Irpinia is transforming into an open-air laboratory for earthquake research. What until recently was a pioneering experiment has now become an operational geophysical monitoring network 80 kilometers long. optical fiber Installed between Sant'Angelo le Fratte and Castelgrande, already used on an experimental basis on a 20 km stretch, it is now at the heart of the Irpinia Near Fault Observatory (Info), a project born from the collaboration between the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Naples Federico II, within the framework of the European research infrastructure EPOS and financed with Pnrr-Ingv funds.
The system has already demonstrated its effectiveness by recording, with unprecedented resolution, the earthquake magnitude 4.0 earthquake that struck the Montefredane area on October 25th. "With 80 kilometers of fiber optic cable, we can observe underground movements with a precision that traditional sensors cannot offer," explains Gaetano Festa, professor of Physics at Federico II University. "It's like having a seismometer every ten meters along the entire length of the cable."
The principle is simple but revolutionary.
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For Giulio Selvaggi, scientific coordinator of the Meet project, the goal is clear: "Over the last twenty years, Irpinia has seen few large-magnitude earthquakes, but understanding small events is crucial to understanding fault dynamics. This technology finally gives us the magnifying glass we've been missing."
The new system therefore represents a quantum leap in understanding the seismic risk of the Southern Apennines. A network that not only "listens" to the Earth, but can also help make communities living along one of Italy's most active faults safer.
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