Within the HRZZ project DuFAULT, installation of several temporary seismic stations in the wider Dubrovnik area is forseen. For this particular filed-work, we planned to install four instruments: two in the southeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and two nearby Dubrovnik. Accordingly, two field teams have been organized. The first team members were Asst. Prof. Josip Stipčević (PI), Marin Sečanj, PhD and Damir Ptičar, senior technician from the Department of Geophysics and their task was two install two stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second team were Asst. Prof. Iva Dasović, Prof. Davorka Herak, Prof. Marijan Herak and doctoral student Helena Latečki and they were to install two stations in Croatia. Due to the unforeseen problems and complex preparatory works, installation of seismic stations in BiH had to be done on two separate occasions.
The first team took off on Sunday, 3 October 2021, and the installation of the first station began the very next day, 4 October. Out of two potential locations in Ljubinje, the anti-hail station of the "JP Protivgradna preventiva Republike Srpske" was selected. On Tuesday, 5 October, the temporary seismic station DF01 in Ljubinje was put in operation but only very temporary – unexpected problems were resolved in the next days and temporary seismic station DF01 fully operates since 9 October sending data to the main server in Zagreb. Meanwhile, the first team spent part of their time also working at the second location in Bileća. During this first trip, all the preparatory work necessary for the installation of another instrument in Bileća has been done (an instrument shaft was installed, a solar panel, power supply, etc). However, station was not fully installed and had to be completed at the end of October. The first team had a support from the colleagues from the RHMZSRS from Banja Luka. They came back to Zagreb on 9 October.
The second team began their field-work on Wednesday, 6 October 6 2021. The very next day, 7 October, the team spent the day in Radovčići, Konavle Municipality, installing a temporary seismic station DF04. The station was successfully installed and communication and data transfer to the main server in Zagreb was arranged. On Friday, 8 October, in order to install the station on the island of Šipan with as few unexpected problems as possible, additional preparations have been made and the entire setup for this second station has been tested. On Saturday, 9 October, the second temporary seismic station in Croatia, DF05, was successfully installed in the Volunteer Fire Department Šipan in Šipanska Luka. The second team returned to Zagreb on Sunday, 10 October.
In the period from 28 October to 2 November 2021, the first team traveled again and visited the temporary seismic station STON (to improve communication with the main server in Zagreb) and the newly installed temporary seismic stations DF01 in Ljubinje, the station DF04 in Radovčići and DF05 in Šipan (to check if everything is working well and to improve some minor issues in the setup). On Monday, 1 November, the temporary seismic station DF02 in Bileća was put in operation. The official opening of the station was attended by the Mayor of Bileća, Veselin Vujović, associates from the Seismology Department of the Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of Republic of Srpska, Snježana Cvijić Amulić, Milan Janjić and Mirko Marković and journalists from Radio Bileća (report can be found on the link).
With the commissioning of these four temporary seismic stations, local seismic network Du-Net has been successfully established, and its further expansion is planned for the year 2022. The collected data, which continuously arrives on the main server in Zagreb, at the Andrija Mohorovičić Geophyisical Institute at the Department of Greophysics, will allow a more precise location of the foci of the recorded earthquakes, especially the weak ones. This will also allow to define a more complete catalog of earthquakes and get a better idea of the seismicity and structure of this area.
We would like to thank everybody who helped us and allowed to install these temporary stations: the Municipality of Konavle (especially Mr. Miljenko Mikulić), Elementary school Gruda (especially a head of school Zdenka Pivčić and Mr. Frano Šmanjak), DVD Šipan (especially Mr. Miho Lazarević), JP Protivgradna preventiva Republike Srpske (especially mayor Mr. Veselin Vujović), and of course to our colleagues in RHMZRS from Banja Luka.