Etna discrete geodetic networks
East-West kinematic profile
The East-West kinematic profile was set-up and surveyed in 1994 to carry out experiments for the application of the Stop-and-Go GPS technique for monitoring purposes. It consisted in 16 nails installed along a linear profile following the path of the SP92 road, surveyed by a small tripod. After the successful exploiting of this profile during the 2001 eruption, it was totally re-configured to improve the quality of the surveying. Now, it is a T-shaped network covering the southern flank of the volcano with 12 self-centering benchmarks, at altitudes ranging from 600 to 2000 m along the “SP92” road, from Serra la Nave, Tarderia and C.da Cassone up to the Rifugio Sapienza area. Eastward, the profile crosses the 1989 fracture field that gave rise to ground deformation events in 2001. It is surveyed by the “Stop and Go” semi-kinematic technique, observing each station twice (fore and back), allowing a good compromise between density of points, surveying time and accuracy.
