A proper displacement of optical fiber on the sea floor lets able to use it as fiber optic distributed sensor to reconstruct accurate strain and temperature profiles. 

This can have an enormous importance in relation to certain operating environments: for example, the measurement of surface temperature and its temporal variation in active volcanic areas provides critical information to improve the understanding of physical processes occurring at depth. 

The thermal state of volcanoes and the temperature records are also important in correlating the areas of higher heat discharge with the main tectonics and structural features of volcanic edifices. Furthermore, thermal variation may be one of the precursors of an impending eruption, and it is crucial for eruption forecasting.

Optosensing and HPSYSTEM.IT actively partecipated to the MON.I.C.A project (planned by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia—Osservatorio Vesuviano, located in Naples) with the design, production and installation of an innovative sub-sea monitoring system. 

This solution exploits a junction box to which is connected the digital sensors in MEMS technology. The junction box contains the electronics for the synchronization of the sensors according to the IEEE1588 standard, and devices for converting the electric signal into the optical signal. In fact, the sensors outputs are routed to the acquisition system located on the ground through fiber optic technology via a special reinforced cable. The fiber optic cable is, among other things, used as fiber optic distributed sensor to reconstruct accurate strain and temperature profiles

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