Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala, is almost continuously erupting, making it one of Guatemala’s most active volcanoes and a popular tourist destination. The volcano last erupted on March 2, 2014, shown in the image here taken by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite. Although the volcano has been kicking off since January, in March Pacaya erupted …[Read More]
Science Snap (#20): Sentinal-1A Dress Rehearsal
On the 3rd April 2014 the new satellite Sentinel-1 will be launched from French Guinea into space. It’s the satellite that has the InSAR community pretty excited as it will provide free Earth Observation data covering nearly all the world’s volcanoes. Once the satellite is launched and is sat in its correct orbit, it has to …[Read More]
Alumnus profile #5 – Dr. Duncan Muir
Dr Duncan Muir Post-doctoral research assistant, Uppsala University PhD title “Investigating Magma Storage Conditions at Uturuncu Volcano, Bolivia”
Do we need to suffer to succeed?
KT Cooper is a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A carbonate geochemist by training, she has just returned from a three-month secondment to Houston, Texas, USA working with Exxon Mobil. Last week the newly formed Bristol Doctoral College hosted a postgraduate seminar entitled “Surviving the stress of a …[Read More]
Science Snap (#15): Big freezes
Satellite images are not just wonderful for science, they also capture public interest during periods of intense and news grabbing weather. Earlier this month North America was gripped by a prolonged Arctic Chill, plunging the continent into freezing temperatures and smashing temperature records in the process. Consecutive satellite images tracked the southward progress of the …[Read More]
“I’m a scientist, get me out of here…!”
James Hickey is a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A geophysicist and volcanologist by trade, his PhD project is focussed on attempting to place constraints on volcanic unrest using integrated geodetic modelling. Having had just over a week to recover I can finally begin to look back on …[Read More]
Supervisor profile #3: Dr Matt Watson
Dr Matt Watson Senior Lecturer in Natural Hazards PhD (2000) “Remote Sensing of Tropospheric Volcanic Plumes” 1) The Twitter challenge: Describe your PhD in 140 characters (if you can remember it) I used ground- and satellite-based data to quantify volcanic emissions in order to look at volcanic plumbing systems and plume …[Read More]
Science Snap (10): The impact of eruptions
Mel Auker brings us our Science Snap this week… Many people are aware of the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State, USA. Common photographs of the huge VEI 5 eruption show the large, billowing eruptive column rising into the stratosphere. Less iconic are images of the destruction left behind, demonstrating the after-effects of the eruption. The US …[Read More]
Power within the rift
Lying just under the Earth’s surface, the East African Rift is a region rich in geothermal resources. Exploitation of this clean and green energy source is steadily been gaining momentum. What is the geological mix that makes the Rift Valley ripe for geothermal power and how is it being tapped? The East African Rift, stretching …[Read More]
Science Snap (8): White Island erupts!
James Hickey is a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A geophysicist and volcanologist by trade, his PhD project is focussed on attempting to place constraints on volcanic unrest using integrated geodetic modelling. White Island is a small volcano roughly 30 miles off the coast of the Bay of …[Read More]