Antonio Cristaldi

The 2007 Stromboli eruption: Event chronology and effusion rates using thermal infrared data

Accepted for publication in Journal of Geophysical Research. Copyright (2009) American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

ROBOVOLC: a robot for volcano exploration result of first test campaign

ROBOVOLC is a new robotic system that has been designed to help scientists in the exploration of volcanoes. It is composed of three subsystems: a rover platform with six articulated and independently actuated wheels; a manipulator arm to collect rock samples, drop and pick up sensors and sample gas; and a pan‐tilt turret with a high resolution camera, video‐camera, infrared camera and a doppler radar for gas speed measurement. This paper contains a short description of the system, following an introduction to the problem and review of the state‐of‐the‐art. Finally, results from the first test campaign on Mount Etna during September 2002 are briefly described.

The 7 September 2008 Vulcanian explosion at Stromboli volcano: Multiparametric characterization of the event and quantification of the ejecta

This paper was partially supported by a research project (project INGV-DPC Paroxysm V2/03, 2007–2009) funded by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and by the Italian Civil Protection.

Advances in the study of volcanic ash

Every month, small-scale explosive volcanic eruptions inject more than a million cubic meters of ash into Earths atmosphere [Simkin and Siebert, 2000]. Of all the troubles caused by this relatively mild volcanic activity, ashfall is by far the longest-reaching one, mantling the volcano slopes and surroundings with a slippery, heavy, unhealthy, and snow-like but Sun-resistant cover. Volcanic ash is composed of pyroclasts (fragments generated and emplaced by explosive eruptions) smaller than 2 millimeters, which are easily transported by wind and have a high surface-to-volume ratio. These same features, however, also allow safe collection of the ash away from the volcano. Such pyroclasts bear the signature of the fragmentation and dispersal processes they have experienced during eruption and transport. Thus, volcanic ash provides sample material well suited for studying quasi time correlated eruption dynamics [Taddeucci et al, 2002].

Parameterizing multi-vent activity at Stromboli Volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy)

The crater terrace of Stromboli Volcano (Italy) hosts several active vents which have evolved and migrated through time within three main vent areas: south-west (SW), central (C), and north-east (NE). Frequent, jet-like explosions typically take place, episodically interrupted by larger-scale paroxysms, which can substantially modify the morphology of the crater terrace and vent geometries. However, the link between the time-space evolution of vent activity and the shallow conduit system are still a matter of debate. In this work, we analyze the vent position and explosion parameters (jet duration and geometry) of 4296 events at Stromboli in five 72-h-long time-windows between 2005 and 2009, as recorded by an infrared surveillance camera. Vent locations illustrate the resilience of the shallow conduit system, which controls explosive activity at different time scales and depths. At the shallowest depth, where slugs burst, conduit branching and merging determines the evolution of simultaneous or alternating twin vents, while vent shape and slug size control local explosion parameters. These processes show variability on an hourly to daily time scale. Below the depth of the slug burst, the conduit system feeding each vent area controls which specific vent will host the explosions and also, possibly, the size of the slugs. Several observations suggest that the C and SW vent areas may be connected at this depth. The deeper conduit system, common to all vent areas, sets the overall explosion rate of the volcano and maintains a balance of this rate between the NE and the combined SW and C vent areas.