Etna, Ingv launches the app to report the fall of ash and lapilli

ROME – TefraNet is the name of the new app developed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv), which allows those who live in active volcanic areas to report in real time the fall of ashes, lapilli and volcanic bombs to the ground during eruptions.

TefraNet, which already has hundreds of registered users, had an important test bench during the current eruptive crisis of Etna, providing excellent results in terms of public response with reports sent by citizens residing even in areas quite distant from the volcano. . This allowed the Ingv researchers to observe in real time the relapse of tephra (i.e. all pyroclastic materials produced during the eruption) in the various Sicilian areas concerned, as well as to have a view of the eruptive column from various angles. All data useful for studying the current eruption in real time.

The App was born as part of the “Ash-RESILIENCE” Project, funded in 2015 by Miur to create tools capable of mitigating the effects of the fall of the products of explosive volcanic activity in the two main Italian metropolitan areas with active volcanoes in their territory , that is Catania and Naples.

Since 1998, Etna has been affected by over 200 paroxysmal events, which have generated eruptive columns up to 10 kilometers high above the volcano followed by tephra falls in the surrounding areas. The data, including geo-referenced images, observations and gps locations, are stored in an archive within the app and can be viewed by browsing through the reports through a search by date or by event.

The next goal, in addition to the implementation of the app for monitoring the Neapolitan area, will be to create a version of TefraNet in English and also adapt it to the volcanoes present in other regions of Italy and the world, where the dispersion of ash in the atmosphere it represents a problem for everyday life.