The First Very Broadband Mediterranean Network: 30 Yr of Data and Seismological Research

Starting in 1988, with the installation of the first broadband (BB) instrument in Italy, the
Mediterranean Very Broadband Seismographic Network (MedNet) program established
a backbone network of BB stations of the highest quality in the Mediterranean Sea
countries. The Mediterranean region is characterized by relevant and frequent seismic-
ity related to its complex tectonics, due to the convergence of two major plates, Africa
and Eurasia, and the involvement of other minor plates, as the Adriatic plate. Therefore,
the MedNet project became a scientific research infrastructure of excellence, able to fill
the gap of regional coverage when the availability of seismic BB instruments was still
scarce. The main characteristics of the MedNet network are the highest quality of the
seismographic instrumentation at remote sites and very low level of anthropogenic
noise with stable conditions of pressure and temperature. After 30 yr of recordings,
the MedNet program has proven that the early adoption of very BB instruments in
selected sites have been the best choice. A large number of studies benefited from
MedNet data, as seismic source computation and Earth structure reconstruction, at local
and global scale.
We present a concise overview of the contribution given by MedNet data in the
last three decades to motivate and financially support the existence of this valuable
infrastructure, and to further maintain this project.