Objective
A small eruption in Iceland in 2010 had a big impact on the economy, airlines, and people in Europe and worldwide.
Forecasting eruptions and mitigating their effects requires better understanding of the precursory signals and their detection
amongst other signals. One of the key geophysical signals is volcanic tremor which is observed before and during eruptions
but is only phenomenologically interpreted. The project TREMOR, based at the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) and
the University of Cambridge will exploit their extensive, multidisciplinary databases including recordings of recent eruptions
and floods. It will overcome present shortcomings, such as badly constrained tremor locations through use of new location
techniques, dense seismic networks and small source-receiver distances. These improvements are made possible by the
FUTUREVOLC project (FP7, 2012-2016) which expanded existing networks in Iceland shortly before the Bardarbunga
2014/15 eruption. Preliminary results during the researchers PhD suggest that both pre-eruptive and eruptive tremor exist
during this eruption and have different characteristics. The TREMOR project will continue from this point with the objectives
to (i) systematically search for pre-eruptive tremor, (ii) characterise it with respect to eruptive tremor and other tremor
sources such as floods, glaciers and hydrothermal boiling, (iii) find factors that affect its characteristics and (iv) understand
the source mechanism better. If TREMOR is successful, pre-eruptive tremor can be introduced as an eruption precursor, not
only with direct application at IMO, but potentially worldwide. This thorough study will form the basis of future research, as it
will be disseminated through conference presentations, publication in peer-reviewed journals and communication to the
public. It will further train and integrate the researcher into two effective, experienced, multidisciplinary research groups to
strengthen professional maturity.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
108 Reykjavik
Iceland