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

Abstract

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.