ALBERT

Beschreibung: The Agulhas system all the interface between the Indian and Atlantic Ocean is an important region in the global oceanic circulation with a recognized key role in global climate and climate change. The simulation of the Agulhas system was performed by a high-resolution regional model nested in a global coarse-resolution ocean model. It is shown that this model simulates all characteristics of the Agulhas regime in a highly realistic manner. Due to the two-way coupling of both models the importance of the Agulhas leakage on the large-scale thermohaline circulation was demonstrated.

Beschreibung: Scientific investigations in Antarctica are, for many different reasons, a challenging and fascinating task. Measurements, observations and field operations must be carefully planned well in advance and the capacity of successfully meeting the goals of a scientific project is often related to the capacity of forecasting and anticipating the many different potential mishaps. In order to do that, experience and logistic support are crucial. On the scientific side, the team must be aware of its tasks and be prepared to carry out observations in a hostile environment: both technology and human resources have to be suitably selected, prepared, tested and trained. On the logistic side, nations, institutions and any other organisation involved in the expeditions must ensure the proper amount of competence and practical support. The history of modern Italian Antarctic expeditions dates back to the middle 80’s when the first infrastructures of “Mario Zucchelli Station”, formerly Terra Nova Bay Station, were settled at Terra Nova Bay, Northern Victoria Land. Only a few years later, the first geodetic infrastructures were planned and built. Italian geodetic facilities and activities were, ever since, being constantly maintained and developed. Nowadays, the most remarkable geodetic infrastructures are the permanent Global Positioning System (GPS) station (TNB1) installed at Mario Zucchelli and the GPS geodetic network Victoria Land Network for DEFormation control (VLNDEF) entirely deployed on an area extending between 71° S and 76° S and 160° E and 170° E. These facilities do not only allow carrying out utmost geodetic investigations but also posses interesting capacities on the international multidisciplinary scientific scenario. In order to fully exploit their potentiality, management and maintenance of the infrastructure are crucial; nevertheless, in order to perform high quality scientific research, these abilities must be coupled with the knowledge concerning a proper use and a correct processing of the information that these infrastructures can provide. This work focuses on the different methods that can be applied to process the observations that are performed with GPS technique in Northern Victoria Land, aiming at reaching the highest accuracy of results and assuring the larger significance and versatility of the processing outcomes. Three software were used for the analysis, namely: Bernese v.5.0, Gipsy/Oasis II and Gamit/Globk. The working data sets are (i) the permanent GPS station TNB1 observations continuously performed since 1998 and (ii) the five episodic campaigns performed on the sites of VLNDEF. The two infrastructures can be regarded as neat examples of standard geodetic installation in Antarctica. Therefore, the technological solutions that were adopted and applied for establishing the GPS permanent station and the VLNDEF geodetic network as well as the data processing strategies and the data analysis procedures that were tested on their observation will be illustrated in detail. The results will be presented, compared and discussed. Furthermore, their potentials and role in geodetic research will be carefully described; their versatility will also be highlighted in the foreground of a multidisciplinary Antarctic international scientific activity.

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: 37-72

Beschreibung: 1.8. Osservazioni di geofisica ambientale

Beschreibung: reserved

Beschreibung: In the framework of the SESAME project one of the taskswas the compilation of all available ambient noise measurements within urban environments affected by historical or/and recent strong earthquakes in Europe. The aim of such a task was to give an answer to the question; “How does horizontal-to-vertical ambient noise spectral ratio compare with damage in modern cities?”. For this purpose five European urban areas, namely, Angra do Heroismo (Portugal), Fabriano and Palermo (Italy), Thessaloniki and Kalamata (Greece) were selected for which spatial damage information was available either in terms of modified Mercalli intensity or in EMS98 damage grades. The geological setting of the examined sites as well as the causative earthquakes are satisfactorily known. Ambient noise recordings compiled for all examined sites have been homogeneously processed by a technique developed and agreed upon SESAME project. Using a standard multivariate statistical analysis, namely, factor analysis and canonical correlation, the horizontal-to-vertical ambient noise spectral ratio (HVNSR) is correlated with damage pattern observed within examined urban areas. Results show that, in some cases (Thessaloniki, Palermo), the HVNSR seems to be able to differentiate between areas previously shown to be associated with higher damage. In other cases however (Angra do Heroismo, Fabriano, Kalamata), the correlation is not statistically significant indicating thus the complex character of the parameters involved, implying that currently there is no a straightforward way that a value of HVNSR can correctly predict the extent to which a given region will be associated with increased damage.

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: 109–140

Beschreibung: 4.1. Metodologie sismologiche per l'ingegneria sismica

Beschreibung: JCR Journal

Beschreibung: reserved

Beschreibung: The concerted effort to collect earthquake damage data in Italy over the past 30 years has led to the development of an extensive database from which vulnerability predictions for the Italian building stock can be derived. A methodology to derive empirical vulnerability curves with the aforementioned data is presented herein and the resulting curves have been directly compared with mechanics-based vulnerability curves. However, it has been found that a valid comparison between the empirical and analytical vulnerability curves is not possible mainly due to a number of shortcomings in the database of surveyed buildings. A detailed discussion of the difficulties in deriving vulnerability curves from the current observed damage database is thus also presented.

Beschreibung: DPC — Dipartimento della Protezione Civile MIUR – Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca - project AIRPLANE

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: 485–504

Beschreibung: 4.2. TTC - Scenari e mappe di pericolosità sismica

Beschreibung: JCR Journal

Beschreibung: reserved