Multiparameter techniques for seafloor vertical deformation assessment
in the Campi Flegrei volcanic area
Abstract
The Campi Flegrei caldera is well known for being one of the most
volcanically risky areas in the world. Notably, it has an extension of
about 120 square km, and 40% of its area is submerged forming the Gulf
of Pozzuoli. A remarkable expression of the local volcanic dynamics is
the slow ground displacement across the whole caldera. This peculiarity
makes this area a natural laboratory for developing and testing
innovative methods to assess seafloor deformation. Until 2008 no
seafloor deformation measurements were performed in the submarine part
of the caldera, while ground deformation measurements have been
extensively and routinely acquired on land since the beginning of the
last century. In 2008 CUMAS, a multisensor prototype buoy, was deployed
in the Gulf of Pozzuoli within a program of extension of the land-based
geophysical monitoring network toward the marine sector of the caldera.
CUMAS, placed at 2.5 km from the coast in about 100 m water depth, was
able to acquire the first sea floor deformation measurement in the
submerged portion of the caldera. In 2016, a new marine monitoring
network, MEDUSA, was deployed to achieve a larger coverage of the Gulf
of Pozzuoli incorporating CUMAS. MEDUSA marine network presently
consists of four instrumented buoys hosting geodetic GPS receivers on
the top. Moreover, each buoy is connected through a cable to a seafloor
module equipped with oceanographic and geophysical sensors including a
bottom pressure recorder (BPR). One of the buoys is also equipped with a
tide gauge. Using the GPS, BPR and tide gauge data provided by MEDUSA,
we were able to assess the seafloor deformation field in the Gulf of
Pozzuoli for the first time: we estimated a seafloor vertical
displacement of about 10 cm ±1 cm over a period of twenty months
embracing 2016 to 2018. The presentation is aimed at giving details
about the design of MEDUSA and about the multiparameter data analysis
leading to the deformation field estimation.