Naples, 18 May 204 – The land of the gods continues to tremble Phlegraean Fields. And it’s nothing new. The earthquake Of Today in the Neapolitan hinterland, however, it was less strong than what was initially communicated by theEngv. A first detection of the INational Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology – also spread via Twitter – spoke of a swarm with a major shock recorded at 6.30 am magnitude 3.7. The main news sites correctly reported the news, citing the Institute.
In an initial statement dated 7.07am, the INGV stated that “they have been detected on a preliminary basis 4 earthquakes with magnitude Md ≥ 0.0 and a maximum magnitude Md = 3.7 ± 0.3”. An evidently upward estimate, given the 8.35 update in which the Institute corrects the situation. “The event at 06:30:55 Italian time (04:30:55 UTC) has been revised following the recalculation of the magnitude to Md 2.8+/-0.3”.
To recap: i two main events this morning at dawn they were recorded at 6:06 with the epicenter in the municipality of Pozzuoli (magnitude 2.2) and at 6.30, epicenter still north of Pozzuoli, magnitude 2.8.
The INGV has recalculated the magnitude of today’s earthquake (6.30 am) at 2.8. Pozzuoli epicentre
Because the magnitude has changed
It should come as no surprise recalculation of the magnitude. The Institute always proceeds with an initial estimate which it must immediately communicate to Civil protection, which needs to understand if and how to intervene. As the minutes pass, INGV is able to collect more data come on seismographs and then refine the measurement. Usually the gap is minimal, in today’s case it was more significant. We don’t know the reason.
The earthquakes of the Campi Flegrei and the phenomenon of bradyseism
The earthquake, although low intensity, was nevertheless felt by the population given the shallow depth (3 km). In fact, the more superficial an earthquake is, the stronger it is perceived to be, given the same magnitude. The events in the Campi Flegrei volcanic area are linked to the raising of the soil (bradyseism), a phenomenon that has been underway since 2005, caused by magma flowing deep down. They are generally characterized by shallow depth and low magnitude. Since 2023, there has been a gradual increase in the frequency of earthquakes. Since then, on 27 September and 2 October there have been two key events, of 4.2 and 4.0 magnitude.
In just the month of April 2024, Ingv recorded 1252 earthquakesmaximum magnitude 3.9.
