We investigate a large geodetic data set of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and GPS measurements to determine the source parameters for the three main shocks of the 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence on 24 August and 26 and 30 October (Mw 6.1, 5.9, and 6.5, respectively). Our preferred model is consistent with the activation of four main coseismic asperities belonging to the SW dipping normal fault system associated with the Mount Gorzano‐Mount Vettore‐Mount Bove alignment. Additional slip, equivalent to a Mw ~ 6.1–6.2 earthquake, on a secondary (1) NE dipping antithetic fault and/or (2) on a WNW dipping low‐angle fault in the hanging wall of the main system is required to better reproduce the complex deformation pattern associated with the greatest seismic event (the Mw 6.5 earthquake). The recognition of ancillary faults involved in the sequence suggests a complex interaction in the activated crustal volume between the main normal faults and the secondary structures and a partitioning of strain release.

The OPERA neutrino experiment at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory has measured the velocity of neutrinos from the CERN CNGS beam over a baseline of about 730 km. The measurement is based on data taken by OPERA in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. Dedicated upgrades of the CNGS timing system and of the OPERA detector, as well as a high precision geodesy campaign for the measurement of the neutrino baseline, allowed reaching comparable systematic and statistical accuracies.An arrival time of CNGS muon neutrinos with respect to the one computed assuming the speed of light in vacuum of (6.5 ± 7.4 (stat.) +8.3 −8.0 (sys.)) ns was measured corresponding to a relative difference of the muon neutrino velocity with respect to the speed of light (v − c)/c = (2.7 ± 3.1 (stat.) +3.4 −3.3 (sys.)) × 10 −6 . The above result, obtained by comparing the time distributions of neutrino interactions and of protons hitting the CNGS target in 10.5 µs long extractions, was confirmed by a test performed at the end of 2011 using a short bunch beam allowing to measure the neutrino time of flight at the single interaction level.

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On April 6, 2009, 01:32:39 GMT, the city of L'Aquila was struck by a Mw 6.3 earthquake that killed 307 people, causing severe destruction and ground cracks in a wide area around the epicenter. Four days before the main shock we augmented the existing permanent GPS network with five GPS stations of the Central Apennine Geodetic Network (CaGeoNet) bordering the L'Aquila basin. The maximum horizontal and vertical coseismic surface displacements detected at these stations was 10.39 ± 0.45 cm and −15.64 ± 1.55 cm, respectively. Fixing the strike direction according to focal mechanism estimates, we estimated the source geometry with a non linear inversion of the geodetic data. Our best fitting fault model is a 13 × 15.7 km2 rectangular fault, SW‐dipping at 55.3 ± 1.8°, consistent with the position of observed surface ruptures. The estimated slip (495 ± 29 mm) corresponds to a 6.3 moment magnitude, in excellent agreement with seismological data.

We present a full 3-D velocity field of the Earth's surface in the Euro

Space geodesy data are used to verify whether plates move chaotically or rather follow a sort of tectonic mainstream. While independent lines of geological evidence support the existence of a global ordered flow of plate motions that is westerly polarized, the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) presents limitations in describing absolute plate motions relative to the mantle. For these reasons we jointly estimated a new plate motions model and three different solutions of net lithospheric rotation. Considering the six major plate boundaries and variable source depths of the main Pacific hotspots, we adapted the TRF plate kinematics by global space geodesy to absolute plate motions models with respect to the mantle. All three reconstructions confirm (i) the tectonic mainstream and (ii) the net rotation of the lithosphere. We still do not know the precise trend of this tectonic flow and the velocity of the differential rotation. However, our results show that assuming faster Pacific motions, as the asthenospheric source of the hotspots would allow, the best lithospheric net rotation estimate is 13.4 +/- 0.7 cm yr(-1). This superfast solution seems in contradiction with present knowledge on the lithosphere decoupling, but it matches remarkably better with the geological constraints than those retrieved with slower Pacific motion and net rotation estimates. Assuming faster Pacific motion, it is shown that all plates move orderly 'westward' along the tectonic mainstream at different velocities and the equator of the lithospheric net rotation lies inside the corresponding tectonic mainstream latitude band (approximate to +/- 7 degrees), defined by the 1 sigma confidence intervals

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