Crustal structure, evolution, and volcanic unrest of the Alban Hills, Central Italy

 The Alban Hills, a Quaternary volcanic center lying west of the central Apennines, 15–25 km southeast of Rome, last erupted 19 ka and has produced approximately 290 km³ of eruptive deposits since the inception of volcanism at 580 ka. Earthquakes of moderate intensity have been generated there at least since the Roman age. Modern observations show that intermittent periods of swarm activity originate primarily beneath the youngest features, the phreatomagmatic craters on the west side of the volcano. Results from seismic tomography allow identification of a low-velocity region, perhaps still hot or partially molten, more than 6 km beneath the youngest craters and a high-velocity region, probably a solidified magma body, beneath the older central volcanic construct. Thirty centimeters of uplift measured by releveling supports the contention that high levels of seismicity during the 1980s and 1990s resulted from accumulation of magma beneath these craters. The volume of magma accumulation and the amount of maximum uplift was probably at least 40×10⁶ m³ and 40 cm, respectively. Comparison of newer levelings with those completed in 1891 and 1927 suggests earlier episodes of uplift. The magma chamber beneath the western Alban Hills is probably responsible for much of the past 200 ka of eruptive activity, is still receiving intermittent batches of magma, and is, therefore, continuing to generate modest levels of volcanic unrest. Bending of overburden is the most likely cause of the persistent earthquakes, which generally have hypocenters above the 6-km-deep top of the magma reservoir. In this view, the most recent uplift and seismicity are probably characteristic and not precursors of more intense activity. Received: 15 April 1997 / Accepted: 9 August 1997     

大地参考系评论:过去、现在和未来

本文对不同时期所建立的大地参考系进行了分析和比较,并预测了大地参考系的未来和发展以及如何满足许多有关学科在发展中提出的要求。对于不同的大地参考系之间的转换,本文就各种相似变换模型、多项式和逐次回归方程等模型及其精度进行了评述。     

New solutions for the geodetic coordinate transformation

 The Cartesian-to-geodetic-coordinate transformation is approached from a new perspective. Existence and uniqueness of geodetic representation are presented, along with a clear geometric picture of the problem and the role of the ellipse evolute. A new solution is found with a Newton-method iteration in the reduced latitude; this solution is proved to work for all points in space. Care is given to error propagation when calculating the geodetic latitude and height. Received: 9 August 2001 / Accepted: 27 March 2002 Acknowledgments. The author would like to thank the Clifford W.␣Tompson scholarship fund, Dr. Brian DeFacio, the University of Missouri College of Arts &Sciences, and the United States Air Force. He also thanks a reviewer for suggesting and providing a prototype MATLAB code. A MATLAB program for the iterative sequence is presented at the end of the paper (Appendix A).     

Tri-frequency spectrum method and results for resolving the parameters of Earth’s liquid core free nutation

The parameters of Earth free core nutation (FCN) are two relatively significant geophysical parameters. Sasao et al. (1980) and Wahr and Bergen (1986) provided the theoretical estimation values of FCN parameters. Gwinn, Herring and Shapiro (1987) first obtained the observational values of FCN parameters by very long base Interference (VLBI) at Cambridge University. In the same year, Neuberg and Zürn in former West Germany and Hinderer in France began to retrieve FCN parameters by the observation of gravity tides and introduced the stacking method. The other scholars who researched into the same geophysical problems by applying the data of gravity tides basically followed the stacking method. The results they reached were similar to the observational result of FCN parameters given by Neuberg et al. in 1987. But the observational results of FCN parameters gained from gravity tides were not identical with those from VLBI, mainly because of the large difference of quality of FCN. So there was not an affirmative observational result of FCN parameters since then. In this paper, The authors firstly introduce the tri-frequency spectrum method with clearly geometrical and geophysical meaning for the resolution of FCN parameters, and the observational results of FCN parameters obtained from tide data at three superconducting gravity stations were accordant with those from VLBI, which will be relatively important to arriving at a certain observational result of FCN parameters.     

Tri-frequency spectrum method and results for resolving the parameters of Earth's liquid core free nutation

The parameters of Earth free core nutation (FCN) are two relatively significant geophysical parameters. Sasao et al. (1980) and Wahr and Bergen (1986) provided the theoretical estimation values of FCN parameters. Gwinn, Herring and Shapiro (1987) first obtained the observational values of FCN parameters by very long base Interference (VLBI) at Cambridge University. In the same year, Neuberg and Zürn in former West Germany and Hinderer in France began to retrieve FCN parameters by the observation of gravity tides and introduced the stacking method. The other scholars who researched into the same geophysical problems by applying the data of gravity tides basically followed the stacking method. The results they reached were similar to the observational result of FCN parameters given by Neuberg et al. in 1987. But the observational results of FCN parameters gained from gravity tides were not identical with those from VLBI, mainly because of the large difference of quality of FCN. So there was not an affirmative observational result of FCN parameters since then. In this paper, The authors firstly introduce the tri-frequency spectrum method with clearly geometrical and geophysical meaning for the resolution of FCN parameters, and the observational results of FCN parameters obtained from tide data at three superconducting gravity stations were accordant with those from VLBI, which will be relatively important to arriving at a certain observational result of FCN parameters.     

Geodetic methods for detecting volcanic unrest: a theoretical approach

In this paper we study the application of different geodetic techniques to volcanic activity monitoring, using theoretical analysis. This methodology is very useful for obtaining an idea of the most appropriate (and efficient) monitoring method, mainly when there are no records of geodetic changes previous to volcanic activity. The analysis takes into account the crustal structure of the area, its geology, and its known volcanic activity to estimate the deformation and gravity changes that might precede eruptions. The deformation model used includes the existing gravity field and vertical changes in the crustal properties. Both factors can have a considerable effect on computed deformation and gravity changes. Topography should be considered when there is a steep slope (greater than 10°). The case study of Teide stratovolcano (Tenerife, Canary Islands), for which no deformation or gravity changes are available, is used as a test. To avoid considering topography, we worked at the lowest level of Las Cañadas and examined a smaller area than the whole caldera or island. Therefore, the results are only a first approach to the most adequate geodetic monitoring system. The methodology can also be applied to active areas where volcanic risk is not associated with a stratovolcano but instead with monogenetic scattered centers, especially when sites must be chosen in terms of detection efficiency or existing facilities. The Canary Islands provide a good example of this type of active volcanic areas, and we apply our model to the island of Lanzarote to evaluate the efficiency of the monitoring system installed at the existing geodynamic station. On this island topography is not important. The results of our study show clearly that the most appropriate geodetic volcano monitoring system is not the same for all different volcanic zones and types, and the particular properties of each volcano/zone must be taken into account when designing each system.     

Precise geodesy with the Very Long Baseline Array

We report on a program of geodetic measurements between 1994 and 2007 which used the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and up to ten globally distributed antennas. One of the goals of this program was to monitor positions of the array at a 1 mm level of accuracy and to tie the VLBA into the international terrestrial reference frame. We describe the analysis of these data and report several interesting geophysical results including measured station displacements due to crustal motion, earthquakes, and antenna tilt. In terms of both formal errors and observed scatter, these sessions are among the very best geodetic very long baseline interferometry experiments.     

A non-iterative and non-singular perturbation solution for transforming Cartesian to geodetic coordinates

The Cartesian-to-Geodetic coordinate transformation is re-cast as a minimization algorithm for the height of the Satellite above the reference Earth surface. Optimal necessary conditions are obtained that fix the satellite ground track vector components in the Earth surface. The introduction of an artificial perturbation variable yields a rapidly converging second order power series solution. The initial starting guess for the solution provides 3–4 digits of precision. Convergence of the perturbation series expansion is accelerated by replacing the series solution with a Padé approximation. For satellites with heights < 30,000 km the second-order expansions yields ~mm satellite geodetic height errors and ~10⁻¹² rad errors for the geodetic latitude. No quartic or cubic solutions are required: the algorithm is both non-iterative and non-singular. Only two square root and two arc-tan calculations are required for the entire transformation. The proposed algorithm has been measured to be ~41% faster than the celebrated Bowring method. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new algorithm.     

On comparison of the Earth orientation parameters obtained from different VLBI networks and observing programs

In this paper, a new geometry index of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observing networks, the volume of network V, is examined as an indicator of the errors in the Earth orientation parameters (EOP) obtained from VLBI observations. It has been shown that both EOP precision and accuracy can be well described by the power law σ = aV ^c in a wide range of the network size from domestic to global VLBI networks. In other words, as the network volume grows, the EOP errors become smaller following a power law. This should be taken into account for a proper comparison of EOP estimates obtained from different VLBI networks. Thus, performing correct EOP comparison allows us to investigate accurately finer factors affecting the EOP errors. In particular, it was found that the dependence of the EOP precision and accuracy on the recording data rate can also be described by a power law. One important conclusion is that the EOP accuracy depends primarily on the network geometry and to lesser extent on other factors, such as recording mode and data rate and scheduling parameters, whereas these factors have a stronger impact on the EOP precision.     

浅谈厦门市大地基准的现代化

GPS定位技术的迅猛发展给测绘行业带来了革命性的变化,建于上世纪90年代初的厦门市首级控制网的升级换代摆上了议事日程。本文探讨厦门市三维、动态、高精度的现代大地基准建设及似大地水准面的精化。