NEMO-SN1 (Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily): Example of architecture of a cabled observatory

• Published in: 2011 IEEE Symposium on Underwater Technology and Workshop on Scientific Use of Submarine Cables and Related Technologies pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Favali, P, Azzarone, A, Badiali, L, Beranzoli, L, Cianchini, G, Qamili, E, De Caro, M G, De Santis, A, Doumaz, F, Embriaco, D, Falcone, G, Giovanetti, G, Bue, N L, Marinaro, G, Monna, S, Montuori, C, Sgroi, T, Vinci, S, Riccobene, G, Sedita, M, Barbagallo, G, Cacopardo, G, Cali, C, Cocimano, R, Coniglione, R, Costa, M, D'Amico, A, Del Tevere, F, Distefano, C, Ferrera, F, Giordano, V, Imbesi, M, Lattuada, D, Migneco, E, Musumeci, M, Orlando, A, Papaleo, R, Piattelli, P, Raia, G, Rovelli, A, Sapienza, P, Speziale, F, Trovato, A, Viola, S, Ameli, F, Bonori, M, Capone, A, Masullo, R, Simeone, F, Chierici, F, Pignagnoli, L, Zitellini, N, Bruni, F, Gasparoni, F
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.04.2011
• Subjects: Acoustics; Europe; Neutrino sources; Observatories; Optical fiber cables; Sonar equipment; Underwater cables
• ISBN: 9781457701658; 1457701650
• DOI: 10.1109/UT.2011.5774157

NEMO-SN1, located in the central Mediterranean Sea, Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily Island (Southern Italy) at 2100 m water depth, 25 km from the harbour of the city of Catania, is a prototype of a cabled deep-sea multiparameter observatory and the first operating with real-time data transmission in Europe since 2005. NEMO-SN1 is also the first-established node of EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory, http://emso-eu.org), one of the incoming European large-scale research infrastructure included since 2006 in the Roadmap of the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, http://cordis.europa.eu/esfri/roadmap.htm), which will specifically address long-term monitoring of environmental processes related to Marine Ecosystems, Climate Change and Geo-hazards. NEMO-SN1 has been deployed and developed over the last decade thanks to Italian resources and to the EC project ESONET-NoE (European Seas Observatory NETwork - Network of Excellence, 2007-2011) that funded the LIDO-DM (Listening to the Deep Ocean - Demonstration Mission) and a technological interoperability test (http://www.esonet-emso.org/esonet-noe/). NEMO-SN1 is performing geophysical and environmental long-term monitoring by acquiring seismological, geomagnetic, gravimetric, accelerometric, physico-oceanographic, hydro-acoustic, bio-acoustic measurements specifically related to earthquakes and tsunamis generation and ambient noise characterisation in term of marine mammal sounds, environmental and anthropogenic sources. A further main feature of NEMO-SN1 is to be an important test-site for the construction of KM3NeT (Kilometre-Cube Underwater Neutrino Telescope, http://www.km3net.org/), another large-scale research infrastructure included in the ESFRI Roadmap constituted by a large volume neutrino telescope. The description of the observatory and the most recent data acquired will be presented and framed in the general objectives of EMSO.