A 3-day visit by Professor Paul Hoffman with a short-course on Snowball Earth

By Dr Thomas Gernon – Associate Professor in Earth Science (Thomas.Gernon@noc.soton.ac.uk)   Last month, Ocean and Earth Science welcomed Professor Paul Hoffman from Harvard University for a three-day visit. Paul is famous for developing the theory of ‘Snowball Earth’, when in the late Proterozoic (~700 Ma) the oceans froze and our whole planet was covered… Read More A 3-day visit by Professor Paul Hoffman with a short-course on Snowball Earth

New understanding of rip currents could help to save lives

This is a press-release for a new paper – Wave breaking patterns control rip current flow regimes and surf zone retention, published by members of the coastal group which can be accessed here. Research by the Universities of Southampton and Plymouth has found a new link between breaking waves and the hazard posed by rip currents. The… Read More New understanding of rip currents could help to save lives

PILAB project sails through (cruise blog now live)

The Passive Imaging of the Lithosphere and Asthenosphere Boundary project aims at studying the interaction of the base of the rigid tectonic part (the lithosphere) with the softer layer underneath it – the asthenosphere. Understanding interaction between the two layers is essential in order to better understand what makes plates ‘plate-like’, and thus understanding the origin… Read More PILAB project sails through (cruise blog now live)

First joint electromagnetic and seismic investigation of gas hydrates, offshore Svalbard

Bedanta Goswami, and colleagues from G&G and Ifremer (France) have published a new research article in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth entitled “A joint electromagnetic and seismic study of an active pockmark within the hydrate stability field at the Vestnesa Ridge, West Svalbard margin”. Gas hydrates are ice-like crystals with a molecule of gas occupying the… Read More First joint electromagnetic and seismic investigation of gas hydrates, offshore Svalbard

Undergraduate student Isabel Hodgson receives awards to present work at AGU

Congratulations to Southampton undergraduate Isabel Hodgson who has won two awards to present her research at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2015 in San Francisco. Isabel showed excellence in two highly competitive processes and was awarded both the AGU travel grant and a Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) grant. Isabel is a fourth year… Read More Undergraduate student Isabel Hodgson receives awards to present work at AGU

BGA Postgraduate Research in Progress Meeting 2015

The University of Southampton/NOCS recently hosted the 2015 British Geophysical Association Postgraduate Research in Progress Meeting. The meeting brought together 43 postgraduate students to present their research across a wide range of fields, including: passive and active seismology, geomagnetism, resistivity, numerical modeling, CO2 storage and crater formation.   Attendees commented on the high standard of… Read More BGA Postgraduate Research in Progress Meeting 2015

Southampton Geologists/Geophysicists study Boset-Bericha Volcano Complex, East African Rift

The G&G research group was recently (March 2015) joined by new PhD student Melanie Siegburg who will study the Boset-Bericha volcano complex in Ethiopia. Together with PhD supervisors Jon Bull, Tom Gernon and Derek Keir, and fellow PhD student Finn Illsley-Kemp, Melanie completed reconnaissance fieldwork, including some field sampling, in April-May 2015. “Boset” is the… Read More Southampton Geologists/Geophysicists study Boset-Bericha Volcano Complex, East African Rift