An application of hyperspectral PRISMA dataset to characterize the Solfa-tara crater, Southern Italy

The Campi Flegrei area (CF) is a highly interesting place for scientific research due to a “dual” value concerning Earth and Planetary Science. On the one hand, from a natural hazard assessment point of view, CF is one of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth in terms of its proximity to a densely populated urban area (the Neapolitan district is home to about three million people living between CF, Vesuvius and Ischia). On the other hand, from a Planetary Science point of view, the Solfatara crater high-temperature geothermal environment is comparable to terrestrial analogue of Early rocky bodies inside the Solar System; and therefore, represents a prime astrobiology target. Due to the scientific value this site represents, in the view of a comprehensive characterization, we show the preliminary results of the exploitation of PRISMA data for the mineralogical characterization of the acidic products of the Solfatara crater and for the fumarolic gases detection from space. Two datasets by PRISMA were analyzed: one before and one after the main earthquake in the last 40 years, occurred on 27th September 2023 at the Solfatara site. Our preliminary results show some variations in the carbon dioxide emissions from the fumarolic field.