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Combining relative and absolute gravity measurements to enhance volcano monitoring

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Abstract

To achieve a balance between uncertainty and efficiency in gravity measurements, we have investigated the applicability of combined measurements of absolute and relative gravity as a hybrid method for volcano monitoring. Between 2007 and 2009, three hybrid gravity surveys were conducted at Mt Etna volcano, in June 2007, July 2008, and July 2009. Absolute gravity data were collected with two absolute gravimeters, which represent the state of the art in recent advances in ballistic gravimeter technology: (1) the commercial instrument FG5#238 and (2) the prototype instrument IMGC-02. We carried out several field surveys and confirmed that both the absolute gravimeters can still achieve a 10 μGal or better uncertainty even when they are operated in severe environmental conditions. The use of absolute gravimeters in a field survey of the summit area of Mt Etna is unprecedented. The annual changes of the gravity measured over 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 provide unequivocal evidence that during the 2007–2009 period, two main phenomena of subsurface mass redistribution occurred in distinct sectors of the volcano, accompanying different eruptive episodes. From 2007 to 2008, a gravity change of −60 μGal was concentrated around the North-East Rift. This coincided with a zone affected by strong extensional tectonics, and hence might have been related to the opening of new voids. Between 2008 and 2009, a North-South elongate feature with a maximum gravity change of +80 μGal was identified in the summit craters area. This is interpreted to indicate recharge of a deep-intermediate magma storage zone, which could have occurred when the 2008–2009 eruption was still ongoing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Eni S.p.a., Exploration & Production Division for providing the FG5#238 absolute gravimeter and Scintrex CG5#08064041 relative gravimeter and sponsoring this study. We also thank S. Dorizon, S. Liaigre, and S. Maucourant from EOST, Strasbourg, France for field data collection. This work was developed in the frame of the TecnoLab, the Laboratory for the Technological Advance in Volcano Geophysics organized by DIEES-UNICT and INGV-CT. Comments by the editors J.D.L. White and S. De la Cruz-Reyna and two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)—Sezione di Catania—Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy

    F. Greco, G. Currenti, R. Napoli, A. Pistorio & C. Del Negro

  2. Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM), Torino, Italy

    G. D’Agostino & A. Germak

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  1. F. Greco
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  2. G. Currenti
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  3. G. D’Agostino
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  4. A. Germak
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  5. R. Napoli
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  6. A. Pistorio
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  7. C. Del Negro
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Correspondence to F. Greco.

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Editorial responsibility: S. de la Cruz-Reyna

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Greco, F., Currenti, G., D’Agostino, G. et al. Combining relative and absolute gravity measurements to enhance volcano monitoring. Bull Volcanol 74, 1745–1756 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-012-0630-0

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