Research

My research so far has been mostly interdisciplinary, being at the boundary between solid Earth geophysics, physical oceanography and atmospheric science. I have been developing theories, performing numerical simulation and carrying out data analysis using a variety of methods, tools and kind of data typical of these three disciplines.

Below is a(n incomplete) list of topics I have been working on, with a record of some related peer-reviewed publications.  

The focus of my current research lies in physical oceanography and concerns the study of the vertical mixing, circulation and sea state of the Mediterranean Sea by means of numerical simulations.  

Mobile Earthquake Recorder in Marine Areas by Independent Divers (MERMAIDs)

The origin of the ambient seismic (noise) wavefield

The ground is never truly at rest. A quasi-random signal, independent from the earthquake activity, is recorded continuously everywhere on Earth. This background seismic wavefield is mainly due to ocean storms driven by atmospheric disturbances. Historically called microseisms, the seismic background of the Earth generated by at the ocean surface is often referred to as seismic ambient noise. We are interested in advancing our understanding of the physical mechanisms lying behind the generation of seismic ambient noise across the whole spectrum (seismic hum, primary microseisms, and secondary microseisms) through 2-D and 3-D numerical simulations. This process -- known as the forward problem -- allows us to make and test hypotheses on the location and characteristics of the sources of ambient noise.

Some related publications:

Environmental seismology: exploring surface processes with seismic data

Coupling between Atmosphere, Ocean and Solid Earth

Being that 70% of the surface of our planet is covered by the ocean, the seismic signals generated by ocean storms represent the vast majority of the seismic data any seismometer on Earth can record. Long considered “noise” by those using signals from earthquakes, the ambient seismic wavefield is generated continuously by the coupling between the ocean-atmosphere system, and the solid Earth. Studying the energy exchange among these three systems is one of the next Seismological Grand Challenges. We use modern data analysis techniques (e.g. machine learning, beamforming) and numerical modeling to assess characteristics of events in the ocean and the atmosphere through seismology. 

Some related publications:

Mass-wasting events as sources of seismic waves

Mass-wasting events, like landslides and rockfalls, generate seismic waves as the mobilized mass accelerates and decelerates, sliding along the ground. The moving mass accelerates and decelerates during the sliding because of the forces that the Earth exercise on it:  gravity, friction, and centripetal forces. According to Newton’s third law, these forces have reactive counterparts in the opposite direction, which are responsible for loading and unloading the ground and generating seismic waves. Using various analytical and numerical methods, we model the seismic signals generated by rockfalls and landslides, as recorded at the local and regional scale, to understand their dynamics and the characteristics of the moving center of mass. 

Some related publications:

Scanning the Earth's interior: seismic tomography 

Seismic tomography is one of the most powerful tools to investigate the internal structure of our planet. Conceptually similar to medical imaging based on ultrasound recordings, seismic tomography translates recordings of seismic waves into 3-D models of the subsurface at scales ranging from few meters to thousands of kilometers. Our group is interested in developing new methods for imaging the Earth's interior and investigating Earth's properties.

Some related publications: