Temporary seismic stations deployment in the Dubrovnik-Neretva county –CRONOS-C1

Oct 10, 2024 | News

During the field work campaign from 26 to 30 August 2024, Josip Stipčević and Marin Sečanj deployed six new temporary seismic stations in the Dubrovnik-Neretva county, as a part of Component 1 of the CRONOS project. Seismic stations were installed on locations scouted during the previous field surveys and in cooperation with local authorities and community (Fig 1). The analysis of data from the newly installed temporary seismic network will improve the seismic hazard assessment and contribute to the reduction of the earthquake risk in southern Dalmatia and wider Dubrovnik epicentral area.

Figure 1. Seismic stations in the wider Dubrovnik area: blue triangles represent existing permanent seismic stations of the Croatian Seismograph Network, red triangles represent existing temporary station deployed as a part of CRONOS and DuFAULT projects, while yellow triangles represent newly installed seismic stations during the field work campaign 26–30 August 2024.

First station was installed on 26 August 2024 on the private property in agreement with the owner in the village of Janjina, on the Pelješac peninsula (marked JANJ in Fig 1). It was necessary to do some groundwork to prepare the surface for the installation of the SmartSolo IGU-BD3C-5 integrated seismograph, which contains GPS antenna, battery and internal memory (Fig 2).

Figure 2. Installation of JANJ temporary seismic station in the small town of Janjina on Pelješac peninsula.

On 28 August 2024., three temporary seismic stations were deployed in the Konavle municipality based on location preparation from day earlier. Temporary seismic stations were installed in Stravča elementary school (STRV, Figs 1 and 3a), community house in Vitaljina (VTLJ, Figs 1 and 3b) and in the St. Mihovil chapel in the Mrcina (MRCN, Figs 1 and 3c). Above mentioned seismic stations consist of Trilium Compact BB seismometre, GPS antenna and the Centaur digitizer with communication unit with internal memory (Nanometrics), along with battery and charger, all placed in the insulating box (Fig 3). Acquired data is currently stored only locally, on the internal memory with plan to establish real-time communication with the main server in Zagreb when visiting next time.

Figure 3. Installation of temporary seismic stations in Stravča STRV (A), community house in Vitaljina – VTLJ (B) and St. Mihovil chapel – MRCN (C) in the Konavle municipality.

Last two temporary seismic station were installed on 29 August 2024 in the villages of Trnovica (TRNV) in the Dubrovačko primorje municipality and Putnikovići (PTNK) on the Pelješac peninsula. Seismic station TRNV (Figs 1 and 4a), was installed in the Trnovica village old elementary school. It consists of Trilium Compact seismometre, GPS antenna and the Centaur digitizer with communication unit with internal memory (Nanometrics ), along with battery and charger, all placed in the insulation box (Fig 4a). Acquired data is currently stored only locally, on the internal memory with plans to establish real-time communication with the main server in Zagreb during future fieldworks. Seismic station PTNK was installed (Figs 1 and 4b) in the St. Ana chapel near the Putnikovići village. It consists of the SmartSolo IGU-BD3C-5 seismograph, which contains its own GPS antenna, battery and internal memory (Fig 4b).

Figure 4. Temporary seismic stations in Trnovica – TRNV (A) and St. Ana chapel near Putnikovići – PTNK (B).

Acknowledgment

Installation of temporary seismic stations during this fieldwork wouldn’t be possible without the help of local community and their help in finding and securing necessary infrastructure.  We are very grateful to:

  • Mr. Ivo Jasprica – JANJ
  • Elementary school Cavtat and Stravča (principal Kate Kukuljica and teachers from Stravča) – STRV
  • Konavle  Munnicipality (Mr. Pavo Arabulić) – VTLJ
  • Parish of St. Nicholas (don Tonći Prizmić) – MRCN
  • Dubrovačko primorje municipality and Likovna kolonija association (Mr. Nikola Knežić and Mr. Pero Grošeta) – TRNV
  • Parish of St. Mary Magdalene (don Mato Puljić) – PTNK.

Prepared by Marin Sečanj