Volcanologist Questions And Answers

21⟩ Tell me how did you get started in volcanology? What was it about studying volcanoes that drew you to the field?

I always knew I wanted to be a scientist in Hawai`i, but I didn’t know what kind until college. My high school only offered physics, biology, and chemistry and I started college thinking I wanted to be an oceanographer. The college required a year each of physics, biology, chemistry, AND geology before taking any oceanography courses. I took geology first and liked it so well that I switched majors immediately. My post bachelor’s degrees were in geophysics and my initial contact with volcanology was through the USGS applying various surface geophysical methods to study subsurface lava. That interest kind of morphed into general volcanology so that now I attempt integrated studies using geophysics (as well as geology) to study volcanological phenomena.

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22⟩ Tell me what was the worst thing that you’ve experienced on the job. Did it make you wonder if you should change professions?

The worst thing was completely bureaucratic – the agonizing uncertainty of the RIF in 1995 within the USGS Geologic Division (eds. note: in 1995, about 500 employees from the Geologic Division of the USGS, or 20% of it’s workforce, lost their jobs).

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23⟩ Explain me what was the worst thing you've experienced on the job and did it make you wonder if you should change professions?

The worst thing I've experienced on the job was working with the media at Mount St. Helens. I did not enjoy that. A particularly bad experience involved the one explosive eruption that I experienced, in March of 1982. Because of the explosion, media folks from the major networks flew up from San Francisco. They were really pushy and really obnoxious. And all the scientists were stressed, and I was working in a different building than they were. So I was having trouble getting information from the scientists, and I was being pushed by the media. I didn't like it. So I decided to go back to school and get my Ph.D. so I could do something on the volcano other than work with the media!

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24⟩ Tell me which were largest eruptions in past 250 years?

The size of volcanic eruptions is determined by the amount of lava emitted. The largest eruption over the past 2 centuries was Tambora in Indonesia in 1815.

☛ Laki fissure, Iceland 1783

☛ Tambora, Indonesia 1815

☛ Cosiguina, Nicaragua 1835

☛ Askja, Iceland 1875

☛ Krakatau, Indonesia 1883

☛ Tarawera, New Zealand 1886

☛ Santa Maria, Guatemala 1902

☛ Ksudach, Kamchatka 1907

☛ Katmai, Alaska, USA 1912

☛ Agung, Indonesia 1963

☛ St. Helens, USA 1980

☛ El Chichón, Mexico 1982

☛ Pinatubo, Philippines 1991

☛ Chaiten, Chile 2008

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25⟩ Tell me here's another one, kind-of along the same vein, what was the strangest experience you ever had? Has anything weird ever happened to you?

Well, it wasn't weird in the sense of being supernatural, but it was very strange at the time because I'd never seen anything like it. A high-fountaining episode at Pu`u `O`o had ended several hours before, and we were about to fly back to the observatory. Then we saw these cracks starting to open in the ground on the uprift side of the cone. We went to look, and the cracks were continuing to open ahead of us, so we followed along, with the ground splitting open at about the same pace that we were walking. This went on for several hundred meters.

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26⟩ Tell me what would you rate as the best experience you've had while working on a volcano?

I would say that there is no one best. I've had many both fun and exciting experiences on volcanoes. One of the best would be Mount Erebus, that first time that I looked down and saw molten lava. Another one would be the first time I saw Mt. St. Helens. I had seen pictures on the news and I had heard about it and I had been trying really hard to get out to Washington to see what was going on. But to actually get out to the mountain and see the extent of the destruction and to see what the volcano looked like was very exciting.

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27⟩ Tell me what made you decide to become a volcanologist?

Initially, when I went to college I fell in love with geology and when I went home for the summers I tried to find work doing geology. The local office of the US Geological Survey was a volcano observatory and so I started working there and in turn I found that volcanology was really interesting.

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28⟩ Tell me what you like best about your chosen profession. Anything else you want to list about what you like best about being a volcanologist?

I guess it's rare to have a job that people are so interested in and curious about. Everyone wants to know more about volcanoes, which makes all the public speaking I do a lot easier, because the audience is so receptive.

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29⟩ What made Erebus and St. Helens so dangerous?

Well, in the case of St. Helens and Erebus, both were in an active state and there was the potential for small eruptions to occur. In the case of Misti there are around 1 million people living within about 10 miles of a volcano that could reawaken at some point in the future causing very severe problems for these people.

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30⟩ Tell me what was the strangest experience you ever had on a volcano? Has anything weird ever happen to you?

I ran into a strange woman one day while working out in the middle of nowhere behind a locked gate. She looked really weird with a young body but old wrinkled face and white hair. I never saw her again. (Eds. note: Over the centuries, people have reported seeing a mysterious woman on the volcanoes of Hawai’i who is either very old and wrinkled or very young and beautiful. Many think that she is the spirit of the Hawaiian Goddess Pele.

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31⟩ Tell me are you inclined to be claustrophobic?

I'm inclined to be a little claustrophobic. I love being high on things, I don't like being closed in. I can manage lava tubes because I'm interested. Well, we walked into this lava tube. The first thing that we saw, down in the tube was a big shape. We slowed down and then we heard a noise. We realized the shape was an owl. We stood and watched the owl and suddenly it took off, not back out toward us but instead the owl just soared down the lava tube somewhere. That was a little mysterious. We then went down a little more, but soon turned around as we hadn't really come prepared to explore a lava tube and we just had small flashlights. When we were coming back out, right at the entrance to the lava tube, on a large rock that we had to have walked over when we went in, was a beautiful enormous peacock feather. We knew that it couldn't have been there when we went in. So that just seemed a little mysterious, and owl and a peacock feather...

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32⟩ Tell me how much time do you spend in the field doing your favorite part of the job?

I'm lucky if I spend a month in the field a year.

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33⟩ Do you know how many volcanoes erupt every year?

The volcanic explosivity index is a scale from 1 to 8 to measure the magnitude (erupted volume) and intensity

(eruption column height) of an eruption.

The VEI is not used to describe eruptions of lava which are non explosive.

Ancient eruptions are determined by the volume of deposits.

Modern eruptions are determined by the observed column height.

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34⟩ Tell me where are the most active volcanoes?

Kilauea volcano on Hawaii is the world's most active volcano, followed by Etna in Italy and Piton de la Fournaise on La Réunion island.

After that, it is difficult to decide the exact order on the list, but the following are very close: Stromboli, Merapi, Erta Ale, Ol Doinyo Lengai, Unzen, Yasur, Ambrym, Arenal, Pacaya, Klyuchevsky, Sheveluch, and Erebus.

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35⟩ Tell me what was the funniest thing that happened to you while working on a volcano?

Nothing is funnier than seeing visitors in high-heels trying to walk over uneven pahoehoe. That aside, probably the next funniest thing happened during a video interview of a colleague who had not been in Hawai`i very long and who shall remain nameless. The video shoot took several days and I accompanied the interviewee on the day where he was to be interviewed about general Hawai`i geology stuff. The interviewer asked the question, I put together a reasonable response, and my colleague would then answer the interviewer in his own words on camera. I had to look away every time he was on camera for fear that I would laugh and disrupt the interview.

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36⟩ Tell me what did you study for your Ph.D?

I was interested in what was happening underneath Mount St. Helens, what was driving the eruption. Magma that is ejected during an eruption comes from deep underground - one topic of interest in the early 80's was what was happening below the surface in what we call "magma chambers". Magma is a liquid with dissolved gases, and, commonly, containing crystals. One important feature of magma chambers that no one knew much about was how those crystals form. What I did for my dissertation was to try to understand the rates of crystal formation. Since that time, I have been interested in how the presence of crystals (and bubbles) affects the behavior of magma when it comes out of the ground.

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37⟩ Tell me what was the first volcano you’ve ever studied?

The first volcano that I ever worked on a project at was Long Valley caldera.

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38⟩ Tell me have you studied volcanoes in the field?

Yes, starting from the first time I ever worked on a volcano I have been doing field work on volcanoes for 3 years now.

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39⟩ Tell me in your opinion, how have volcanoes affected the earth the most?

Well, volcanoes are responsible for forming the atmosphere which is pretty important.

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40⟩ Do you know where is St. Helens and Erebus located?

Erebus is located on Ross Island, Antarctica. St. Helens is located in Washington State.

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63 Volcanologist Questions And Answers

21⟩ Tell me how did you get started in volcanology? What was it about studying volcanoes that drew you to the field?

22⟩ Tell me what was the worst thing that you’ve experienced on the job. Did it make you wonder if you should change professions?

23⟩ Explain me what was the worst thing you've experienced on the job and did it make you wonder if you should change professions?

24⟩ Tell me which were largest eruptions in past 250 years?

25⟩ Tell me here's another one, kind-of along the same vein, what was the strangest experience you ever had? Has anything weird ever happened to you?

26⟩ Tell me what would you rate as the best experience you've had while working on a volcano?

27⟩ Tell me what made you decide to become a volcanologist?

28⟩ Tell me what you like best about your chosen profession. Anything else you want to list about what you like best about being a volcanologist?

29⟩ What made Erebus and St. Helens so dangerous?

30⟩ Tell me what was the strangest experience you ever had on a volcano? Has anything weird ever happen to you?

31⟩ Tell me are you inclined to be claustrophobic?

32⟩ Tell me how much time do you spend in the field doing your favorite part of the job?

33⟩ Do you know how many volcanoes erupt every year?

34⟩ Tell me where are the most active volcanoes?

35⟩ Tell me what was the funniest thing that happened to you while working on a volcano?

36⟩ Tell me what did you study for your Ph.D?

37⟩ Tell me what was the first volcano you’ve ever studied?

38⟩ Tell me have you studied volcanoes in the field?

39⟩ Tell me in your opinion, how have volcanoes affected the earth the most?

40⟩ Do you know where is St. Helens and Erebus located?

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Volcanologist

Home Science Volcanologist

63 Volcanologist Questions And Answers

21⟩ Tell me how did you get started in volcanology? What was it about studying volcanoes that drew you to the field?

22⟩ Tell me what was the worst thing that you’ve experienced on the job. Did it make you wonder if you should change professions?

23⟩ Explain me what was the worst thing you've experienced on the job and did it make you wonder if you should change professions?

24⟩ Tell me which were largest eruptions in past 250 years?

25⟩ Tell me here's another one, kind-of along the same vein, what was the strangest experience you ever had? Has anything weird ever happened to you?

26⟩ Tell me what would you rate as the best experience you've had while working on a volcano?

27⟩ Tell me what made you decide to become a volcanologist?

28⟩ Tell me what you like best about your chosen profession. Anything else you want to list about what you like best about being a volcanologist?

29⟩ What made Erebus and St. Helens so dangerous?

30⟩ Tell me what was the strangest experience you ever had on a volcano? Has anything weird ever happen to you?

31⟩ Tell me are you inclined to be claustrophobic?

32⟩ Tell me how much time do you spend in the field doing your favorite part of the job?

33⟩ Do you know how many volcanoes erupt every year?

34⟩ Tell me where are the most active volcanoes?

35⟩ Tell me what was the funniest thing that happened to you while working on a volcano?

36⟩ Tell me what did you study for your Ph.D?

37⟩ Tell me what was the first volcano you’ve ever studied?

38⟩ Tell me have you studied volcanoes in the field?

39⟩ Tell me in your opinion, how have volcanoes affected the earth the most?

40⟩ Do you know where is St. Helens and Erebus located?

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