Research & CV

Personal data

At present, Giancarlo Tamburello is reseacher at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, sezione di Bologna. His research activity focuses on the study of the volcanic gas geochemistry,on the volcanic gas-based monitoring and forecasting of volcanic eruptions. Since 2008, Giancarlo Tamburello is author of 46 scientific papers in international (ISI) peer reviewed scientific journals (source, Scopus; H-INDEX, 18), 8 of which as first author.

Research

G.T. has a degree in Geological sciences taken at Palermo University on July 2008 with 110/110 cum laude mark and a special mentio to the scientific value of the thesis and to his University curriculum; he discussed an experimental thesis about: “Geochemical mapping and SO2 flux measurements in the fumarolic field of Vulcano Island”. During this thesis he began working with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of Palermo (INGV) for testing and managing the gas sensors (for CO2, SO2, H2S, H2O, H2, and CO) used in volcanic gas monitoring and installing some of the fixed monitoring stations (MultiGAS) on Stromboli, Etna and Vulcano. Taking advantage of his acknowledgement on the gas sensor signals, he wrote on 2011 a stand-alone program for the processing of chemical data obtained using the MultiGAS, called Ratiocalc. The Ratiocalc program has a user-friendly interface to enable volcanologists to process large datasets in a simple and rapid manner, thereby reducing the processing time associated with volcano monitoring and surveying. Ratiocalc is already being used by several scientists worldwide for monitoring volcanic gas compositions, including at Turrialba and Poàs in Costa Rica, Hekla and Krýsuvík in Iceland, Stromboli and Mt. Etna in Italy, Nea Kameni in Greece, and Masaya in Nicaragua.

On November 2008 he classified first at the entrance examination to the PhD course in Geochemistry at CFTA Department, Palermo University. On January 2009 he began his PhD in Geochemistry (tutor A. Aiuppa, University of Palermo; co-tutor A.J.S. McGonigle) at University of Palermo with a thesis entitled “New Techniques for real-time volcanic gas measurements: UV camera”. Working in collaboration with E.P. Kantzas and A.J.S. McGonigle, he developed a protocol for UV camera measurement and a user-friendly program (Vulcamera) for measuring volcanic SO2 fluxes at high time resolution (1-25 Hz). On 26h March 2012, he earned his doctorate in Geochemistry at University of Palermo and started a two years post-doc immediately after.

G.T. has used the SO2 camera for flux measurements in several volcanoes worldwide (Vulcano, Etna, Stromboli, Lascar, Lastarria, Putana, Copahue, Poàs, Turrialba, Mutnosvky, Gorely, Merapi, Ibu, Dukono) in tandem with MultiGAS deriving gas/SO2 molar ratios to accurately assess also CO2, H2S, H2O, and H2 fluxes. Recently G.T. extended his research also to the emission of mercury from active volcanoes and geothermal areas. These measurements have allowed to characterise with unprecedented detail magmatic degassing processes and to derive key constraints on: modes and rates of volatile exsolution, trigger mechanisms of eruptions, links between geochemical and geophysical signals, gas budget of arc and non-arc volcanic areas.

G.T. joined three campaigns funded by the Reservoir and Fluxes Directorate of the Deep Carbon Observatory – within the framework of the DECADE research network initiative (PI, Dr Tobias Fischer) - in order to measure the carbon dioxide flux from active volcanoes (Lascar, Lastarria, Copahue) and establishe a network of fully automated instruments for volcanic gas observation (Nea Kameni, Greece, in collaboration with ISMOSAV; Merapi, Indonesia, in collaboration with BPPTKG).

On September 2013 he began a postdoctoral work in the framework of a ERC project called “Bridge” (P.I. Alessandro Aiuppa) which aims to the installation of a SO2 camera network in Stromboli and Etna. G.T. in collaboration with the University of Florence has designed the hardware and the acquisition system yielding to four permanent SO2 camera stations still working on Stromboli and Etna. G.T. has built a program called Vulcamera for the analysis and the exploration of a SO2 camera dataset suitable for volcanologists who are not experts in the underlying physics of spectroscopy. His three years post-doc position (Ricercatore Universitario a Tempo Determinato, Level 0, according to current Italian legislation rules) started in the framework of this project.

G.T. has taught gas monitoring techniques (in-situ and remote) at two summer schools in Stromboli (NEMOH field schoold Maggio 2013) and Caviahue ("Curso Internacional sobre Técnicas de Estudio en Volcanes Activos" organizzata dalla Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro) respectively.

On 29 October 2014, during the III edition of Rittmann conference (Nicolosi, Italy), he received a medal as young promising researcher in volcanology on the basis of his scientific career.

Research interests and expertise

    • UV camera volcanic SO2 flux measurements at high sampling frequency.
    • DOAS SO2 flux measurement with scanning, traverse and cylindrical lens methods.
    • Short-term variations of passive degassing of the basaltic volcanoes (high time resolution measurements of the SO2 flux).
    • Measurement of the SO2 content of the Strombolian explosions and its link with geophysical signals (VLP amplitude and FLIR amplitude).
    • Real-time continuous measurement of volcanic gas composition through MULTIgas system, in particular of the molar ratios in the volcanic plumes (H2/H2O, CO2/SO2, SO2/H2S, H2O/CO2).
    • Filter pack measurements of halogens in volcanic plumes (SO2/HCl, HCl/HF, HBr/HI).
    • Investigation of magmatic degassing processes, on the genesis, evolution and atmospheric dispersion of volcanic gases, on the geochemical monitoring and forecasting of volcanic eruptions.
  • Measurement of Carbon dioxide from active volcanoes worldwide for contributing to estimate the CO2 budget.