Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.
The reproduction of the INGV National Seismic Network Center shows the seismic records
in real-time and how seismologists locate the earthquakes.
The INGV National Seismic Network Center
The tour ends with an exciting visit to the reproduction of the INGV National Seismic
Network Center, where it is possible to watch the seismic records in real-time and how
seismologists locate the earthquakes (Figure 5). Several computers are linked with the
acquisition system of the National Seismic Network run in different headquarters of
the INGV.
The time series of the ground velocity recorded in real-time by the Italian Seismic
Network stations are shown on six large monitors. Visitors can also see the earthquake
waveforms as they occur and how the earthquake location is computed using a soft-
ware developed at INGV (Bono and Badiali, 2005).
People discover the large number of earthquakes recorded everyday and they are
amazed because earthquakes are usually thought as not frequent but always damaging.
They learn that earthquakes are common phenomena on the Earth and they are the
signals of the geological forces of our planet.
CONCLUSIONS
One of the main goals of our exhibition was to familiarize people with earthquakes,
following a journey from their origin to the monitoring and study of those phenomena.
This is important for natural disaster preparedness in a country with a high exposure,
like Italy. The public reactions were in general of wonder to know how many earth-
quakes hit Italy in historical time (they usually just remembered the last two or three
earthquakes occurring in the past 20 years), and of curiosity to see how the seismic
monitoring is performed.
We choose to use very few computer animations in designing our tour, preferring
hands-on exhibits to provide the opportunity to directly interact with the phenomena.
We think that in this way the curiosity is much more stimulated, and the number of
visitors and their feedback seems to demonstrate the success of this experience. The
3-D mechanical displays and the real-time earthquake information help to understand
what links the processes ruling the dynamic Earth and seismicity and volcanic activity.
To give an idea of the expenses sustained for the creation of this traveling mini-
museum and of the effort for the participation to an event such as the 2003 Genoa
