PLINIO: an interactive web interface for seismic monitoring of Neapolitan volcanoes

Seismic monitoring of active volcanoes has different and sometimes contrasting
requirements. The peculiar features of volcanic seismicity makes an interactive
system more complex than required for typical seismic monitoring.
Intense seismic swarms of small magnitude earthquakes need a rapid but consistent
processing for tracking in real time the evolution of an ongoing volcanic
unrest. At the same time a comparison with the past record for detecting
patterns still observed or anomalous behaviours is needed. Furthermore a correlation
between different parameters as event magnitude and depth, event
occurrence rate and volcanic tremor amplitude may be required. Finally, a
rapid exchange of information among scientists located worldwide can be
important for drawing conclusions about the evolution of a crisis.
The first task can be fullfilled by an automatic seismic processing system, followed
by a manual revision from expert seismologists. The second and the
third can be simply accomplished storing the results of the processing in relational
databases, that very well suited for such applications. The last task can
be simply achieved by making the dataset accessible on-line thour a web server,
in a friendly and interactive way.
On the basis of the experience matured on the automatic seismic monitoring
system of Stromboli ([2]) the research team of Monitoring Centre of I.N.G.V.
“Osservatorio Vesuviano” started developing a similar software infrastructure
for the monitoring of Neapolitan volcanoes.
The existing databases: GeoVes, with supervised analysis, and Web Based
Seismological Monitoring (WBSM) system, with automatic location, have been
joined into a single friendly graphical interface aimed at improving the data
accesibility and efficiency of the monitoring system.