# Lessons Learnt from Monitoring the Etna Volcano Using an IoT Sensor Network through a Period of Intense Eruptive Activity

## TL;DR

This paper shares lessons from using an IoT network to monitor Etna Volcano during intense eruptions, highlighting strategies for reliable data collection.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a strategy for IoT deployment on active volcanoes, emphasizing gateway placement for durability and sensor deployment during field campaigns.

## Key findings

- Gateways installed at medium altitude enabled data collection from sensors near Etna's summit craters.
- Most sensors were destroyed during eruptions and winters, but gateways remained operational for future campaigns.
- Optimal IoT deployment involves permanent gateways at the volcano's base and temporary sensors in exposed areas.

## Abstract

This paper describes the successes and failures after 4 years of continuous operation of a network of sensors, communicating nodes, and gateways deployed on the Etna Volcano in Sicily since 2019, including a period of Etna intense volcanic activity that occurred in 2021 and resulted in over 60 paroxysms. It documents how the installation of gateways at medium altitude allowed for data collection from sensors up to the summit craters. Most of the sensors left on the volcanic edifice during winters and during this period of intense volcanic activity were destroyed, but the whole gateway infrastructure remained fully operational, allowing for a very fruitful new field campaign two years later, in August 2023. Our experience has shown that the best strategy for IoT deployment on very active and/or high-altitude volcanoes like Etna is to permanently install gateways in areas where they are protected both from meteorological and volcanic hazards, that is mainly at the foot of the volcanic edifice, and to deploy temporary sensors and communicating nodes in the more exposed areas during field trips or in the summer season.