In recent months the region sorrounding the former Sos Enattos mine, in the Nuoro area, is hosting several scientific activities related to the characterization of the Sardinian site, candidate to host the future gravitational wave observatory Einstein Telescope.
In the last weeks of July, a research group from the Gran Sasso Science Institute, composed of Jan Harms, Tomislav Andric, and Ilaria Caravella (with the collaboration of Matteo Di Giovanni, now at Sapienza University of Rome), installed four microphone stations to characterize the atmospheric acoustic field. This field is responsible for gravitational fluctuations that could create noise effects, potentially limiting the sensitivity of a gravitational wave detector. It is known that such effects are stronger on the surface, while they tend to diminish underground. The main goal of the experiment is to determine at what depth the Einstein Telescope should be built to make this noise source negligible. The central station, equipped with two microphones, can also evaluate the impact of wind on the measurements.
The stations, which are also useful for gathering information about surface acoustic noise sources and their direction, will be removed shortly (after about a month of data collection) and will be reinstalled in another location next year.
Almost simultaneously, also in July, a group of researchers from the SAR-GRAV laboratory (composed of Domenico D’Urso from the University of Sassari, and Davide Rozza and Davide Ferioli from the University of Milan-Bicocca and INFN) installed new seismometers to characterize seismic noise at the potential vertices of the Einstein Telescope, considering both the possibility of a triangular geometry and an “L” shape.
One of the new seismometers installed at Sos Enattos.
Featured image: one of the microphone stations installed at Sos Enattos.