Thorbjorg Agustsdottir

Thorbjorg Agustsdottir, a Ph.D. student studying seismology at the University of Cambridge, had the rare opportunity to witness a volcanic eruption up close when Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano erupted while she and fellow researchers were servicing seismometer stations around the volcano.

Since mid-August, the volcano has experienced more than a thousand earthquakes and two eruptions, with spectacular arrays of lava spraying and flowing from fissures around the caldera.

Check out the video below and a full interview with Agustsdottir in Eos for more about what it’s like to be in the field, so close to an erupting volcano.