Tsunamis generated by volcanic eruption and flank collapses combining remote sensing, field data and numerical modelling

Tsunamis caused by landslides flank collapses and pyroclastic density currents during or after an eruption are cascading hazards that could have destructive and lethal impacts on large area surrounding the volcano. This has been the case for the tsunami triggered during the Anak Krakatau eruption in December 2018 in Indonesia which caused hundreds of fatalities. Nevertheless, these phenomena are still poorly understood as they are unusual, complex events and data are scarce and often not well constrained.

Stromboli is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and it has been extensively monitored and studied in the last decades (Casalbore et al. 2022, Di Traglia et al. 2022). Many tsunamigenic instabilities (sub-aerial and/or submarine) have taken places along its flanks including at least 7 since the beginning of the 20th century (Maramai et al., 2005). In particular, after the 30 December 2002 landslide–induced tsunami (Tinti et al. 2006) which caused extensive damage to the coast, a series of buoys have been installed around the island to monitor and record tsunami wave heights in different points around Stromboli at all time. In this framework it is possible to constraint and study events occurred in recent years, where data are available both on the tsunamigenic flows (i.e. proclastic density currents and landslides) occurred along the flank of Stromboli and on the heights of the tsunami waves at different points around the island.

Thanks to the collaboration with the Vesuvian Observatory (INGV) and the University of Rome “La Sapienza”/CNR-IGAG we also have access to data on the geomorphological changes of the island derived by remote sensing analysis and bathymetrical data from regular marine surveys carried out for the Italian Civil Protection.

Using LISEM (van de Bout et al. 2021), a physically based model developed at ITC, you will then be able to back analyse well constrained events. This will contribute in assessing the ability of the model to simulate complex events and to understand these cascading processes. The topic might involve fieldwork to the area in order to obtain further data on soil geotechnical properties and validation data for the models. The model results will contribute to our ability to assess the hazard related to tsunamigenic flows, and improve disaster risk reduction.