Developing geodetic tools for early warning and monitoring of tectonic activity at the Gulf of Cadiz

Gulf of Cadiz from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Western Coast of the Iberian Peninsula is a natural hazard risky region due to the existence  of several active faults related to the Eurasian and Nubian Plate interaction. The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake was remarkable example. With the epicenter located SW of Cape San Viente, and a Richter scale magnitude around 8.3, the earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami hitting the Portuguese, Moroccan and Southern Spain coasts, resulting in thousands of casualties. More recently, in 1969 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter located in the same region, originated another tsunami but smaller than the previous one, resulting nineteen casualties.

To prevent natural hazards like these, the Astronomy, Geodesy and Cartography Laboratory at the Universidad de Cadiz, is drawing and implementing early warning systems, trying to detect and evaluate tectonic activity in near real time at the Gulf of Cadiz. The system includes the GNSS network SPINA  receivers together with MEMS acelerometers, meteo equipments, and ancillary instrumentation for data adquistion, monitoring, quality control and results display at a dedicated control center.