'She's gonna blow': Satellite technology monitors Italian volcano

Tectonic activity in the Med...

Italy's Civil Protection Agency is monitoring the volcanic island of Stromboli with help from broadband satellite terminals from Eutelsat. The terminals, one of which is connected to a buoy 100m off the island's coast, send signals to civil protection workers and act as an early warning system against landslides and tsunami (commonly referred to as 'tidal waves'). Stromboli is located just north of Sicily. Ninety centimetre D-Star antennas connect to Eutelsat's hub in Turin and then to the Civil Protection Agency in Rome via service provider Alltel. When terrestrial communications were disrupted by volcanic activity on 5 January, the broadband Eutelsat system was used for videoconferencing and monitoring.