Lecture: Monitoring Iceland's Volcanoes
Speaker:
Date and Time
19:30 -
Location
Virtual Talk via Zoom
Lecture Description
Outline: Iceland has been in the news for months because of the on – off eruptions there. The eruptions tend to be spectacular and great photographic opportunities, but they also tell us about what is going on beneath the surface. In this talk, we’ll look at some of the geophysical studies that help us to understand how these volcanoes work.
About the Speaker: Hazel Rymer is Pro Vice Chancellor Learning & Teaching Innovation at the Open University and prior to that was Dean and Director of Studies in the Faculty of Science and Professor of Environmental Volcanology. Prof Rymer’s research focus has been the development and promotion of the use of microgravity as a tool for monitoring active volcanoes. This method has been used to identify sub-surface processes at calderas in a state of unrest and at persistently active volcanoes and this has given geoscientists considerable insight into the range of mechanisms responsible for initiating and sustaining volcanic activity. The technique that she has pioneered is now the standard method for gravity monitoring on volcanoes; it remains the only way to quantify the sub-surface mass changes that occur before, during and after eruptions.
