Some pyritised ammonites from Charmouth last weekend

One of the fluoro strips in my office has been going for the last month. Estates came in and replaced it today but they only have LED versions now. My office has gone from flickering Stasi-like interrogation room to making me wonder if I'm Mike TV

Come do an exciting new PhD project with fieldwork in the Caribbean and S Pacific working on understanding what happens when powerful lahars enter the ocean - with me, @isobelyeo.bsky.social at @noc.ac.uk www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Office hours just now: Student: "will this notebook be OK? I'm concerned that ring bindings might not be hardy enough" Me: "This ringbound notebook is fine. I've been using it since..." *checks first page* ".... 2006" Student: That was the year I was born.

This paper by Meredith et al. (2025) examines global city exposure to volcanic hazards, using metrics such as population and distance to GVP Holocene volcanoes to quantify and rank cities at risk. This data has also been visualised through a web app. nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/...

Looking for recommendations! I went an online storage for our research group and their data. So we can archive video data, image data etc., from a long line of projects. Files downloadable, but secure/backed up. Where people can deposit easily for our own purposes (made open by other means).

We tried compiling a global database of deposit descriptions of pyroclastic density current deposits. The aim was to help us do big data analysis, look for common trends, and to support modelling. We got some interesting results but also, found some really significant issues and gaps #IAVCEI2025

My challenge for this weekend is to work out the delay on the BBC Glastonbury coverage based on what I can hear in the back garden and the speed of sound.

If cats are liquid this must be some kind of pitch-drop experiment

Diane Morgan's episodee of Who Do You think You are is a wonderful genre crossover / 4th wall experience.

Delighted that this paper has hit p[ublication. Nemi did a truly amazing job on all of this, and together with 3 other papers (1 published 2023, the others winging their way to print soon) has really moved forward our understanding of moisture in pyroclastic sediments.

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Great to see this research covered by the BBC - looking forward to seeing what we discover from all the data that were collected last month! Nice work by @isobelyeo.bsky.social on radio and TV interviews!

Gneiss geology up here.

Hollibobs!

Whale (?) breaching in the Clyde this afternoon. Think it might be a Minke? Blew a water spout first then breached about a dozen times around the same place.

This is just plain dangerous. Thoughts are with friends and colleagues impacted by this. I guess there's no reasoning with uninformed zealots.

8.30 pm. This is a trap. Any attempt to stroke floof will result in teeth and 4 sets claws being embedded in your hand. This is not to be confused with 7 am floof which must be stroked immediately to avoid loud meowing.

🧪 Frustrated by the actions (or inactions) of some of our professional and learned societies during this ongoing attack on #science and scholarship more generally? If so, this letter to the @royalsociety.org from my mate, @scurry.bsky.social, is worth a read and I hope, signing ✍🏻

Me: Wifi in my office is incredibly slow and keeps dropping out" IT: Please install this 140MB diagnostic software Me: Download attempt 3 and counting before it times out.

Months of knocking shit off the mantle piece finally clears enough ground to just lie there and absorb heat from the fire

Start of teaching, school and faculty exam boards, NERC deadlines and PhD application shortlisting all landing in the same 7 day window.

Had a walk out at Stockholm woods near Priddy. Plenty of ice and snow still on the ground and some particularly pretty light through the trees

Actually snowed in. Couple of inches of snow with more falling and there doesn't appear to have been a gritter or plough even on the main roads.

Went to see the starlings at Ham Wall this evening. Always impressive (as long as you luck out and go to the right place...)

December 30th 2024. Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle. Marcus Aurelius

Hoomans, stop going out. Demand strokes now.

Flipping between the first two frames you get a real sense for the speed of that first surge of material coming down the flanks. Remarkable set of images.

So many congratulations to the brand new DOCTOR @nemiwalding.bsky.social! Nemi passed her viva today on what happens when you add in moisture to pyroclastic density currents and their deposits. Amazing work 🤩 So proud of this one ❤️

Deadline for GW4+ PhDs with us at @bristolvolcanology.bsky.social is less than a month away. If you're interested in applying please reach out to the project supervisors ASAP. www.bristol.ac.uk/earthscience...

Piles the Christmas penguin is out for his 20th birthday. Stanley is apparently delighted.

18 years in Academia and my mum was astonished yet again yesterday that we don't get school holidays.

Folks, if you're applying for PhDs, MSc(R)'s etc make sure you reach out to the project supervisors before sending your applications in. We can help you formulate them to make the strongest application you can, which is to our benefit too! Don't just fire in an application without speaking to anyone

After some considered testing, I'm declaring Morrisons bakery short crust mince pies as the champions of supermarket suppliers. Pastry not too sweet, right balance of filling. Actual proper pastry. I will brook no argument from the deep-fill sect.

For some reason I've so far spent today with a particularly bleak mindset regarding societies repeated successes in throwing away incredible opportunities and development in favour of short term selfish bullshit and scientific denialism. Trying to shake it feels like my own type of denialism.

After the ash cloud clears 🌋- there is always Bluesky! Hello!👋🏼 this is the account for the Volcanology Gang/Collective/Team at University of Bristol! Give us a follow for some 🌋 -related facts and enthusiasm!

Sam's made the jump over to bluer skies. Good stuff to be had by following if you like volcanoes!

Just booked our holiday for next Easter. Look out Harris and Lewis, we are coming your way. Here's hoping Calmac can offer a functioning ferry...

Stanley insists that the floof must be stroked before anyone is allowed to move on with their day. Trills are provided as encouragement.

New blogpost: deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/11/why-...

Bristol Earth Sciences PhD and MSc(R) postgraduate research opportunities for Sept 2025 are now available for application. Come and do cool things with us! www.bristol.ac.uk/earthscience...

Proper fat snow outside my office

Running feedback sessions with undergrads this week. My not so hot take is that the loss of coursework from A level and GCSEs is 💩. Training teenagers for exams rather than encouraging them to learn is pointless and our education system is a hot mess.

When your employer has a single supplier contract with a business, then that business sends a one-question survey asking if you'd use them again, I can't help but think that the person processing that survey interprets the "will definitely use you again" differently than how I'm thinking about it.

New set of Volcanology Masters by Research projects at Bristol are now up for either January or September 2025 start dates. For more info reach out to the listed supervisors! www.bristol.ac.uk/earthscience...

All go in Somerset

"Helping".

Hello teacher friends! Annual call for anyone who might be interested in outreach activities relating to volcanology, hazards, risk etc to send me a DM or email. Also a quick plug for the ever growing stash of materials at earth-science.org.uk/teach-earth/

Which joker thought a yellow boardmarker was a good idea?

Aurora above our back garden. Not bad for Somerset.