Organization
Boise State University (BSU)
Profile
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BiographyI am a geophysics PhD student at Boise State University, Idaho, USA. My supervisor is Jeffrey B. Johnson, and my research area is volcano infrasound monitoring. For my first study I am using geysers at Yellowstone as infrasound sources in order to test new sensors and monitoring methods.
Prior to my move to the U.S. in September 2012, I studied for both my Masters degree (MRes Physics of the Earth and Atmosphere) and Bachelors degree (BSc Geophysical Sciences) at the University of Leeds, UK, supervised by Jurgen 'Locko' Neuberg.
My Masters thesis - 'Determining the depths of volcano seismic events at Soufriere Hills Volcano' - investigated whether the seismic velocity model currently used by Montserrat Volcano Observatory is the best one for them to continue using, or whether a different model could better constrain hypocenter depths. (See the end of my bio for a more detailed description)
My undergraduate thesis was based on micro-gravity surveying conducted on volcanic features on Lanzarote, Canary Islands, in 2010.
In addition to my studies, I have volunteered at Montserrat Volcano Observatory and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, flown the flag for volcanologists in (schools outreach competition) 'I'm a Scientist - Get Me Out Of Here!', and enjoyed clambering over volcanoes in Sicily / Aeolian islands, Japan and Iceland.
I look forward to meeting those of you attending AGU, VMSG 2013 in Bristol, and the IAVCEI 2013 conference in Japan. I would otherwise like to invite you to visit Boise. We have some fantastic scenery to explore, friendly hospitality, and chilled beers waiting in the fridge.
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''''Determining the depth of volcano seismic events at Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat''''
Accurately monitoring hypocenter locations over time is vital for tracking the ascent path and ascent rate of magma and volcanic gases, This, in turn, informs eruption forecasting for volcanic hazard and risk mitigation. The problem is that the seismic velocity model currently used in Montserrat Volcano Observatory's inversion only allows them, at best, to determine hypocenter depths at Soufriere Hills Volcano with an uncertainty of +/- 1 km. Since many volcanic processes are pressure and therefore depth dependent, this uncertainty could mean the difference between volatiles still being in solution, or magma and exsolved gases being at a shallow enough depth for eruption to be initiated.
My study used the configuration of the current 12-station seismic array on Montserrat. Synthetic seismograms were generated with QSeis (Wang, 1999) for hypocenter depths of between 1.5 - 3.0 km. Three alternative 1-D seismic velocity models were tested against MVO's model using HypoInverse-2000 (Klein, 2002) for the inversion.
The full results from my study are held by the University of Leeds. Please contact j.neuberg@leeds.ac.uk
My recommendation for anyone wishing to continue this fascinating research on Soufriere Hills Volcano would be to investigate the effect of the seismic array configuration on the hypocenter depth determination. Reduced azimuthal coverage occurs as a result of near-field seismic stations being obliterated during eruption, whilst mid- and far-field stations are prone to timing issues and power outages during hurricane season.