The Neapolitan volcanic area includes three active and high-risk volcanoes: Campi Flegrei caldera, Somma–Vesuvius, and Ischia island. The Campi Flegrei volcanic area is a typical example of a resurgent caldera, characterized by intense uplift periods followed by subsidence phases (bradyseism). After about 21 years of subsidence following the 1982–1984 unrest, a new inflation period started in 2005 and, with increasing rates over time, is ongoing. The overall uplift from 2005 to December 2019 is about 65 cm. This paper provides the history of the recent Campi Flegrei caldera unrest and an overview of the ground deformation patterns of the Somma–Vesuvius and Ischia volcanoes from continuous GPS observations. In the 2000–2019 time span, the GPS time series allowed the continuous and accurate tracking of ground and seafloor deformation of the whole volcanic area. With the aim of improving the research on volcano dynamics and hazard assessment, the full dataset of the GPS time series from the Neapolitan volcanic area from January 2000 to December 2019 is presented and made available to the scientific community.
From 2006 to spring 2013, Campi Flegrei (CF) caldera, Italy, was mostly uplifting at an increasing rate, particularly high from 2011. We show that the 2011–2013 accelerated uplift and 1980–2010 inflation and deflation phases can be explained by a two-source conceptual model similar to that proposed by Amoruso et al. (2014) (reference model). However, pressurization of the sole thin quasi-horizontal ∼4000 m deep source, responsible for large-scale 1980–2010 deformation, can explain the whole 2011–2013 deformation, while activity of the shallower Solfatara hydrothermal source, responsible for residual 1980–2010 deformation, appears constant. These results suggest a predominantly magmatic unrest in 2011–2013. Near-real-time comparison of observations and reference model predictions can provide additional information for short-term eruption forecasting at CF; a similar approach could be followed also in other volcanic environments.
The Campi Flegrei caldera is an active volcanic system associated to a high volcanic risk, and represents a well known and peculiar example of ground deformations (bradyseism), characterized by intense uplift periods, followed by subsidence phases with some episodic superimposed mini-uplifts. Ground deformation is an important volcanic precursor, and, its continuous monitoring, is one of the main tool for short time forecast of eruptive activity. This paper provides an overview of the continuous GPS monitoring of the Campi Flegrei caldera from January 2000 to July 2013, including network operations, data recording and processing, and data products. In this period the GPS time series allowed continuous and accurate tracking of ground deformation of the area. Seven main uplift episodes were detected, and during each uplift period, the recurrent horizontal displacement pattern, radial from the “caldera center”, suggests no significant change in deformation source geometry and location occurs. The complete archive of GPS time series at Campi Flegrei area is reported in the Supplementary materials. These data can be usefull for the scientific community in improving the research on Campi Flegrei caldera dynamic and hazard assessment.
1 April 2014 in Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research