I graduated in Geology at the University of Bologna in 1981, and later in Physics in 1983 (both degrees cum laude). I then entered the graduate school in Physics, at the same university, on a Geophysics major, and I got my PhD degree after three years.
Thanks to my tutor, Enzo Boschi, I met Adam Dziewonski at summer schools, first in Varenna, in 1982, and then in Erice in 1984. Adam proposed me to work at Harvard, where I ended up being employed as a Research Associate for more than two years. At Harvard I had the exceptional chance to work in an extraordinary group (the seismological faculty also included John Woodhouse) and to live crucial years for global seismic tomography and discoveries in the interior of the earth. My main contributions were in the structure of the Earth's core [Morelli et al., 1986; Morelli and Dziewonski, 1987a; Morelli and Dziewonski, 1987b]. Then, and later on, I also had the chance to contribute to important books describing the then new and evolving technique of seismic tomography [Morelli and Dziewonski, 1987b; Morelli and Dziewonski, 1991; Morelli, 1993].
With the offer of a research position at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, in Rome, in 1987 I enthusiastically come back to my home country. I continued collaborations with Adam, on topics such as a global seismological reference model [Morelli and Dziewonski, 1993], but also became involved in new projects. In the late '80s, with Domenico Giardini, I laid the foundations for the very-broad band Mediterranean seismic network MEDNET, that I then directed for many years. At that time, MEDNET attracted a large part of my own energies, as it grew to 12 stations over the Mediterrenean basin — mostly in excellent but very remote sites in north-African countries — and included 6 additional stations in Italy from other projects. Giovanni Romeo, Alberto Delladio and Salvatore Mazza — who, in 2000, replaced me as network director — gave essential contributions to thisendeavour. I participated to various international boards and committees in ORFEUS and the newly-born Federation of Digital Seismographic Networks (FDSN). During my years at ING in Rome, my interest also shifted to the European and Mediterranean domain and its intriguing geodynamics. With Claudia Piromallo I studied earthquake location and upper mantle structure of this region using body-wave travel times and authored a model [Piromallo and Morelli, 2001; 2003] providing a snapshot of the subducting lithosphere, used to draw geodynamic inferences [Faccenna et al., 2003] and still referenced today. My interest on seismic sources started in fact looking at the complex deformation of the Mediterranean tectonic belt, comparing geodetic and seismic inferences [Pondrelli and Morelli, 1995]. The 1997-98 Central Italy seismic sequence marked the beginning of a new collaboration with Göran Ekström on retrieval of seismic source characteristics by inversion of surface waves [Ekström et al., 1998; Morelli et al., 2000]. The European Mediterranean Regional Centroid Moment Tensor project that ensued from that experience profited from Silvia Pondrelli, with whose commitment we later turned the project into a continuing activity and an ever-increasing systematic database [Pondrelli et al., 2002; 2004; 2007].
As a scientist involved in global tomography and seismographic networks, when I heard of the Italian Antarctic research programme (PNRA) I proposed that a very-broadband station be installed at the Base. The project — engineered by Romeo and Delladio — since 1990 got me into a long involvement in the Italian national Antarctic programme, and in Antarctic research in general. Since 1993 I coordinated, at national level, the activities of permanent geodetic and geophysical observatories. I have also been national delegate to the SCAR Geosciences SSG, and have been a member of the SCAR ANTEC GoE. My research interests in Antarctica included the deep structure of the continent [Danesi and Morelli, 2001; Morelli and Danesi, 2004; Danesi et al., 2007; Faccenna et al., 2008]; the unusual quakes taking place under large glaciers [Danesi et al., 2007], and, more recently, crustal structure [Baranov et al., 2013; 2021a; 2021b; 2023].
Since the early 2000's I increased my frequentation with the University of Bologna, that hosts a large academic geophysics group, and I eventually moved to the city in 2003, for a quieter research environment and closer ties to university and students. Between 2005 and 2013 I served as the first director of the new INGV Section in Bologna — a group involved in seismology, volcanology, oceanography and climate research.
My research group over time included several young scientists with whom I have studied the wide European upper mantle structure by surface-wave tomography [Schivardi and Morelli, 2009, 2011] and finite-difference travel time tomography [Serretti and Morelli, 2011; Gualtieri et al., 2014]; surface wave reflections using adjoint techniques [Stich and Morelli, 2007; Stich et al., 2009]; seismic wave propagation at different scales using numerical techniques in 3D media [Danecek et al., 2011]. The main international collaborative projects funded by the European Commission I participated to are SPICE, TRANSFER, NERIES, QUEST. I coordinated the COST Action TIDES. Together with Irene Molinari, and others, I then turned attention to the structure of the crust, compiling a reference model for the European crustal structure [Molinari and Morelli, 2011] and then zooming in on Northern Italy [Molinari et al., 2015], but also using ambient noise [Molinari et al., 2015] whose generation mechanisms I had occasion to study in a collaboration with Lucia Gualtieri [Gualtieri et al., 2013; 2014; 2015]. A new approach allowed determination of structure by single-station observation of Rayleigh-wave ellipticity on earthquake data and background noise [Berbellini et al., 2016; 2017; 2019]. I even studied the normal modes of a historical tower in Bologna [Morelli et al., 2021].
Since 2017 I coordinate the INGV Center (CMS) for monitoring effects of anthropic activities on the crust, e.g. possibly induced deformation and seismic phenomena. The main challenge consisted in setting up from scratch a supervised real-time seismic analysis service managing several local networks [Garcia et al., 2021; 2020; Braun et al., 2020]. In seismically active Italy this activity often involves communication tasks, and represents a necessary engagement to the benefit of society.
Although not an obligation of my position in a research institute, I enjoy teaching and contacts with students. I have been in charge of the geophysics course (Fisica terrestre) at the University of Urbino for two academic years. I am in charge of the course on Seismic Tomography in the second-level Physics degree (Laurea Magistrale) in Physics of the Earth at University of Bologna. I tutor undergraduate and graduate students. I have organised several international workshops and schools.
