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Kina Stewart PhD student Email: s.stewart at lancaster.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)1524 593975 Fax: +44 (0)1524 593985 Iceland straddles the mid-Atlantic ridge, a part of which runs beneath Vatnajökull, Europe's largest ice sheet. The rift is dotted by a number of volcanic systems, such as Grimsvötn, which last erupted in 1998. The 1996 Gjálp eruption caused a break in the ice dam, allowing water from the caldera lake to escape. This lead to a jökulhlaup (or glacial burst) with a maximum discharge of 45,000 m3 s-1 and a total volume of 3.5 km3. The outburst of such a mass of water damaged bridges, telephone and electrical cables and washed away a section of Highway 1, the main ring road. Due to the large thickness of ice covering these volcanic systems, the forecasting of eruptions has been difficult due to the impossibility of using traditional methods. My research is to use remote sensing, such as thermal infrared radiation and aerial photogrammetry to provide evidence of increased activity such as melting, subsidence and formation of ice calderas along with field observations that could lead to a more accurate prediction of an impending eruption and the likely hazards involved. For more information, please see my personal pages. |