The Maltese Islands (central Mediterranean Sea) are intersected by two normal fault systems associated with continental rifting to the south. Because of a lack of evidence for offshore displacement and insignificant historical seismicity, the systems have been considered to be inactive. Here we integrate aerial and marine geological, geophysical and geochemical data to demonstrate that: (i) the majority of faults offshore the Maltese Islands underwent extensional to transtensional deformation during the last 20 ka, (ii) active degassing of CH4 and CO2 occurs via these faults. The gases migrate through Miocene carbonate bedrock and the overlying Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary layers to generate pockmarks at the muddy seafloor and rise through the water column into the atmosphere. We infer that the offshore faults systems are permeable and that they were active recently and simultaneously. The latter can be explained by a transtensional system involving two right-stepping, right-lateral NW-SE trending faults, either binding a pull-apart basin between the islands of Malta and Gozo or associated with minor connecting antitethic structures. Such a configuration may be responsible for the generation or reactivation of faults onshore and offshore the Maltese Islands, and fits into the modern divergent strain-stress regime inferred from geodetic data.

The Maltese Islands, located in the central Mediterranean Sea, are intersected by two normal fault systems associated with continental rifting to the south. Due to a lack of evidence for offshore displacement and insignificant historical seismicity, the systems are thought to be inactive and the rift-related deformation is believed to have ceased. In this study we integrate aerial, marine and onshore geological, geophysical and geochemical data from the Maltese Islands to demonstrate that the majority of faults offshore the archipelago underwent extensional to transtensional deformation during the last 20 ka. We also document an active fluid flow system responsible for degassing of CH4 and CO2. The gases migrate through carbonate bedrock and overlying sedimentary layers via focused pathways, such as faults and pipe structures, and possibly via diffuse pathways, such as fractures. Where the gases seep offshore, they form pockmarks and rise through the water column into the atmosphere. Gas migration and seepage implies that the onshore and offshore faults systems are permeable and that they were active recently and simultaneously. The latter can be explained by a transtensional system involving two right-stepping, right-lateral NW-SE trending faults, either binding a pull-apart basin between the islands of Malta and Gozo or associated with minor connecting antitethic structures. Such a configuration may be responsible for the generation or reactivation of faults onshore and offshore the Maltese Islands, and fits into the modern divergent strain-stress regime inferred from geodetic data.

This position paper provides a review of the current European research vessel fleet, its capabilities and equipment, assessing its ability to support marine science across the globe now and into the future. It particularly looks at current and future capabilities in the context of deep sea and Polar research. It also takes a wider vision, assessing the importance of these vessels in the ocean and earth observing landscape. This review includes not only technological but also human capabilities, looking at training needs for crew and technicians to ensure they can continue to deliver on critical science needs. It also considers the ways in which the current European fleet is managed.This Position Paper sets out recommendations for how the fleet will need to develop in the future to ensure that it will continue to provide the same high level of support to science globally, as well as highlighting ways in which management could be made more efficient. It is aimed at national- and European-level policy makers and funders, as well as the marine science community and the research vessel operator community.

The recent development of the unmanned aircraft (UAV) in the civil sector has generated a strong interest in the aerial survey industry, especially in sectors where costs and speed of use play a key role. In May 2014, in Brcko region, Bosnia & Herzegovina, torrential rains and flooding of rivers and torrents occurred, thus activating hundreds of landslides. In this paper, the methodology used for the survey of two landslides, identified in the Brcko area, and the obtained results have been described. Photogrammetry from UAV and laser scanning surveys were carried out in June 2015 in the framework of the international no profit Project “Assessment of flood-damaged infrastructures in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia”, led and funded by SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) and AGES (Association of Geophysicists and Environmentalists of Serbia). The purpose of this work is to integrate laser scanner data with the ones generated by aerial photogrammetry from UAV, in order to produce detailed maps that can be used by geophysicists to optimize their analysis.

Summary Continuous, heavy rainfall commencing in May 2014 has resulted in extensive flooding in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Thousands of landslides developed rapidly after several days of torrential rain. Shortly after a diverse group of geophysicists and geologists got together and set out a project to investigate these landslides. The main objective was to characterize and categorize landslides and provide results that could help devise an optimum mitigation program. Prediction of the reactivation potential of landslides was also of direct interest to the investigations. In the first phase of the project investigations included simultaneous acquisition of reflection, refraction, MASW and resistivity data along 17 profiles, distributed over six different localities. In addition, a mini 3D survey was successfully recorded along steep slope. These measurements were supported by sparse drilling, logging, coring, geotechnical analysis and the airborne laser scans. Very good agreement was achieved between different methods, despite vastly different geometry and composition of landslides. Joint analysis of resistivity images, reflection data, and P and S-velocity fields, obtained from refraction tomography and inversion of surface waves, provide new geological insights that are important for understanding the mechanism of a landslide. This will provide valuable input for a mitigation program.

Knowledge of an oil spill's extent and its quantification are fundamental to limit damage and assess impacts. Remote sensing permits the observation of large areas in a short time, to locate and quantify the phenomenon. We present the case study of the River Lambro, where an oil spill occurred on February 23, 2010 and then flowed into the River Po. The Agenzia di Protezione Civile della Regione Emilia-Romagna quickly commissioned two aerial surveys over the polluted area, performed by Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS) with a hyperspectral sensor, AISA Eagle 1K, in order to obtain qualitative and quantitative assessment of the spilled substances and to support rapid decision-making with real-time monitoring. The method used a Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) classification to locate the pollution. Results showed a successful applicability in the production of the pollution map used for the containment phase.

This paper is aimed at mapping the submerged notch along the northeastern Adriatic coast and discussing the relations between the submerged notch, the seawater, the groundwater and the freshwater discharge along the coasts of the study area. Using hydrological and observational data collected during a solitary snorkel-swimming expedition along similar to 250 km-long route along the Istrian coasts and thermal and topographical data, we discuss the hydrogeological and topographical constraints on the origin and development of the submerged notch in the northeastern Adriatic Sea. The submerged notch was surveyed at depths ranging between -0.6 m m.s.l. and -2.6 m m.s.l. in the northern sector of the Gulf of Trieste (Italy), and at about -0.5/-0.7 m m.s.l along the Limski channel (Croatia). Along the Savudrija peninsula, a slightly carved submerged notch was surveyed at -0.5/-0.6 m m.s.l. The modern notch is completely lacking in the study area.Topographical data highlight that the submerged notch occurs in correspondence of plunging cliffs. Moreover, the submerged notch developed in correspondence of the submarine springs that allow mixing-zone dissolution. Data suggest that the mixing-zone dissolution, caused by the freshwater from submerged springs or from the largest rivers in the Gulf of Trieste, was a major factor in developing submerged notches. These new observations provide basic data for future studies on the development of the submerged notch along the northeastern Adriatic coast, previously linked almost exclusively to bioerosion. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Oceanic transform faults respond to changes in the direction of relative plate motion. Studies have shown that short‐offset transforms generally adjust with slight bends near the ridge axis, while long‐offset ones have a remarkably different behavior. The western Pacific‐Antarctic plate boundary highlights these differences. A set of previously unpublished seismic profiles, in combination with magnetic anomaly identifications, shows how across a former, ~1250 km long transform (the Emerald Fracture Zone), plate motion changes have produced a complex geometric readjustment. Three distinct sections are recognized along this plate boundary: an eastern section, characterized by parallel, multiple fault strand lineaments; a central section, shallower than the rest of the ridge system, overprinted by a mantle plume track; and a western section, organized in a cascade of short spreading axes/transform lineaments. This configuration was produced by changes that occurred since 30 Ma in the Australia‐Pacific relative plate motion, combined with a gradual clockwise change in Pacific‐Antarctic plate motion. These events caused extension along the former Emerald Fracture Zone, originally linking the Pacific‐Antarctic spreading ridge system with the Southeast Indian ridge. Then an intra‐transform propagating ridge started to develop in response to a ~6 Ma change in the Pacific‐Antarctic spreading direction. The close proximity of the Euler poles of rotation amplified the effects of the geometric readjustments that occurred along the transform system. This analysis shows that when a long‐offset transform older than 20 Ma is pulled apart by changes in spreading velocity vectors, it responds with the development of multiple discrete, parallel fault strands, whereas in younger lithosphere, locally modified by thermal anisotropies, tensional stresses generate an array of spreading axes offset by closely spaced transforms.

Po Valley and Friuli Plain in Italy and Belgian Plain in Europe, are areas with the highest concentration of solid particulate matter in all the world (European Space Agency, 2004). This implies that those areas does not respect the limits imposed by European Parliament in 2008. Aim of this study is the characterization of the particulate matter, through direct sampling in atmosphere to define physical properties and source of this particulate. A first campaign has been carried out in June-July 2009 in the Po Valley during farming activities of threshing, by means of a small aircraft (Cessna172P), that has been used as platform for collecting measure particles. Particle concentration has been measured for five aerodynamic equivalent diameters (0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0µm) using a laser counter (LIGHTHOUSE HH3016). The acquisition has been carried out vertically profiling the atmosphere from 150 to 2400m. SEM, as well as SEM-EDS analysis on single particles, have been carried out with the aim to obtain detailed dimensional and morphological information to define origin, toxicity and the nature of organic matter (Germani & Buseck, 1991; Grassi, Narducci, & Tognotti, 2004).

The WARBO project will facilitate the regulation of water artificial recharge (AR) and determine how to respond to the need to safeguard, protect and enhance water and land ecosystems. The project will focus on sites with AR problems hosting ecosystems of community interest where urgent measures are needed to fight against water scarcity and to develop protocols able to specify how to manage recharge activities. The protocols concerning direct (hydrogeological, geochemical and isotopic) and indirect (geophysical and remote sensing) surveys will be finalized and applied to two main macro-areas. The first is the Friuli plain (NE Italy), with the aim of identifying the short-and long-term effects of the recharge of highly permeable aquifers in order to mitigate the lowering of piezometric levels and the degradation of the forested areas impacted by a gradual shift of the springs towards lower altitudes and to estimate the water savings that could be achieved through the reclamation and use of grey water in the ZIPR test site (San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone). The second is the southern Po Plain in the Copparo area (Ferrara, northern Italy) in order to assess the effectiveness and the issues connected with recharge activities in salinised aquifer inland characterized by medium-low permeability and to estimate the effectiveness of phyto-purification systems and the improvement of biodiversity. The aims of the WARBO project are: the integration and updating of the CAMI-LIFE database to improve existing knowledge and to better evaluate the hydrogeological and geochemical evolution of aquifers; the updating of the conceptual model and identification of test areas; the application of innovative hydrological 3D models implementing state-of-the-art numerical procedures to solve partial differential equations (as finite elements, mixed finite elements, finite volumes).

This paper’s aim is to demonstrate the possibility to successful apply high resolution multitemporal LiDAR to landslide monitoring in the special case of an active, large earthflow characterised by rapid to moderate rate of movement (the Valoria landslide, Northern Apennines, Italy). The Valoria landslide is a large, active earthflow which mostly involves low-plasticity scaly clays (Manzi et al., 2004; Corsini et al., 2006). It has been completely reactivated in 2001, and since then it has been intermittently active with displacements that in one season could be in the order of hundreds of meters. This recent evolution has caused a significant modification in the slope morphology, with quite distinct depletion and accumulation zones. Landslide occurrence is related to a variety of factors such as underlying geology, mechanical properties of soil and rocks, degree of weathering, groundwater conditions, and the presence (or absence) of geological structures such as joints, faults, and shear zones (Fell et al., 2000). Because of this complexity, landslide monitoring is commonly adopted both in the early detection of risk factors and as an effective tool for landslide hazard management and analysis (Sassa & Canuti, 2008).

The eruption of the Eyjafjallaj ¨ okull volcano starting on 14 April 2010 resulted in the spreading of volcanic ash over most parts of Europe. In Slovenia, the presence of volcanic ash was monitored by our team using ground-based measurement, lidar-based remote sensing and Airborne measurement. Volcanic origin of aerosols was confirmed by subsequent structural and chemical analysis of the collected samples. According to ECMWF model, initial arrival of volcanic ash to Slovenia during the night of 17 April 2010 occurred at the altitudes above 5 km. At this time, we detected only an increase of the concentration of F ions in the precipitation. During the second arrival of volcanic ash on 20 April 2010, lidar measurements revealed two elevated aerosol layers at altitudes of 2.6 km and 1.7 km. Identification of particle samples from ground-based and airborne measurements confirmed that a fraction of particles are volcanic ash from Eyjafjallaj ¨ okull eruption.

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano starting on 14 April 2010 resulted in the spreading of volcanic ash over most parts of Europe. In Slovenia, the presence of volcanic ash was monitored using ground-based in-situ measurements, lidar-based remote sensing and airborne in-situ measurements. Volcanic origin of the detected aerosols was confirmed by subsequent spectral and chemical analysis of the collected samples. The initial arrival of volcanic ash to Slovenia was first detected through the analysis of precipitation, which occurred on 17 April 2010 at 01:00 UTC and confirmed by satellite-based remote sensing. At this time, the presence of low clouds and occasional precipitation prevented ash monitoring using lidar-based remote sensing. The second arrival of volcanic ash on 20 April 2010 was detected by both lidar-based remote sensing and airborne in-situ measurements, revealing two or more elevated atmospheric aerosol layers. The ash was not seen in satellite images due to lower concentrations. The identification of aerosol samples from ground-based and airborne in-situ measurements based on energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed that a fraction of particles were volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. To explain the history of the air masses bringing volcanic ash to Slovenia, we analyzed airflow trajectories using ECMWF and HYSPLIT models.

In the framework of the WISELAND project, funded by MIUR, we tested the integration between LiDAR and hyperspectral methodologies in the Valoria landslide (Modena province, Italy), a high risk area with vulnerable elements, subjected to periodic and abrupt reactivations. Multitemporal LiDAR Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) allowed the calculation of a differential surface, highlighting absolute height variations, recognizing the main landslide components and identifying depletion and accumulation zones. Hyperspectral data helped in the landslide terrain roughness characterization, performing the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlating the results with Flatness and Organization geomorphometric parameters derived from LiDAR DTM.