 Taken by John Browning Two days of fantastic volcanic science. This year was the year of 3D science. From investigating bubble distribution in rocks through to models of lava flows - three dimensions were being used to their full effect. This was also the busiest EGU I have been to, either that or the volcanic sessions are becoming more popular! Seats were hard to come by unless you were arrived early to sessions - this meant a sprawl of scientists leaning against walls and perched on the floor!
Monday started with "Magma ascent, degassing, and eruption dynamics" where a number interesting talks set my conference off at a good pace. Matthias Hort discussed the use of doppler radar to estimate the length of bursting bubbles at volcanoes such as Stromboli and Yasur - an interesting alternative to traditional gas measurements, using seismicity or even infrasound. The session continued with a look at patterns in lava lakes, from the intriguing plate tectonics displayed at Kilauea and Erta Ale, to the turbulence surface at Marum and the relative stability at Erebus. Patrick Allard finished off the morning pre-coffee break session with a very thorough and interesting discussion, investigating a range of results from Ambrym volcano and the Marum and Benbow lava lakes, including a relatively thorough look at degassing in a bid to understand aspects such as magma ascent rate and the depth and volume of storage bodies. I finished the day listening to a range of talks on atmospheric emissions from voclanoes. Tuesday was the turn of "Volcanic Gas Emissions" where a number of presentations ranging from soil degassing on Stromboli to oscillating ratios of Bromine Oxide to Sulphur Dioxide on Cotopaxi which may be related to Earth tides. Of course this was also the session I presented in (see right). See picture above. I decided to finish the main section of the Tuesday afternoon talks in a session dedicated to Planetary Sciences. In particular I was interested in talk on the geology of Pluto and Charon - with features created from the varying behaviours of Nitrogen and Water ice. In addition the presenter gave his two cents on the possible volcanoes, Wright Mons and Piccard Mons. This year was the first time I ventured to the ice breaker on the Sunday evening and I would highly recommend that others do the same, it was a great chance to meet up with friends and colleagues. The days of the conference can be very busy and it is often difficult to meet up with all the people you want to. I came home on the Wednesday to play in the University of Sheffield varsity ice hockey match, making my EGU trip shorter than usual! Comments are closed.
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