It seems I cannot stay away from the grey skies of Northern Europe for too long. After a very happy 2 year stint in Arizona, and not without a sad note after having to leave our closest friends in the wonderful setting that is Flagstaff, I have moved with my family to Oxford, England, where I will be stationed for the next 3 years. I have very fond memories of a rather too short experience time in Bristol, so I am sure we will enjoy British life once more. I have to say the whole collegiate system is very non-intuitive for me but I hope I can learn the ropes and ultimately gain much needed experience in teaching in a new system.
Of course I am here mainly for research and I am very excited about the V-PLUS project I have embarked on. It is a truly multi-disciplinary venture, uniting experts from 4 different universities, and I will have to find my place in this consortium. But the science promises to be cutting edge, and I will be working with the best. The overall goal of the project is to “transform our understanding of volcanic plumes and deliver methods and tools that enhance monitoring and forecasting capabilities“. No small task indeed! Personally, I will be tackling the ground-based remote sensing part of it, trying to develop new methods of monitoring degassing and its composition in gas and ash-rich plumes, using a combination of FTIR and DOAS methods, as well as direct sampling using drones to validate our measurements.
We will be making regular trips to Stromboli in Italy and to a yet undecided second target. Masaya volcano in Nicaragua was the initial choice but the political situation there makes this difficult now. Kilauea in Hawai’i was the backup, and it sopped emitting a continuous plume after the last eruption in 2018. So… stay tuned I guess?
In the mean time, I will do my best to take full advantage of this place “where history comes from“!