Search

The BridgET Erasmus+ project (2021-1-IT02-KA220-HED-000027612) aims at filling the gap of information in the so-called white ribbon area, focusing on 3D geological mapping for a reliable integration of onshore and offshore multiscale geospatial datasets in selected coastal areas. The programme has been designed to develop innovative and inclusive learning and teaching activities through the organization of dedicated summer schools. Specifically, one of the main foci is the application of geospatial data acquisition and processing methods in order to generate seamless 3D models for coastal geohazard assessment. The second BridgET summer school was held in Catania and nearby areas from September 30th to October 11th, 2023. Here, we present preliminary results of an integrated multi-sensor dataset of Lachea Island. The result of this case study will be a seamless model, showing the island’s geomorphological variability from above to below the water surface. Offshore data was collected by Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) survey, covering a total area of about 0.33 km2 and obtaining a georeferenced point cloud with a resolution of about 580 points/m2 and a derived Digital Elevation Model of 1 m resolution. Near-surface remote sensing data was collected by Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) in the form of both, structure-from-motion photogrammetry and LiDAR surveys, obtaining point clouds at a resolution of 225 and 50 points/m2, respectively. Lachea Island is part of the Cyclopean Archipelago. The “Lachea Island and Archipelago Integral Nature Reserve” was established in 1988, to conserve and protect fauna and flora from the supralittoral to the infralittoral zones. Due to its morphological setting, the area is subject to rockfalls and slope instability processes, which limit the accessibility for tourists. Geohazard characterization is therefore highly important, particularly in the view of risk assessment and mitigation measures.

Recent advances in underwater and airborne robotic systems and ocean technologies have opened new perspectives in marine geology and its applications in the context of coastal and marine economic activities, whose sustainable development is increasingly acknowledged as a pillar for the new blue economy. BridgET (Bridging the gap between the land and the sea in a virtual Environment for innovative Teaching and community involvement in the science of climate change-induced marine and coastal geohazard) is an EU ERASMUS+ project designed to develop innovative and inclusive teaching methods to address a growing demand for strategic skills and scientific expertise in the field of 3D geological mapping of coastal environments. Seamless integration of the wide variety of multisource and multiscale onshore, nearshore and offshore geospatial data is indeed one of the main areas for improvement in the implementation of efficient management practices in coastal regions, where climate change, rising sea level, and geohazards are considerable environmental issues. BridgET involves a partnership consisting of six European universities with outstanding expertise in the study of geological hazards, and climate impacts in marine and coastal areas (i.e., University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, Arctic University of Tromsø/CAGE - Norway, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - Greece, Kiel University, Germany, University of Liege – Belgium, and the University of Malta), two Italian research institutes (INGV and INAF) and a German company (Orthodrone GmvH) specialized in UAS-based LiDAR and photogrammetry data acquisition services and analyses. Project implementation relies on delivering learning and teaching activities through dedicated summer schools for MSc students by efficiently combining the partner’s expertise. Schools focus on giving students a hands-on experience with the variety of methods and procedures adopted in geospatial data acquisition and processing, including th

The land and seascape of the Canary Islands witnesses a long history of volcanic growth and volcano-tectonic deformation. This interplay has generated a spectacular morphology that stretches over almost 8 km (vertically) from the foot of the western volcanic islands at 4.000 m water depth to the top of the Pico del Teide at 3.718 m above sea level. On 19th September 2021, Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma, experienced its longest eruption in historic times, lasting for three months. The eruption was accompanied by widespread deformation, expressed among others by tens of thousands of earthquakes, meter-scale vertical elevation changes, fractures and eruptive fissures that opened along the onshore flank, and the build-up and collapse of volcanic cones. It is now a major task for researchers to identify and untangle the different deformation patterns in order to learn about volcano-tectonic and related sedimentary processes before, during, and after the eruption. Because the largest volume of the volcano locates underwater, a comprehensive analysis of volcano-tectonic deformation requires marine data. Here we present a synthesis of legacy hydroacoustic data from the last century together with new data collected in recent years and especially after the 2021 eruption. The new data include multibeam bathymetry from VULCANA_1015, VULCANA_0318 and VULCANA_III_LP_0921/1021-0222 cruises which were supported by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) funds through the VULCANA project. These data cover the submerged flank down to a water depths of 1940 m with a 10x10 m grid spacing. We further collected multibeam and sediment echosounder data from the lower part of the island slope and adjacent abyssal seafloor between the islands of La Palma and El Hierro during RV MARIA S. MERIAN Cruise 113 in January 2023. Together the different data cover the western side of La Palma, which has collapsed repeatedly in a likely catastrophic manner over geologic times

Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory of quarks and gluons, whose interactions can be described by a local SU(3) gauge symmetry with charges called color quantum numbers, is reviewed; the goal of this review is to provide advanced Ph.D. students a comprehensive handbook, helpful for their research. When QCD was discovered 50 years ago, the idea that quarks could exist, but not be observed, left most physicists unconvinced. Then, with the discovery of charmonium in 1974 and the explanation of its excited states using the Cornell potential, consisting of the sum of a Coulomb-like attraction and a long range linear confining potential, the theory was suddenly widely accepted. This paradigm shift is now referred to as the November revolution. It had been anticipated by the observation of scaling in deep inelastic scattering, and was followed by the discovery of gluons in three-jet events. The parameters of QCD include the running coupling constant, as (Q(2)), that varies with the energy scale Q(2) characterising the interaction, and six quark masses. QCD cannot be solved analytically, at least not yet, and the large value of alpha(s) at low momentum transfers limits perturbative calculations to the high-energy region where Q(2) >>Lambda(QCD) (2) similar or equal to (250 MeV)(2). Lattice QCD (LQCD), numerical calculations on a discretized space-time lattice, is discussed in detail, the dynamics of the QCD vacuum is visualized, and the expected spectra of mesons and baryons are displayed. Progress in lattice calculations of the structure of nucleons and of quantities related to the phase diagram of dense and hot (or cold) hadronic matter are reviewed. Methods and examples of how to calculate hadronic corrections to weak matrix elements on a lattice are outlined. The wide variety of analytical approximations currently in use, and the accuracy of these approximations, are reviewed. Thesemethods range from the Bethe-Salpeter, Dyson-Schwinger coupled relativistic equations, whic