Rapid bathymetric surveys in marine volcanic areas: A case study in Panarea area

The Differential Global Positioning System technique (DGPS) and an echo-sou nding gear, both managed by a portable computer, were used on a small boat with the aim to perform rapid bathymetric surveys in shallow water in the s till active volcanic area of the Panarea island. Preplanned routes were dri ven by a real time navigation software that allowed to perform several sect ions of the sea floor across the caldera in short time and high accuracy. P lanar coordinates and depths were obtained with average accuracies of +/-30 cm and +/-10cm respectively. Finally a Marine Digital Elevation Model (MDTM ) was produced which allowed a detailed picture of the seafloor and showed the spatial distribution of the active gas ventings of this submarine volca nic area, located in the volcanic are of the Aeolian islands (Southern Ital y). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.