By way of introduction

Alison Graettinger

In 2006 I moved to New Zealand to start my masters in Volcanology. It was a big adventure in many ways. I was taking a step towards my goal of someday getting paid to play with rocks, and not just any rocks, but volcanoes. I had only recently been convinced by my undergraduate adviser that physical volcanology was a legitimate direction of study, not just the one person in a silver suit you see on discovery channel. I had been perfectly prepared to be an igneous petrologist and lock myself up in a lab doing geochemistry. I thought my days would be filled with phase diagrams and microscopes. Now while I do honestly enjoy petrology, what I wanted, and somehow I’ll give credit to my undergrad adviser for helping me figure it out, was to think about the processes that got those rocks where they are on the surface. With my new ambition to be a Volcanologist I applied to a school in New Zealand.

The day I arrived in NZ, jet lagged and staring at everything, I was happily following around my new roommate from Mexico and my new neighbor from Canada. Trusting the North Americans to help translate I did my first shopping and life management. They both told me “Oh you like volcanoes? You will need to meet Janine, she LOVES volcanoes.” Over the day as I introduced myself to all the other international students this started to become a theme. “If you like volcanoes you NEED to talk to Janine.”  My jet lag and my need to be taken seriously about volcanoes made me wonder. Surely this Janine likes volcanoes and all, but can she like them as much as I do? She has grown up with volcanoes in her backyard, maybe she just has a passing fancy for them.
When I finally meet Janine she’s this quiet, but friendly, Kiwi who starting her third year at the Uni. I’m still trying to figure out the difference between college and Uni in NZ. So we say nice things about how we are sure to see each other and go our separate ways. I am convinced from all the build up that everyone is wrong and Janine and I would just be acquaintances, because when someone says “you will get on great” I become leery, like when they say “you will love meat pies.” Which I crave about once every 24 months and then regret eating.
Early in my first week there is a party at one of the cottages. There were lots of people to meet from all over Europe, some from China, a few Americans and Canadians. But what I remember from my first party in NZ is yelling loudly over the music with Janine about hyaloclastite and how awesome volcanoes are. We were fast friends from then on out. Maybe sometimes people are right.
J9 and I have now traveled to numerous countries together, mostly volcanic, and cheered each other on as we’ve moved through the academic ladder both with the goal of being paid to study volcanoes. This process of becoming volcanologists has involved some pretty great adventures, and lots of conversations at parties that no one else is listening to, but we are still only scratching the surface of all the things we want to say about volcanoes. We have discovered we both want to share this information with a wider audience. This love of volcanoes, the desire to understand what they do, and the need to communicate better about their hazards is something worth sharing. So to practice that, and find an outlet for our incessant need to show what cool things we learn we are starting this blog. In some ways it is a chance to practice communication, in some cases it is a chance to brag about cool things we’ve done, and it also provides a means to share with our families what it is that takes us so far from home.


Janine Krippner

I am crazy about volcanoes.

When I was 13 my highschool geography teacher defined the job description of a volcanologist. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world when I got to study Ngauruhoe volcano (Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings) in New Zealand with the University of Waikato and GNS. I studied the 1954-55 and 1974-75 eruption deposits in the summit inner crater and what they can tell us about the eruptions that produced them. I met Alison at Waikato after several people told me that there someone else who loves volcanoes (yeah right!). We spent that night being overly excited about Iceland and magma-water interaction deposits (Alison) and pyroclastic flows (me). Years later Alison completed her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh studying magma-water interaction deposits in Iceland, and I am at the University of Pittsburgh in my 3rd year studying pyroclastic flows in Kamchatka, Russia.

For my research I use satellite data to map and analyze pyroclastic flow deposits to study what we can learn from fresh deposits using remote sensing methods. I am focused on Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, and Merapi volcano in Java, Indonesia. 

An aspect of volcanology that is particularly important to me is volcano (and other natural) hazards and keeping people safe - getting the word out about just how frequently eruptions occur, and how dangerous they can be. I reluctantly joined Twitter after a volcanology conference in Japan – with Alison – I now tweet about volcanic activity around the world and how it affects people. I was then given the opportunity to write for the Earthquake-Report.com giving updates on volcanic activity. This blog is an opportunity to share more information on aspects relating to volcanology and what I am up to with my research and interests.



Bios:
Alison Graettinger is a post doc at the Center for Geohazard Studies, SUNY Buffalo. She studies lahars, maar-diaterme volcanoes, glacially confined volcanoes and other scenarios that bring volcanoes and water together in a dramatic way. She is known for traveling with her companion stuffed duck and a bad habit of picking up accents (incompletely at that). She has lived in various places in the US but calls the west her hometown.
Janine Krippner is a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh and studies eruptions that produce pyroclastic density currents using field-based studies and remote sensing (Visible, radar, Thermal Infrared). She hails from Te Awamutu New Zealand.

Popular Posts

It's all for you, girl! A message to girls everywhere from the women in volcanology

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- Dr. Janine Krippner It saddened me to see a new study published a couple of weeks ago that tells us girls from the age of six are prone to thinking that they are not as smart as boys. What is even more sad is that this wasn't really a surprise. You only have to look at how the media portrays women to get an idea why. When I was a little girl my Mum told me that I could be anything I want to be. I believed her and I am passing this message on to you. I know some of you have it much harder than others, harder than I could have imagined as a little girl. Don't give up and follow your dreams. I have asked women volcanologists from around the world to tell you what they do, why they love their work, how their work makes a difference in the world, and to give advice for girls everywhere. Of course this advice is not limited to girls, boys are also subject to messages that they are not good enough, and this can be much worse depending on race, religion, sexual orientati
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Agung Volcano Unrest Information

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- Dr. Janine Krippner I am NOT giving my own interpretations of the data and what the data means. I am NOT, and CANNOT tell people what this volcano might or might not do. Please always refer to all official source links below. The utmost respect must be given to the local authorities monitoring Agung. I am not in Bali, nor am I an authority on Agung Volcano. I have not worked on Agung volcano, or any Indonesian volcano for that matter. Always look to the official sources for information, or to verify any information. Official sources of information: Twitter: Magma Indonesia ,  Sutopo Purwo Nugroho ,  BNPB Indonesia ,  PVMBG-CVGHM Websites: Magma Indonesia Website , BNPB website , ESDM Website Facebook: BNPB I have been getting a lot of questions from travelers who are in, or planning on being in, Bali. Many travelers don't know where to get official information, cannot read it as it is in Indonesian, and do not, understandably, understand what it means. So, right now I
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Communicating Volcanoes: Resources for Media

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- Dr. Janine Krippner Watching the Agung eruption unfold showed me firsthand some of the points of confusion when it comes to talking about volcanoes and eruptions. You can see the types of information and resources I gave during that time here . Below are resources that can help understand terminology and processes, and find authoritative sources of information. There are definitely more trustworthy websites than others and I provide them below. This is not a complete list and I will keep adding to it. Communication is not my field of research (explosive volcanism is), this is purely based on my experience doing outreach on social media and working with media. If you have anything else that you would like to see added here, please let me know. Pavlof volcano erupting in Alaska in 2016. Courtesy of the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Firstly, what is a volcano? A volcano is an opening in the Earth where either solid, liquid, or gaseous materials come out of the Earth's surfa
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Back in time to Mount St. Helens: News coverage of the 1980 eruption

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- Dr. Janine Krippner Today marks another anniversary of the deadly eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington, USA. This eruption was one of those events where most remember where they were around the world when they heard the news. It changed the lives of those around the volcano - those who lost friends or family, their homes, their view of the local landscape, and their belief that 'it won't happen to me'. Fifty-seven people were lost, including volcanologist David Johnston ( his biography is out now here ). People around the world know this volcano after this day. Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. Courtesy of USGS. Thirty-nine years ago the world watched as the eruption took place, so what did they see? What it was like for those who experienced the eruption firsthand? What did the rest of the country see through the experiences of reporters and those who were there? When the next continental-US volcano erupts some of us will be there. Some of us wil
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Volcanic ash is not fluffy & volcanoes don't smoke! Setting the story straight & how to protect yourself.

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- Dr. Janine Krippner Mount St. Helens, May 18, 1980 . Top information resources for volcanic ash: USGS Volcanic Ash Impacts and Mitigation The International Volcanic Health Hazard Network  GNS Be Prepared: Volcanic Ashfall Global Volcanic Hazards and Risk  List of Volcano Observatories Items to stock before ashfall As you read this, there are likely around 20 volcanoes actively erupting right now. There are over 40 ongoing eruptions around the world. There are 1,431 volcanoes that we consider to be potentially active, or that erupted recently enough to be able to erupt any time soon ( list here ), and there are hundreds of millions of people living around those volcanoes . On top of that, there are many people who travel to or near volcanoes, and even more who fly around the world in planes that can be impacted by volcanic ash . Freight planes and ships can be halted and economies are impacted. As you see in this first video that was taken at Mount St. Helens
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