Thorbjorg Agustsdottir now works as a seismologist at Iceland GeoSurvey after graduating with a PhD from Cambridge in volcano-seismology.
Old bio: My research focuses on the micro-seismicity accompanying the 2014-2015 Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun rifting event in central Iceland. Over 30,000 earthquakes tracked the progress of melt as it moved underground from the subglacial volcano Bárðarbunga to the eventual eruption site Holuhraun 46 km away. The spectacular fissure eruption lasted 6 months and erupted 1.4km3 of lava over an area of 85 km2. It was also accompanied by a 65 m caldera collapse in Bárðarbunga. I study the seismicity during the intrusive, co-eruptive and post-eruptive periods that was recorded by Cambridge’s dense local seismic network. The density of the network allows us to obtain very accurate earthquake locations and study in detail the failure mechanisms of these earthquakes. By studying the earthquake distribution, frequency, size etc. we can get a better understanding of rifting events in general. My PhD studentship is funded by FutureVolc and I am supervised by Professor Bob White.