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A new approach for a fully automated earthquake monitoring: the local seismic network of the Trentino region (NE Italy)

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Abstract

An application of the Complete Automatic Seismic Processor (CASP) for seismic monitoring is presented. Its integrated and iterative fully automatic procedure is able to achieve complete data analysis and significantly rapid elaborations. Its performance in real-time seismic monitoring and alerting is tested in the Trentino region (NE Italy) for the period 1st March 2018 – 31st August 2019. CASP precisely and accurately located 386 seismic events, with local magnitudes in the -0.8–3.4 range, and produced a seismic catalogue with a magnitude of completeness around 1.1. Automatic earthquake solutions, with average horizontal and vertical errors of 1.1 and 1.5 km, are very similar to those included in a manually revised reference catalogue. In addition, 146 detected events are located in the area of the local porphyry quarries. CASP alerts are delivered as Short Message Service (SMS), Telegram and e-mail messages within an average time of just over two minutes from the earthquake origin time. These alerts contain earthquake source parameters, ground shaking levels and instrumental intensities. CASP reliability, promptness and robustness permit to civil protection and decision makers to perform a monitoring primarily dedicated to emergency management, in order to evaluate both seismic sources and their effects (peak ground acceleration) at local targets, such as more inhabited territories and critical infrastructures (dams and hydropower plants).

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Acknowledgements

The companies that manage the hydropower plants where seismic stations are installed (Hydro Dolomiti Energia, Dolomiti Edison Energy, Primiero Energia, Dolomiti Energia, AGSM Verona) are greatly acknowledged. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Geological Survey and the Agency for water resources and energy of the Provincia autonoma di Trento. Valuable work from M. Tomasini was greatly appreciated. Thanks are also due to O. Groaz and L. Froner for technical support. This research was supported by the Geological Survey of the Provincia autonoma di Trento (www.protezionecivile.tn.it). The paper has benefitted from the comments by an anonymous reviewer.

This work benefitted from seismic data provided by institutions that own stations and/or perform monitoring of the alpine area, on the basis of multi-annual agreements. In particular, the Provincia autonoma di Trento, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia–INGV, the Provincia autonoma di Bolzano, the Land Tirol, the Regione Veneto, the Regione autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale–OGS, the Università degli Studi di Genova, and the Schweizerischer Erdbebendienst–SED. The annual seismic bulletin of Trentino for the period 2008–2017 (available at www.protezionecivile.tn.it) was created by OGS. Most figures were prepared using the GMT software (Wessel and Smith 1998). Researchers interested in the Complete Automatic Seismic Processor (CASP) are welcomed to contact the authors for any scientific project or free trial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Servizio Geologico, Provincia autonoma di Trento, Via Zambra 42, 38121, Trento, Italy

    Alfio Viganò

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Europa 26, 16132, Genova, Italy

    Davide Scafidi & Gabriele Ferretti

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  1. Alfio Viganò
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  2. Davide Scafidi
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  3. Gabriele Ferretti
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Correspondence to Alfio Viganò.

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Viganò, A., Scafidi, D. & Ferretti, G. A new approach for a fully automated earthquake monitoring: the local seismic network of the Trentino region (NE Italy). J Seismol 25, 419–432 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-021-09993-0

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