22 December 2017
10 years
Posted by Jessica Ball
It’s not very often that someone my age gets to celebrate a 10-year anniversary. But this year is one of those times, because it’s been 10 years since I graduated from college, 10 years since I started my first job, and 10 years since I started this blog.
I don’t think I ever really imagined the places I’d go or the people who would come into my life, in part, because of this blog. It’s certainly factored in to several jobs, and ultimately it’s led me into the work I’m now doing with the U.S. Geological Survey, communicating volcano science to anyone who will listen! Big props go to AGU for hosting me and my fellow geobloggers since 2010 – without their support and promotion, I wouldn’t have been half as successful at this over the years.
The colleagues and friends I’ve met along the way have shaped me into a better scientist and a more broad-minded person, and I’ve come to appreciate the melding of science and (gasp!) humanities that happens when you write a geoblog. It’s definitely been a new frontier, and a group of excellent people that I’ve been proud to be a part of.
So without further ado, a retrospective of this blogger’s first 10 years. I’ve gone from a baby volcanologist…
My first lava sample on Kilauea in 2006
Making questionable hiking choices in Waipio Valley, 2006
Visiting Mauna Ulu with the CSAV course in 2007
To a “grown-up” one.
Leading my undergraduate department on a field trip to Long Valley Caldera in 2015
Working with an NMR on a very dry Maidu volcano in northern Calfiornia in 2015
I’ve been part of a three-generation tradition of William & Mary geobloggers…
Me, Chuck Bailey (my advisor!) and Callen Bentley. (Courtesy of Callan Bentley, who’s also celebrating his ten-year blogiversary this month)
And inspired some new ones to join the club!
The volcano ladies! @AlisonGraetting, @JanineKrippner, and @RockDoc11 with me at Union Square during AGU’s Fall Meeting
I’ve visited a few volcanoes…
Santiaguito, Guatemala
Stromboli, Italy
Sibayak and Sinabung, Sumatra
Mount St. Helens, Washington (this is my sexy volcanologist model pose)
Lassen, California
Held a couple of jobs (and ventured into the depths of the science policy world)…
Okay, so this wasn’t a full-time job, but I was in a band and we got paid a couple of times, so I’m counting it.
Helping with a briefing on Capitol Hill
One of my proudest moments: joining a roundtable with my three bosses (Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, USGS Director Suzette Kimball, and AGU President Carol Finn)
Sometimes you get to help people practice lahar evacuations…on your birthday. Oorting, Washington, May 4, 2017
Winter field work at Lone Star Geyser in Yellowstone National Park
Made a couple of moves…
Grad school in Buffalo means lots of Niagara Falls visits!
Road trip selfie in Arches National Park
Starting life as a West Coast girl in San Francisco (thanks for roadtripping out there with me, Dad!)
Living the volcano observatory dream
Made a whole bunch of new friends…
Dawn and I met our first day on campus at Buffalo, and we’re still going strong!
Yeah, we bad.
Another Yellowstone research crew
Lassen in the snow…in July!
Okay, I got a kind of icy reception from this one, but it warmed up to me eventually.
Done some awesome science…
State of the Hazard Map meeting in Vancouver, Washington, 2016
As the field fiddler, I provide music during geophysical surveys.
A typical scene at AGU’s Fall Meeting, 2015
Been memed…
Courtesy of @jimjourdane, author of the fabulous Fieldwork Fail book!
And gotten into a few shenanigans.
Yoga poses are essential at glaciers
Clearly I just make terrible river-crossing choices
Also hand gestures are required at lava lakes
Glacier training on Mount Shasta, 2016
It’s been a challenging, satisfying, scary, wonderful ten years, and I hope to keep on blogging for a while yet. Happy Blogiversary to me!
In search of great geoscience since 2007!
Jessica Ball is a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching volcanic hydrothermal systems and stability, and doing science communication for the California Volcano Observatory. She previously worked at the Geological Society of America's Washington DC Policy Office, learning about the intersection of Earth science and legislative affairs. Her Mendenhall postdoc and PhD focused on how water affects the stability of volcanoes, and involved both field investigations and numerical modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from her experiences in academic geosciences to science outreach and communication to her field and lab work in volcanology.
Jessica, thank you for putting yourself out here for all of us to see. I wish you peace and happiness for the new year, and at least ten more years on this blog!
Congratulations Jessica!
It has been (and always is) a pleasure to read your blog.
I find your sense of humour, kindness and knowledge… a killer combination
Hope you the best in your career and life!!
(and many more years of really interesting, informative and funny lectures for us)
Gonzalo Gutiérrez
Uruguay
I’ve been reading your blog a long time.Ten years? It is hard to say but a long time. I found your bog through one of your caving friends, and through you, found Dan over at the weather department. Lots and lots of great science . I thank you for your efforts. Have a nice holiday.
Ten years may not mean much to rocks, but that’s a long time in human (and dog) years. You’ve offered some compelling posts and pics, and have been doing real live scicomm since before it was a hashtag. Looking forward to the next ten – hope you are, too.