List all Tracks

ABSTRACT

In the present paper, the EURAMET European Metrology Network for Climate and Ocean Observation (EMN ClimOcNet), established in 2019, is presented. The EMN is focused on three different thematic areas, among which is ocean observation and metrology for Essential Ocean Variables. The main goal of the network is to establish a solid, long-term, European infrastructure to enhance the cooperation between the metrological and the oceanographic communities, to support the global understanding of climate change and the sustainable use of the oceans. The structure and the objectives of the EMN are described, together with an overview of the outputs of the first year of the EMN.

PRESENTER

Francesca Rolle
Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM), Italy

ABSTRACT

This paper focus on the observation of critical marine environments, pointing out the difficulties that these kinds of dynamic, sensitive and fragile environments create for monitoring operations. The technological solutions adopted, through the use of robotic vehicles, and the operating procedures implemented are also described. The data acquired in two particular critical environments, the front of tidewater glaciers in Svalbard and an area in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea affected by submarine gas emissions allow us to identify and characterise phenomena strongly localised and requiring very high resolutions, both in space and time. This result can be useful to obtain environmental indicators that can be used as hazard precursors and, eventually, to implement alarm procedures.

PRESENTER

Roberta Ferretti
CNR - INM, UniFe, Italy

ABSTRACT

The present paper discusses relevant aspects related to hybrid attacks involving cyber warfare and electronic warfare in naval radar systems. It addresses how such attacks can be implemented, showing that Electronic Attacks (EA) can be used to remotely trigger a cyber threat hosted in a radar computational system. The concept is demonstrated through simulations where a template matching technique is used to acknowledge the EA and, thus, trigger the cyber threat. The results show the effectiveness of the technique as a tool for activating malicious code previously installed in a radar system.

PRESENTER

Walmor Leite
Marinha do Brasil, Brazil

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the availability and reliability of a remote video monitoring system for offshore sea farming plants are studied. The scope of the system is to ensure a video surveillance infrastructure so to supervise breeding cages along with the fish inside them in order to contrast undesired phenomena like fish poaching as well as cages damages. The system is installed on a cage floating structure. It is mainly composed of an IP camera which is controlled by a Raspberry Pi Zero which is the core of the system. Images are streamed thanks to a 3G/4G dongle while the overall system is powered via two photovoltaic panels charging a backup battery. Simulations are carried out considering two seasonal functioning periods (i.e., winter and summer): each of them is characterized by temperature trends defined according to the average temperatures of the system deployment site, 8 km offshore the city of Piombino, Italy. In order to optimize power consumption without hindering application scenario requirements, the system operates according to a duty cycle of 2 minutes out of 15 (i.e., 8 minutes of operation per hour).

PRESENTER

Giacomo Peruzzi
University of Siena, Italy

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is a preliminary analysis and comparison of a ten years, multi sensor co-located observations of sea level. Starting from data collected by the Italian tide gauge network, we report the description of recurring errors, some statistics for the compared signals and a comparison between closed stations.

PRESENTER

Arianna Orasi
ISPRA, Italy

ABSTRACT

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Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

The present work is a part of a larger project relative to design of an instrumented spar buoy within the multi purpose “Lab on Sea” unit equipped with an energy harvesting system for use in marine applications. Such a system wil l be based on deformable bands integral to the unit to convert the wave motion energy into electricity through piezo patch transducers. In this paper, a “fixed point” spar buoy scale model suitable for tests in a controlled ripples type wave m otion channe l was designed, built and tested. The purpose of this model is to verify that it remains fixed maximizing, then, the displacement of the bands under wave motion. To evaluate its response, the buoy scale model was equipped with a measuring devic e consisting of a MEMS accelerometer and a gyroscope. R esults of acquisitions from on board sensors revealed a very low susceptibility of the buoy scale model to the wave motion imposed.

PRESENTER

Damiano Alizzio
University of Messina, Italy

ABSTRACT

Acoustic, radio frequency (RF) and optical waves systems are the technologies that are used to carry out underwater wireless communications. In scientific, military and industrial sectors, the development of robust and efficient submarine wireless communication links is of enormous interest. To achieve secure short-range wireless communications, the Underwater Optical Wireless Communication (UOWC), which uses the 450-550 nm spectral range of the electromagnetic spectrum, is a good technology. Recently, UOWC applications have been proposed for environmental monitoring, offshore exploration, and military operations. There are many review articles published on this topic. However, research in this field evolves rapidly as does existing literature. The article deals with current and potentially available UWOC technologies in the near future. It is aimed at those who want to undertake studies in this field. Obviously, this paper does not attempt to cover every single aspect of UWOC.

PRESENTER

Lorenzo Cozzella
Università Roma Tre, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this paper the idea to develop an underwater drone optimized for shallow water, inland ports and small inlets is shown. The vehicle should be simple and robust: a mathematical part is included on the vertical balance to be able to size weights and payload volumes.

PRESENTER

Enrico Petritoli
Università Roma Tre, Italy

ABSTRACT

This work aims to investigate the potential capabilities of a n uncalibrated Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) in fish school de tection, reporting an experience regarding an offshore gas platform in the Adriatic Sea If, on one hand, the Split beam Echosounder technology is traditionally used for t he purpose of biomass eval uation , on the other hand recent improvements in Multibeam Echosounder MBES technologies and advancing in water column data processing have made possible to detect schools and obtain some relevant metric information, with the advantage that a wide surro unding environment could be quickly surveyed The possible results that can be obtained with this technology , strength points and weaknesses are presented in this paper . A reflection on other possible usages is given, and a replicable raw data processing method for schools detection and their metric characterization is presented as well.

PRESENTER

Annalisa Minelli
CNR-IRBIM, Italy

ABSTRACT

Doppler current profilers are used in oceanography to measure oceanic circulation, but also in hydrology to calculate the flow of rivers. They allow the retrieval of water masses profiles in terms of velocity and direction. Direction is obtained via an electronic compass and tilt sensors, while velocity is obtained by measuring Doppler pulses shifts back scattered by particles located in water cells allocated along the instrument’s measurement range. For current-meters and low range current profilers, calibrations are possible in towing tanks. But, these calibrations are limited in maximum velocity and they are not applicable for long range profilers. In the last years, new techniques were developed to calibrate compass and tilt sensors of current-meters and current profilers in their mooring cages and to obtain in the laboratory the deviations in velocity of these instruments. This paper presents the existing methods and the new advances in the metrological mastering of these devices.

PRESENTER

Marc Le Menn
Shom, France

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Unregistered User
None

ABSTRACT

The synergic utilization of data from different sources, either ground-based or spaceborne, can lead to effectively monitor fishing activities in close proximity of managed areas, and help tackle the problem of global overfishing. To this end, the integration of spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and cooperative Automatic Identification System (AIS) information has the appealing potential to provide a better picture of what is happening at sea by detecting vessels that are not reporting their positioning data (intentionally or not) and, on the other side, by validating ships detected in satellite imagery. In this context, this paper deals with the investigation of "suspicious" AIS data gap and the integration of SAR-based ship detection by a point-to-point and a point-to-line types of association. Time-filtered and classified AIS transmissions (according to the gear in use) are used to predict SAR positions, with the next step being to search/match corresponding SAR-based targets. A case study is analyzed, in which the method is tested in proximity of managed areas characterized by significant AIS blackouts, using occasional Sentinel-1 images of the central Adriatic Sea and AIS data.

PRESENTER

Alessandro Galdelli
Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy

ABSTRACT

Plastic debris are one of the most harmful product for the health of the marine ecosystem. Usually, they enter the oceans as macroplastics through river deltas and tend to aggregate with other materials, floating on the sea surface. With the time passing, the macroplastics tend to degrade in microplastic and enter in the marine life because of ingestion. A fast and precise detection of floating plastics is necessary for monitoring and saving the sea ecosystem. Recent studies have demonstrated how remote sensing (and in particular satellites) can be helpful in such detection. Moreover, in the recent years, deep learning (DL) methods have shown great performance particularly in classification and detection. DL methods can help to overcome some pre-processing step that are time consuming and speed-up the detection. The aim of this paper is to exploit the possibility of constructing a large database of satellite images and correspondent mask of detected plastic. Such database will be freely available in order to promote the research on this topic and on the use of DL.

PRESENTER

Sergio Vitale
Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope

ABSTRACT

Extreme weather events have significant impacts on human activities and related economy in coastal areas. In this scenario, the forecast of sea storms and sea level changes to mitigate the effects of waves on shores, piers and critical coastal infrastructures is a key but challenging goal. This objective can be effectively achieved using a synergistic approach that includes numerical models, in-situ data and remote sensing measurements. To this end, we investigated the atmospheric forcing data of the storm event occurred in the Ligurian Sea on 29-31 October 2018, which induced significant damages with coastal defenses collapses, loss of property and infrastructure. The study was carried on using a dataset that consists of atmospheric and sea wave data from RNM stations, sea wind field data from satellite radar and WRF model numerical simulations. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed integrated approach, showing that ASCAT wind speeds agree well with the numerical simulations with deviations in most locations limited to 3 m/s, except in presence of complex orographic features.

PRESENTER

Guido Benassai
Parthenope University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this study, the potential of dualpolarimetric (DP) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to observe atolls is addressed. The partial polarimetric information is exploited to both define the coastal profile and to classify the observed area. Experiments are undertaken on a fine resolution DP L-band ALOS PALSAR-2 SAR scene collected under horizontal linear polarization transmission over the Goidhoo Atoll belonging to the Maldivian Baa Atoll, that was selected as test site due its importance for the local ecosystem and the extraordinary value of its biodiversity. Preliminary results show that partial polarimetric information can be exploited for atoll observation purposes, including the coastline extraction and the classification of the observed scene.

PRESENTER

Ferdinando Nunziata
Università di Napoli Parthenope, Italy

ABSTRACT

Photo-identification is designed to recognize single individuals of a species by exploiting unique and distinctive marks identifiable in one or multiple photographs. The Risso’s dolphin’s distinctive marks and scars on the dorsal fin proved to be very useful to photoidentify individuals. The aim of this paper is to improve the performances of the photo-identification studies on this species through machine learning techniques. This paper proposes the introduction of NNpool, based on Convolutional Neural Networks, in the SPIR pipeline to identify Risso’s dolphins in a new photograph.

PRESENTER

Rocco Caccioppoli
CNR

ABSTRACT

The study of cetaceans is of vital importance to infer biological information useful to drive sustainable action plans aimed at preserving the marine environment and its biodiversity. In a recent study, we developed a novel algorithm for the detection of dorsal fins in the context of a fully automated pipeline for the photo-identification of Risso’s dolphins. A lightweight convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture was proposed to recognize fins among cropped images, filtering the inputs for the photo-identification algorithm. In this paper, we compare the performances of that custom CNN to another extremely efficient architecture: Shufflenet. Training an efficient classifier is a key effort to speed up the first part of the photo-identification pipeline, enabling the feasibility of large scale ecological studies. The experiment confirms that both architectures provide a robust feature extraction capability for the problem in hand, even with a significantly smaller number of parameters with respect to other popular state-of-the-art CNNs.

PRESENTER

Gianvito Losapio
Polytechnic University of Bari

ABSTRACT

An investigation of the marine food web in the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea) was carried out to explore the top down cascading effects driven by the Odontocetes. The food web was analysed by a mass balance model using 51 functional groups and detailing the trophic impacts of the striped and common bottlenose dolphins, the Risso’s dolphin and the sperm whale during the period 2010 2014. Odontocetes resulted top predators with the highest TL estimated for the Risso’s dolphin (TL=5.40) and the lowest for the common bottlenose dolphin (TL=4.47). The striped dolphin played the highest top down cont rol, showing cascading effects up to the 3rd TL. The Risso’s dolphin and the sperm whale played similar cascading effects, but weaker than the striped dolphin. Understanding pattern and strengthen of trophic controls played by the Odontocetes within the food web could contribute to identify the basal mechanisms involved in the ecosystem functioning.

PRESENTER

Pasquale Ricci
University of Bari, Italy

ABSTRACT

The dolphins fishery competition in the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea) was investigated during the period 2009 2016. In particular, the biomass removal by the striped and common bottlenose dolphin and the local fishery was estimated by means the food consumption rates of dolphins and landing data of the main fishing gears operating in the area. In addition, an indication on the overlap, in terms of diet/ landing composit ion, occurring between both dolphin species and fishery was discussed.

PRESENTER

Pasquale Ricci
University of Bari, Italy

ABSTRACT

Sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus show a steady population decline, yet despite their threatened status, there remains a dearth of knowledge in the Mediterranean Sea. The current study reports the preliminary results of sperm whales’ acoustic patterns within the Gulf of Taranto and the Northwestern Levantine Sea. “Regular” clicks were recorded in both regions indicating the presence of foraging grounds. “Codas” were also present in the Northwestern Levantine. The presence of codas and social units emphasises the importance of the North-western Levantine as potential nursery grounds. Further, interclick intervals were slightly smaller for the Taranto Gulf while recordings from the North-western Levantine Sea showed similarities with the Mediterranean Sea. Lastly, sperm whales were larger in size in the Taranto Gulf compared to the Northwestern Levantine Sea. The current results depended on data collected on a single date, therefore further research must be implemented to understand the acoustic patterns of sperm whales.

PRESENTER

Aylin Akkaya
DMAD-Marine Mammals Research Association, Turkey

ABSTRACT

The presence of two of the eight regular cetaceans of the Mediterranean Sea, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) and Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) is well-documented in the Western and Central Mediterranean Sea. In contrast, little information is available on their distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in the North Ikaria Basin (Greece), an underestimated important habitat for both species. Seasonal opportunistic visual surveys were conducted in this area from 2017 to 2019 to investigate their distribution. Out of 16 surveys, 4 sightings of P. macrocephalus and 2 sightings of Z. cavirostris were recorded. This is the first published, confirmed visual record of Z. cavirostris in this area. The documentation of both species in this preliminary study represents a significant contribution to consider efficient conservation action in this important area.

PRESENTER

Patrice Hostetter
Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, Greece

ABSTRACT

The Mediterranean short-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus delphis (Linnaeus, 1758) is classified as “Endangered” by the IUCN Red List. Living in coastal waters, D. delphis is often exposed to human activities. In the southern water of Samos Island (Aegean Sea, Greece). D. delphis population is less exposed with anthropogenic activities. For that reason, it is important to have a better understanding of the critical habitats in this area to implement effective measures of protection. The analysis of distribution and behavioural data allow to determine the presence of 2 feeding areas, 1 traveling area, and 1 socializing area. The traveling area corresponds to a zone where dolphins move among the other areas. The analysis of dolphin behaviour shows that D. delphis interacts positively to boat presence in all areas. Particularly. Having a better understanding of the environmental data in this area could allowed a better comprehension of the D. delphis behaviour.

PRESENTER

Sébastien Saintignan
Gaia research Institute Onlus

ABSTRACT

Cryptic endangered species, such as the Mediterranean monk seal, need special conservation measure s for their survival and habitat protection. Globally, CoViD 19 lockdown played as an environmental simulation of protection measu res and practical conservation actions , such as the ban or mitigation of human activities in key habitat s for the marine species. An analysis of the comparison between historical data and lockdown data about the presence of monk seal in the Gulf of Corinth remarked the evidence of increased sightings frequency of free ranging individuals within the Alkionides Gulf , along the Perachora Peninsula, which could have beneficiated of the low anthropogenic impact situation. This area of the Gulf of Corinth indeed represent s an essential habitat for this endangered spec ies in Greek waters, where t he enforcement of conservation measures will lead to effective protection, allowing seals population to increase, disperse, and re colonise crucial sites.

PRESENTER

Marta Azzolin
Gaia Research Institute Onlus, Italy

ABSTRACT

A detailed knowledge of sea turtle distribution in relation to anthropogenic threats is key to inform conservation measures. The movements of two Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) incidentally caught in the Gulf of Taranto, were tracked via satellite telemetry for between 8 and 118 days. With the caution due to the small sample size, results suggested that turtles might have very small home ranges in the area. Moreover, one of the two released loggerhead sea turtle, returning to the site where it has been accidentally captured. It has shown to have a remarkable fidelity to the site. Therefore, if confirmed and further detailed, information about sea turtle migration patterns and routes in the Gulf of Taranto will serve to plan effective conservation strategies for this species.

PRESENTER

Carmelo Fanizza
Jonian Dolphin Conservation, Italy

ABSTRACT

The occurrence of enteric protozoan parasites Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium sp. was molecularly investigated in free ranging species of striped (Stenella coeruleoalba) and Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles occurring in the Gulf of Taranto (Mediterranean Sea). Out of forty-two examined faecal samples, 2 samples of striped dolphins were found positive to G. duodenalis and 3 of loggerhead sea turtles were found positive to Cryptosporidium. Zoonotic G. duodenalis assemblage A and Cryptosporidium parvum were identified. This is the first report in which the presence of these pathogens have been investigated in free ranging species in this area and the first report of C. parvum in loggerhead sea turtles. These results extend the known host range of these water and foodborne parasites and confirm the widespread of zoonotic assemblages/species in the marine environment and their inhabitants probably as a results of an increasing in anthropogenic activities.

PRESENTER

Marianna Marangi
University of Foggia, Italy

ABSTRACT

Among the anthropogenic threats to Caretta caretta, fishing is one of the most impactful. Boating and fishing can cause traumatic injuries to sea turtles, moreover some fishermen can deliberately injure turtles which are supposed to reduce the catch and damage gear. The present study synthesizes the skull injuries treatments provided to loggerhead turtles rescued from 2013 to 2019 in the Gulf of Taranto in the Northern Ionian Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea). The type and localization of injury were analyzed in order to evaluated clinical signs, recovery times and healing rates. The timeliness of hospitalization after catch the application of correct wound treatment and good management practices in the early stages of care have been crucial to increase the chances of clinical recovery and ensure subsequent release to the sea.

PRESENTER

Gianluca Cirelli
Sea Turtle Rescue Center WWF

ABSTRACT

Seahorses are considered flagship species of the conservation efforts. Indeed, due to the worldwide decline of local populations during the last decades, all seahorse species were listed on the IUCN Red List and Appendix II of CITES. Because of the threatening status, improving knowledge of their dietary composition, while using a non-invasive approach, might be of great importance. Starting from faecal samples of the European seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus collected during feeding trials, we used, for the first time on these fish, metagenomic ampliconbased HTS (High Throughput Sequencing) approach. The findings indicated the reliability of the present molecular approach, allowing the characterization of the effectively ingested prey. Unlike traditional methods on faecal samples, this technique can identify items that might not leave solid remains. As only a small amount of starting faecal material is needed and the sampling procedure is neither invasive nor lethal, DNA metabarcoding appears to be useful in the investigation on threatened seahorse diet and, in future, could help to define management and conservation actions.

PRESENTER

Tamara Lazic
University of Bari, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this paper we describe the sudden decrease of a Hippocampus guttulatus population in the Mar Piccolo di Taranto (MPT) (South-east Italy) under the combined effect of fishing activities and illegal trade. Until recently, the Mar Piccolo of Taranto has hosted one of the most interesting and large longsnouted seahorse population of the Mediterranean sea. However, as of 2016, the density of H. guttulatus population has shown a sudden and dramatic decrease. Disclosure and report of an online traffic of seahorses from Italy to China (https://veraleaks.org) occurred in February 2019 prompted us to carry out interviews with the main stakeholders operating in the Mar Piccolo of Taranto. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the extent of this illegal trade and the potential effects on the seahorses population.

PRESENTER

Michele Gristina
CNR, Italy

ABSTRACT

The Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain) is an example of long historical human occupation of a typical estuarine saltmarsh environment affected by notable historical changes that have conditioned the sedimentary evolution of emerged and submerged zones. This study aims to present new data regarding the RSL position during the late Holocene within the Northern bay of Cádiz. Bibliographic d ata coming from boreholes carried out in the study area were combined with the analysis of a new core. RSL positions, extracted from depositional sea level index points were calculated from saltmarshes and tidal deposits dated between 3.0 2.0 ky BP. Comparing these data with the new eustatic sea level curve of the Bay of Cádiz carried out in this research, we observed that, during the last 3.0 ky BP, the sector has been affected by prevailing subsidence ranging between 0.9 m and 4.3 m.

PRESENTER

Claudia Caporizzo
Università di Napoli Parthenope, Italy

ABSTRACT

Rising sea level due to global warming increases the need to analyse coastal risk to conceive management and adaptation strategies aimed at coping with potential marine impacts. In this context, this study presents future scenario of inundation risk along a strategic coastal area located in the Campania Region (southern Italy): the Sele River mouth. This zone is characterized by low topography and relevant subsidence rates that make it prone to be impacted by sea level rise. Expected local sea level for the year 2065 has been evaluated coupling the global IPCC projection with local subsidence trends. Once the risk has been evaluated as a combination of hazard and exposure, a set of management strategies, which include both operative Best Management Practises (BMPs) and monitoring actions, have been suggested and applied on the tested area.

PRESENTER

Ettore Valente
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy

ABSTRACT

In this research, the morpho-evolutive trend of sea cliffs placed in the volcanic island of Procida was investigated. The entire perimeter of the island is bordered by cliffs, which in some cases are connected to narrow shore platforms sloping slightly towards the sea. The presence of different orders of submerged paleo-shore platforms suggests different phases of sea-level stand and related coastal response. Mapping these platforms, together with the interpretation of archaeological and geomorphological markers allowed defining the shoreline evolution of Procida Island during the last 6.5 ky. The paleo sea levels deduced from these indicators were compared with the eustatic sea-level curve proposed by [1] demonstrating that Procida coastal area was affected by an overall subsiding trend since the Mid-Holocene, which probably occurred intermittently or with variable intensity over time. By reconstructing the position of the ancient shorelines related to the three orders of platforms, the retreating rates of the cliffs bordering the area were calculated.

PRESENTER

Maria Francesca Tursi
Università degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope", Italy

ABSTRACT

The shoreline is an important feature of the costal morphology. Several methodologies are used to detect such line. In this paper a photogrammetric approach was applied to achieve both an accurate shoreline detection and a DTM (Digital Terrain Model) of the coast using Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms. The goal of this method is to extract the shoreline from an accurate three-dimensional model of the coast. The proposed approach was performed using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with a digital camera. In order to avoid regrettable deformations on the 3D model several Ground Control Points were located on the scene, furthermore a precision assessment was performed using check points. The obtained result was compared with a classic RTK-GNSS survey of the shoreline performed by a skilled operator.

PRESENTER

Silvio Del Pizzo
University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy

ABSTRACT

This work presents an 18-year-long (2002–2019) tide-gauge dataset collected on the Island of Ischia (Gulf of Naples, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) that can contribute to the analysis of the basic features of sea-level variability in this region. Analysis of tidal constituents shows that the Gulf of Naples is characterized by the absence of any amphidromic system. In this area, sea-level changes due to the astronomical component of the tide are generally limited to 20 cm with respect to the mean sea level, but the impact of this variability is enhanced by global sea-level increase and the effect of regional atmospheric perturbations that might also triple sea-level variations. The effects of these events, whose frequency has increased in recent decades, has been dramatic in coastal areas where intense social and economic activity occurs, e.g., in Ischia. On interannual time scales, the results indicate that the relative sea-level rise in Ischia has a magnitude of 3.9 mm/year. Special attention is dedicated to the "acqua alta" episodes and to their linkage with long-term sea-level trends and atmospheric forcing.

PRESENTER

Yuri Cotroneo
Parthenope University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

A tidal notch with a maximum height of 10.5m and almost 60km of lateral extent was carved during the Last Interglacial (127-116ka BP) along the West-Sardinian coast, in the Orosei Gulf. We present the results of the detailed mapping of the Orosei tidal notch using the Structure from Motion Multi-View Stereo (SfM-MVS) reconstruction method. Although its geometry is laterally constant, the notch depth differs due to local factors. Results of SfM-MVS reconstructions, together with local parameters, were used as input in a geometric model that simulates the notch shape based on randomly sampled relative sea-level curves. The modeled profiles best matching with the real shape of the notch are those characterized by a bimodal geometry. Extracting information from this rocky imprint is considered crucial to better understand past changes in sea level, which are in turn significant to better gauge sea-level variations in warmer climate conditions.

PRESENTER

Nikos Georgiou
University of Patras, Greece

ABSTRACT

Methods of measuring a vessel’s motioninvolve the use of expensive and complex Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). Cargo or passenger transport ships can afford the implementation of such systems while private small boat market has been cut off. The alternatives for small boat INS navigation are few. This paper investigates the potentiality of GNSS/IMU data fusion, experimenting low-cost hardware like Aceinna openIMU 300ZI and a GNSS receiver based on u-blox ZED-F9P module. The final goal is to build a lowcost self-powered system and assess the performance in small boats navigation tests. To address this goal the INS shall be light-weight, cost-effective, and easyto-install.

PRESENTER

Matteo Cutugno
Parthenope University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

The new generation of Android smartphones are equipped with high performance Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chips. These new chips are capable of tracking dual frequency multi constellation data. Moreover, starting from version 9 of Android users can disable the duty cycle power saving option, thus it is feasible to acquire good quality raw carrier-phase measurements. Nevertheless, there is still a need to evaluate the accuracy, which may be reached with current smart devices in a standard navigational solution. In this work we assessed the performance of GPS + Galileo single point positioning of three recent smartphones, namely Xiaomi Mi 8, Xiaomi Mi 9 and Huawei P30. The best positioning accuracy, in terms of horizontal root mean square error (DRMS), was obtained by Huawei P30 with a DRMS of 4.46 m. Xiaomi MI8 shows very similar performance (4.56 m of DRMS) but these results were subject to outliers. Finally Xiaomi Mi9 shows a DRMS of 7.26 m, and therefore demonstrates the poorest accuracy among tested smart devices.

PRESENTER

Umberto Robustelli
Parthenope University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

A new wave spectrum resembling procedure is applied to detect the sea state parameters, namely the wave peak period and the significant wave height based on the analysis of heave and pitch motion time series, obtained by on board measurements. The outlined procedure is applied to Laura Bassi oceanographic ship, assumed as reference vessel. Heave and pitch motion time histories are evaluated from the survey of the amplitud es of the vessel motions, starting from different sensors measures collected by a smartphone located on board the vessel. The obtained results were compared with the weather forecast data provided by the global WAM (GWAM) model.

PRESENTER

Silvia Pennino
University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy

ABSTRACT

The reliable monitoring of sea state parameters is a key factor for weather forecasting, as well as to ensure the safety of ship and navigation. In current analysis different spectrum estimation techniques are applied to random wave signals, generated from a theoretical wave spectrum obtained by combining both wind sea and swell components, with different significant wave heights and peak periods. Hence, the proposed spectrum resembling methods are applied in order to compare the relevant performances, with reference to both short and long-time durations of the considered wave signal.

PRESENTER

Giovanni Battista Rossi
Università degli Studi di Genova

ABSTRACT

One of the main issues for underwater robots navigation is their accurate positioning, which heavily depends on the orientation estimation phase. The systems employed to this scope are affected by different noise typologies, mainly related to the sensors and to the irregular noise of the underwater environment. Filtering algorithms can reduce their effect if opportunely configured, but this process usually requires fine techniques and time. In this paper we propose DANAE, a deep Denoising AutoeNcoder for Attitude Estimation which works on Kalman filter IMU/AHRS data integration with the aim of reducing any kind of noise, independently of its nature. This deep learningbased architecture showed to be robust and reliable, significantly improving the Kalman filter results. Further tests could make this method suitable for real-time applications on navigation tasks.

PRESENTER

Fabiana Di Ciaccio
Parthenope University of Naples, Italy

ABSTRACT

Bathymetric data acquired by a single beam echo sounder, as well as those derived by a navigational chart, require interpolation procedure to pass from cloud point dataset to continuous tridimensional representation. Among different algorithms available in GIS software, Kriging interpolators are very powerful tools to process bathymetric data. This paper aims to analyze the accuracy levels that can be reached using Kriging. Bathymetric information included in two Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) of the Bay of Pozzuoli (nominal scale 1:30.000) is used for digital 3D model of this area. Interpolation processes are performed in GIS environment (software: ArcGIS 10.3.1, including the extension Geostatistical Analyst, by ESRI); the achieved results are analyzed by varying the choice of the mathematic function for semi variogram. The experiments carried out in this study demonstrate how the careful choice of the semi variogram model can help to increase the accuracy of the interpolation process.

PRESENTER

Andrea Vallario
University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy

ABSTRACT

In this work, the occurrence of rhodolith deposits on the sea bottom of the Ischia offshore is highlighted on the base of sedimentological data coming from samples collected during the marine geological mapping of the Ischia Island. These sea bottom samples are rich in bioclasts mainly gravelly sands in size. These deposits prevail in the eastern Ischia offshore, on the relict volcanic edifice of the Ischia Bank and on the genetically related parasitic vent and in the Ischia Channel. Subordinately, these deposits occur also in the northern Ischia offshore, where they unconformably overlie debris avalanches and on the top of the Forio Bank. Seismostratigraphic data on the Ischia Bank show that rhodolith deposits correspond to a wide wedge-shaped unit occurring on the top of the volcanic edifice, unconformably overlying the volcanic rocky substratum. In the Ischia Channel they are probably inter-layered in the highstand deposits.

PRESENTER

Gemma Aiello
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy

ABSTRACT

Petrophysical properties of marine deposits provide essential information on their genesis and composition thus representing a powerful tool for correlation purposes. The ISMAR-Naples (former IAMC) provides a dedicated laboratory where petrophysical data on sediment cores are acquired using a fully automated GEOTEK Multi-Sensor Core Logger working at 1/2 cm-step along the archive half, 1 h after the core has been split. The Bartington MS2E Point sensor, in particular, is used to measure the Volume Magnetic Susceptibility (VMS), which has proven to be one of the most effective petrophysical parameter used for an "event stratigraphy" approach to the study of marine records. In this framework, the VMS represents the best tool to detect cryptotephra (tephra not visible at naked eye) in sediments.

PRESENTER

Marina Iorio
CNR, Italy

ABSTRACT

A census of about 77 nearshore submerged depositional terraces (n-SDT), also known as Infralittoral Prograding Wedges, has been realized along the Campania offshore, in order to verify the correlation of their depths versus their fetch (thus indirectly versus the wave forcing), at a regional scale. The main morphometric parameters of each terrace were derived from high resolution DEMs, by means of a GIS-based software (Global Mapper ®). A moderate correlation occurs between the edge depth and the geographical exposure of all the n-SDT and it improves when the SW- and SE- oriented terraces only are considered; the best correlation versus the geographical exposure is observed between the edge depth of the cluster of n-SDT developed around the rocky cliffs and promontories, while a less reliable correlations have been observed for all the others parameters (slope angle of the foresets, distance from the coasts, grain size of loose sediments). The paper further describes a procedure to analyse the relationship between the depth of n-SDTs and the extreme wave climate. The objective of this study aims to learn more on the morpho-bathymetric variability of these coastal bodies and thus to provide clues on the use of their past counterparts as morphological proxies of past sea level stands.

PRESENTER

Francesca Budillon
ISMAR-CNR, Italy

ABSTRACT

The Palinuro volcanic chain is located nearly 80 km offshore the Campania coasts (Italy), in the southern sector of the Tyrrhenian Sea. 15 distinct volcanic edifices have been recently detected, covering a 90 km long and 20 km wide belt. The presence of shallow seismicity and active hydrothermal activity suggests that this large volcanic chain is still active. Nevertheless, its associated volcanism is still poorly understood. Specific sectors of the complex show the existence of ongoing slope instability. Thus, the chance of mass movements cannot be ruled out as a consequence of seismic or volcanic activity. In this work, a stability analysis for typical seismic loads in such a volcanic area has been performed through a revised limit equilibrium approach. Three mass failure scenarios have been reconstructed by means of numerical models in the weaker sections found. The tsunami triggered by each slide has been simulated, and considerable waves have been found in two of the three hypothesized scenarios. For the biggest slide of 2.4 km3 , waves as high as 10 m could reach portions of the Calabria coasts.

PRESENTER

Glauco Gallotti
University of Bologna, Italy