Highlights: What are the main findings? Time series of ground displacement were successfully generated for the entire Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio areas between 2010 and 2015, using RADARSAT-2 SAR imagery. There is no evidence of deformation activity around Vesuvio between 2010 and 2015. In contrast, significant, constant-shape deformation is evident in the Campi Flegrei area. What is the implication of the main finding? The depressurisation that occurred around 8 km below Vesuvio in the early 2000s, when unrest at Campi Flegrei began, was not visible between 2010 and 2015. Connecting the ground deformation time series obtained from ERS/ENVISAT (1993–2010), RADARSAT-2 (2010–2015) and Sentinel-1 (from 2015 onwards) enables deformation at Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio to be studied over an uninterrupted period of more than 30 years. The area encompassing the Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio volcanoes, situated approximately 25 km apart and bisected by the city of Naples, Italy, is recognised as one of the most hazardous regions globally. In recent decades, the Campi Flegrei caldera has undergone significant changes in its monitored geophysical, geochemical and geodetical signals. The most recent, ongoing unrest began in 2005, resulting in an uplift of over 150 centimetres in the area of maximum uplift. Previous analyses of deformation data from ERS/ENVISAT (available up to 2010) and Sentinel-1 (available since 2015) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, as well as global navigation satellite system data, have suggested that the shape of the deformation field at Campi Flegrei has remained constant and that the area around Vesuvio experienced a slight subsidence in the early 2000s, concurrently with a change in the sign of the ground deformation (from subsidence to uplift) at Campi Flegrei. This study presents and provides the ground displacement time series obtained from RADARSAT-2 images of the entire volcanic area from 2010 to 2015, thus filling the temporal gap between the ERS/ENVISAT and Sentinel-1 missions. The time series were generated using a bespoke procedure, based on the Sentinel Application Platform and the GMTSAR software. The validity of the displacement time series has been confirmed through comparison with continuous Global Positioning System data from the Neapolitan Volcanoes Continuous GPS network. Analysis of RADARSAT-2 ground displacements indicates that velocities in the vicinity of Vesuvio were no greater than a few millimetres per year, and no discernible deformation pattern is evident. Consequently, given the uncertainty in Differential Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) measurements, there is no evidence to suggest deformation activity close to Vesuvio between 2010 and 2015. In contrast to Vesuvio, significant deformation is evident in the Campi Flegrei area. The shape of the ground displacement field remained constant between 2010 and 2015, within the uncertainty of DInSAR measurements. The mean upward velocity reaches a maximum of approximately 5 cm y−1, while the mean eastward velocity reaches 2.4 cm y−1.
Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio, Italy: Ground Deformation Between ERS/ENVISAT and Sentinel-1 Missions from RADARSAT-2 Imagery
Amoruso A.
;Salicone G.;Crescentini L.
2025
Abstract
Highlights: What are the main findings? Time series of ground displacement were successfully generated for the entire Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio areas between 2010 and 2015, using RADARSAT-2 SAR imagery. There is no evidence of deformation activity around Vesuvio between 2010 and 2015. In contrast, significant, constant-shape deformation is evident in the Campi Flegrei area. What is the implication of the main finding? The depressurisation that occurred around 8 km below Vesuvio in the early 2000s, when unrest at Campi Flegrei began, was not visible between 2010 and 2015. Connecting the ground deformation time series obtained from ERS/ENVISAT (1993–2010), RADARSAT-2 (2010–2015) and Sentinel-1 (from 2015 onwards) enables deformation at Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio to be studied over an uninterrupted period of more than 30 years. The area encompassing the Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio volcanoes, situated approximately 25 km apart and bisected by the city of Naples, Italy, is recognised as one of the most hazardous regions globally. In recent decades, the Campi Flegrei caldera has undergone significant changes in its monitored geophysical, geochemical and geodetical signals. The most recent, ongoing unrest began in 2005, resulting in an uplift of over 150 centimetres in the area of maximum uplift. Previous analyses of deformation data from ERS/ENVISAT (available up to 2010) and Sentinel-1 (available since 2015) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, as well as global navigation satellite system data, have suggested that the shape of the deformation field at Campi Flegrei has remained constant and that the area around Vesuvio experienced a slight subsidence in the early 2000s, concurrently with a change in the sign of the ground deformation (from subsidence to uplift) at Campi Flegrei. This study presents and provides the ground displacement time series obtained from RADARSAT-2 images of the entire volcanic area from 2010 to 2015, thus filling the temporal gap between the ERS/ENVISAT and Sentinel-1 missions. The time series were generated using a bespoke procedure, based on the Sentinel Application Platform and the GMTSAR software. The validity of the displacement time series has been confirmed through comparison with continuous Global Positioning System data from the Neapolitan Volcanoes Continuous GPS network. Analysis of RADARSAT-2 ground displacements indicates that velocities in the vicinity of Vesuvio were no greater than a few millimetres per year, and no discernible deformation pattern is evident. Consequently, given the uncertainty in Differential Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) measurements, there is no evidence to suggest deformation activity close to Vesuvio between 2010 and 2015. In contrast to Vesuvio, significant deformation is evident in the Campi Flegrei area. The shape of the ground displacement field remained constant between 2010 and 2015, within the uncertainty of DInSAR measurements. The mean upward velocity reaches a maximum of approximately 5 cm y−1, while the mean eastward velocity reaches 2.4 cm y−1.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
