupervised classification techniques, limits logistic efforts, as only one or few key stations are necessary. Both strategies have proven to be insensitive to disturbances (undesired transients like earthquakes, noise, short gaps in the continuous data flow). False alarms were not encountered so far. Stable data acquisition and processing come with a properly designed data storage solution. The reliability of data storage and its access is a critical issue. A cluster architecture has been realized for failover protection, including a Storage Area Network system, which allow easy data access following predefined user policies. We present concepts of the software architectures deployed at INGV Osservatorio Etneo in order to implement this tremor-based multi approach system. We envisage the integration of seismic data and those originating from other scientific fields (e. g., volcano imagery, geochemistry, deformation, gravity, magneto-telluric). This will facilitate cross-checking of evidences encountered from the single data streams, in particular allow their immediate verification with respect to ground truth.

Description: Published

Description: Nicolosi (Catania, Italy)

Description: 1.4. TTC - Sorveglianza sismologica delle aree vulcaniche attive

Description: 5.6. TTC - Attività di Sala Operativa

Description: open

Description: Eighteen paroxysmal episodes occurred on Mt Etna in 2011, and provided rich material for testing automatic procedures of data processing and alert systems in the context of volcano monitoring. The 2011 episodes represent a typical picture of activity of Mt Etna: in 2000 and 2001, before the 2001 flank eruption, more than one hundred lava fountains were encountered. Other major lava fountains occurred before the flank eruptions of 2002/03 and 2008. All these fountains, which are powerful but usually short lived phenomena, originated from the South-East Crater area and caused the formation of thick ash clouds, followed by the fallout of material with severe problems for the infrastructure of the metropolitan area of Catania. We focus on the seismic background radiation – volcanic tremor – which plays a key role in the surveillance of Mt Etna. Since 2006 a multi-station alert system has been established in the INGV operative centre of Catania exploiting STA/LTA ratios. Besides, it has been demonstrated that also the spectral characteristics of the signal changes correspondingly to the type of volcanic activity. The simultaneous application of Self Organizing Maps and Fuzzy Clustering offers an efficient way to visualize signal characteristics and its development with time, allowing to identify early stages of eruptive events and automatically flag a critical status before this becomes evident in conventional monitoring techniques. Changes of tremor characteristics are related to the position of the source of the signal. The location of the sources exploits the distribution of the amplitudes across the seismic network. The locations were extremely useful for warning throughout both a flank eruption in 2008 as well as the 2011 lava fountains, during which a clear migration of tremor sources towards the eruptive centres could be noticed in advance. The location of the sources completes the picture of an imminent volcanic unrest and corroborates early warnings flagged by the changes of signal characteristics. On-line data processing requires computational efficiency, robustness of the methods and reliability of data acquisition. The amplitude based multi-station approach offers a reasonable stability as it is not sensitive to the failure of single stations. The single station approach, based on our unsupervised classification techniques, is cost-effective with respect to logistic efforts, as only one or few key stations are necessary. Both systems have proven to be robust with respect to disturbances (undesired transients like earthquakes, noise, short gaps in the continuous data flow), and false alarms were not encountered so far. Another critical aspect is the reliability of data storage and access. A hardware cluster architecture has been proposed for failover protection, including a Storage Area Network system. We outline concepts of the software architectures which allow easy data access following predefined user policies. We envisage the integration of seismic data and those originating from other scientific fields (such as volcano imagery, geochemistry, deformation, gravity, magneto-telluric), in order to facilitate cross-checking of the findings encountered from the single data streams, in particular allowing their immediate verification with respect to ground truth.

Description: Published

Description: 53-92

Description: 1.4. TTC - Sorveglianza sismologica delle aree vulcaniche attive

Description: partially_open

Description: Nel corso del 2008 sono state eseguite due campagne gravimetriche nell’area vesuviana; la prima nel mese di aprile, la seconda a cavallo dei mesi di novembre e dicembre. In entrambe le campagne, i dati sono stati rilevati su 31 dei 32 vertici costituenti la rete in quanto la stazione “Baracche Forestali”, ubicata lungo la linea che corre all’interno della Forestale, è andata distrutta nel 2007 a causa di lavori di ripristino nell’area.

Description: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

Description: Published

Description: 2.6. TTC - Laboratorio di gravimetria, magnetismo ed elettromagnetismo in aree attive

Description: open