Integrated subaerial-submarine evolution of the Sciara del Fuoco after the 2002 landslide

In December 2002 an effusive eruption at Stromboli triggered a complex instability phenomenon, which affected both the subaerial and submarine portion of the Sciara del Fuoco slope, causing destructive landslide(s) and tsunami waves. Among the monitoring activities coordinated by the Italian Civil Defence Department, systematic photogrammetric and bathymetric surveys were carried out. Digital photogrammetry technique and multibeam soundings were used to obtain high-resolution DEM of land and sea-floor surface of the NW flank of Stromboli (Sciara del Fuoco depression). Merging the subaerial and submarine data, and comparing multitemporal digital models, we first estimated the mass volumes involved in the failures of the subaerial and shallow submarine slope to be about 24 Mm3 and then we monitored the continuous and relevant morphological changes induced by erosional-depositional processes during the various syn- and post-eruptive stages. Filling processes of the scar by lava flow and debris and the morphological evolution of the slope in the two years after the event were described.