Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Elspeth Robertson

Elspeth is currently undertaking a PhD in Geology at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of ground deformation seen at a number of Kenyan Rift volcanoes. Elspeth tweets as @eamrobertson.

Science Snap (9): Sentinel-1

October 9, 2013
Sentinel-1 satellite to be launched in Spring 2014. Copyright: ESA/ATG Medialab

Sentinel-1 satellite to be launched in Spring 2014. Copyright: ESA/ATG Medialab

 

This isn’t strictly a photograph but an artist’s impression of a new satellite launching soon that will hopefully change the pace and advancement of a satellite remote sensing technique I use in my PhD, InSAR. Sentinel-1 will be the first of five European Space Agency (ESA) satellites to be launched as part of Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) ‘Copernicus’ programme. This multi-billion (euro) project “will be engaged in wide range of land and ocean surveillance tasks, such as oil-spill monitoring and earthquake hazard assessment”.

Sentinel-1 will be a polar-orbiting radar satellite that can collect data day-and-night, in any weather condition, and will be ready for launch in spring 2014. The launch of this satellite is exciting for scientists as it will see the continuation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data collection that was, until recently, collected by the ENVISAT satellite.

Aside from InSAR, the ESA website highlights other uses of SAR imagery including “monitoring Arctic sea-ice, routine sea-ice mapping, surveillance of the marine environment, including oil-spill monitoring and ship detection for maritime security, monitoring land-surface for motion risks, mapping for forest, water and soil management and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis situations”.

Negative results, have no fear!

September 30, 2013

UntitledKT Cooper is a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A carbonate geochemist by training, she is currently on a three-month secondment to Houston, Texas, USA working with Exxon Mobil.

Not all research is successful and not all experiments have a positive outcome or even the outcome you first expected.  When you are a young researcher, such as a PhD student, this is often very hard to come to terms with.  It can feel like its a personal failure on your part and that can knock your confidence.  But in the lines of Mel’s previous post on perspective, I hope I can give you some solace.

In carbonate sedimentology we have a problem (well we have many but this one is quite important).  Dolomite, which is CaMg(CO3)2, is very prevalent in the rock record, however in the modern environments we can’t find it!  Dolomite is thought to form when a fluid has a very high magnesium concentration when compared with calcium.  As there are lots of natural fluids that satisfy this criteria so you might think that it would be simple to form dolomite.  One researcher thought so and set up an experiment in the 1970’s to precipitate dolomite.  After 32 years, he still had no dolomite!

Abstract for a failed 32 year experiment. Credit Springer Link, Published in Aquatic Geochemistry.

Abstract for a failed 32 year experiment. Credit Springer Link, Published in Aquatic Geochemistry.

This paper (which in my opinion has the best abstract I have ever read) has been cited nearly 100 times and has been the catalyst for a new region of research in carbonates.  This negative results, which took 32 years to come about, can only be viewed as a positive thing.  So the next time you get a negative result, think to yourself “could this actually be a good thing?”

Science Snap (5): Volcan de Colima’s lava dome

September 27, 2013
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Credit: Elspeth Robertson

This photograph, taken from a helicopter, is of the lava dome at Volcan de Colima volcano, Mexico in November 2009. Volcan de Colima has been active throughout history with over 40 eruptions since the sixteenth century. The last explosive Plinian eruption was in 1913 blasting out the summit crater. Nowadays, eruptions tend to be effusive with eruptions of lava flows and the gradual build up of the volcanic dome. The dome is formed through extrusion of viscous lava that builds up into the flat-topped dome seen in the photo. Over time, the dome increases in volume and will eventually start to spill over the volcanic edifice creating spectacular incandescent rock falls.

The wispy looking fog you can see surrounding the dome is steam emanating from the dome, which despite its cool exterior, reaches temperatures of 380 degrees Celsius.

Science Snaps (4): vivid volcanoes

September 19, 2013

This week we couldn’t just stick to one “Science Snap” so we went for four – one from each of the contributors! We’ve all chosen a volcano dear to our hearts being ones we’ve either visited or studied.

James: This photo was taken during fieldwork in 2012. The giant Uturuncu volcano in southern Bolivia has been slowly uplifting for over 45 years. High-precision GPS and micro-gravimetry in the foreground are being used to monitor the volcano and better understand the subsurface dynamics driving its expansion

James: The giant Uturuncu volcano in southern Bolivia has been slowly uplifting for over 45 years. High-precision GPS and micro-gravimetry in the foreground are being used to monitor the volcano and better understand the subsurface dynamics driving its expansion. This photo was taken during fieldwork in 2012. Credit: James Hickey

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