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16 February 2010
Dome collapses
In light of the recent dome collapse at Soufriere Hills, I thought I’d expound a little on the subject, which is a major part of my research. Lava domes, if they last long enough, tend to go through cycles of growth and collapse. These can be relatively short, like the domes at Soufriere Hills or Mt. St. Helens (remember, a few years is short even on a volcanic timescale), or long, …
13 February 2010
Roughing it – Guatemala la segunda parte
Yes, I’ve been hinting at some fieldwork that I’m going to do for the next two weeks – and it’s back in Guatemala! If you remember the posts I put up last year about my first visit, you’ll also remember that quite a bit less science happened than I was hoping, thanks to some nasty little microscopic critter that found its way into my food. I really, really don’t want …
27 March 2009
Santiaguito lava dome complex
If seeing this first thing in the morning doesn’t both make you want to jump up and down in excitement AND say, “Oh, shit, I just spent the entire night unconscious and three klicks away from an erupting volcano,” you are either clinically dead or an alien. A composite of Santiaguito, gently steaming in the 6AM sunlight. This is both a fascinating and depressing time – fascinating because I could …
3 March 2009
For my spring break…
I will not be blogging, because I will be here: View Larger Map Staying out of the way of this: And looking for things like this: Some people spend their spring breaks at the beach. I spend them hauling my butt up a steep, very active Guatemalan volcano looking for clay and structural weaknesses in a bunch of lava domes. Ah, life. Well, I’ll at least have some very good …
3 August 2008
Costa Rica: Don’t drink the water…but the swimming’s fine
I’m back! Having survived Costa Rica’s rainy season, attacks by macaws and capuchins, cheesy coffee tour guides and every kind of biting insect in existence (and all without getting sunburned!), I have lots of great photos and stories to tell. As my masters research may be taking me to Guatemala, I was glad to have the chance to spend time in a Central American country, although I have to report …
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.