A. Proussevitch | University of New Hampshire (original) (raw)

Papers by A. Proussevitch

Research paper thumbnail of Saving the world\u27s rivers: what must be done?

Research paper thumbnail of Toward the standardization of image analysis from X-ray tomography: Applications to vesicular rocks used for paleoelevation studies

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2003

We have developed a technique for measuring paloelevation through the study of vesicular basalts.... more We have developed a technique for measuring paloelevation through the study of vesicular basalts. It is based on determining size distributions of vesicles from x-ray tomographic data. The data requires further processing to separate partially coalesced or closely adjacent vesicles. We have found that peeling and reconstruction of voxel layers is an effective means of identifying individual entities within a complex structure from tomographic image data. In order to accomplish this, several steps are involved, some of which have traditionally required ad hoc interpretation on the part of the user. These include selection of thresholds between vesicle and rock, criteria for splitting apart partially coalesced vesicles, construction of a binning grid for resulting vesicle size classes, and interpretation of resulting histograms. With a more standardized procedure, it is possible to remove (at least partially) user input in the step by step process, thus increasing portability of the technique. The reduction of the large number of user-defined parameters in the sample analysis will make it possible to further automate the process, thus enabling faster processing and greater sample throughput. It also increases the reproducibility of results between labs or investigators analyzing similar rocks. This will be necessary for any large-scale studies of paleoelevation involving multiple labs and large numbers of sample analyses.

Research paper thumbnail of Global health security early warning system through knowledge-based field observations

Research paper thumbnail of Coordination and Control: Limits in Standard Representations of Multi-Reservoir Operations in Hydrological Modeling

Model-based risk assessment of hydrological extremes needs to consider the interactions between t... more Model-based risk assessment of hydrological extremes needs to consider the interactions between the many stakeholders in a river basin as well as the institutions and regulations that mediate them. Unfortunately, commonly employed representations of human-operated structures in hydrological models are limited in their ability to capture human-mediated coordination and control actions in complex river basin systems. This study contributes a detailed diagnostic analysis of the parametric controls and their effects in standard reservoir representations in flood and drought modeling. Our diagnostic analysis uses the Water Balance Model (WBM), which features detailed representations of the human infrastructure coupled to the natural processes that shape water balance dynamics. Our analysis focuses on challenges posed by human-mediated coordination and control actions using the multi-reservoir cascade of the Upper Snake River Basin (USRB) in the Western U.S. We employ a time-varying sensitivity analysis that utilizes Method of Morris factor screening to quantify how the parametrizations of the reservoir release rules impact modeled flows throughout the USRB. Our results demonstrate the importance of understanding the state-space context in which reservoir releases occur and where operational coordination plays a crucial role in avoiding or mitigating water-related extremes. Understanding how major infrastructure is coordinated and controlled in major river basins is essential to properly assessing future flood and drought hazards in a changing world. This implies that the validation of hydrological models for this purpose should move beyond the usual goodness-of-fit checks of outlet flows to incorporate an assessment of the actual emergency response operations used to mitigate hydrological extremes. 1 Introduction The cumulative impacts of reservoir cascades on river flows has been recognized and demonstrated worldwide by early global

Research paper thumbnail of Bubble Size Distribution Analysis of Basalts from X-ray Tomography

Research paper thumbnail of Exploration of eruption mechanisms through parametric sensitivity analysis: Using a numerical model as a diagnostic tool

Research paper thumbnail of Timing of Colorado Plateau Uplift: Constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations

Agu Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of Analysis of near-zero temperature anomalies in high latitude regions

Agu Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Analysis of changes in water cycle across Northern Eurasia with Rapid Integrated Mapping and Analysis System (RIMS)

Historical and contemporary changes in various components of the hydrological cycle across the No... more Historical and contemporary changes in various components of the hydrological cycle across the Northern Eurasia have been investigated using multiple observational and modeled data compiled in Rapid Integrated Mapping and Analysis System (RIMS) for North Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). To evaluate potential future patterns of change in the Northern Eurasian water cycle we have used climate change projections simulated by several coupled Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (AO GCMs). Future changes in hydrological regime were assessed using the UNH Water Balance and Water Transport Models (WBM/WTM) which take into account water management including irrigation and reservoir regulation. We found significant shifts in the regional hydrology and quantified potential natural and anthropogenic causes of these changes. The results of our historical and future analysis have demonstrated an intensification of hydrological cycle in many regions of the Northern E...

Research paper thumbnail of 3-D reconstruction of ash vesicularity: Insights into the origin of ash-rich explosive eruptions

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2013

ABSTRACT Explosive volcanic eruptions are characterized by highly variable degrees of magma fragm... more ABSTRACT Explosive volcanic eruptions are characterized by highly variable degrees of magma fragmentation, even during a single eruptive event. The increasing amount of fine pyroclasts is often uncritically related to explosive magma–water interaction (i.e., hydromagmatic fragmentation). Here we report examination of two examples of major explosive eruptions from the Quaternary Vulsini Volcanic District (central Italy), in which the fine-grained nature of deposits, even in near-vent settings, indicates negligible effect of transport and implies the eruption of highly fragmented magmas. SEM morphoscopy of the juvenile products rules out extensive ash production due to hydromagmatic fragmentation. We apply a recently developed Stereo-Scanning Electron Microscopy (SSEM) technique (Proussevitch et al., 2011) to determine vesicularity features (e.g., bubble size distribution and bubble number density; hereafter BSD and BND, respectively) of ash particles. SSEM analysis provides new insights into magma vesiculation history and fragmentation mechanism leading to major ash-rich eruptions. We conclude that extensive ash production was related to essentially magmatic processes involving high degrees of decompression in shallow magma reservoirs.

Research paper thumbnail of Timing of Colorado Plateau uplift: Initial constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations

Geology, 2002

... Bouse and Muddy Creek Formations have been used to support post-Miocene uplift of ... Thissen... more ... Bouse and Muddy Creek Formations have been used to support post-Miocene uplift of ... Thissensitivity derives from the fact that a well-mixed population of bubbles within an ... Chamberlain, CP, and Poage, MA, 2000, Reconstructing the paleotopography of mountain belts from the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Development of numerical codes for the BUBBLEDRIVE volcanic conduit flow model: Functions and modules

Egs Agu Eug Joint Assembly, Apr 1, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental science applications with Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS)

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science

The Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS) has been developed at the University of N... more The Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS) has been developed at the University of New Hampshire as an online instrument for multidisciplinary data visualization, analysis and manipulation with a focus on hydrological applications. Recently it was enriched with data and tools to allow more sophisticated analysis of interdisciplinary data. Three different examples of specific scientific applications with RIMS are demonstrated and discussed. Analysis of historical changes in major components of the Eurasian pan-Arctic water budget is based on historical discharge data, gridded observational meteorological fields, and remote sensing data for sea ice area. Express analysis of the extremely hot and dry summer of 2010 across European Russia is performed using a combination of near-real time and historical data to evaluate the intensity and spatial distribution of this event and its socioeconomic impacts. Integrative analysis of hydrological, water management, and population data for Central Asia over the last 30 years provides an assessment of regional water security due to changes in climate, water use and demography. The presented case studies demonstrate the capabilities of RIMS as a powerful instrument for hydrological and coupled human-natural systems research.

Research paper thumbnail of Development of Distributed Research Center for analysis of regional climatic and environmental changes

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science

We present an approach and first results of a collaborative project being carried out by a joint ... more We present an approach and first results of a collaborative project being carried out by a joint team of researchers from the

Research paper thumbnail of Vesiculation and fragmentation history in a submarine scoria cone-forming eruption, an example from Nishiizu (Izu Peninsula, Japan)

Bulletin of Volcanology, 2016

An uplifted, >50-m-thick, half-dissected, submarine-emplaced (below wave-base) scoria cone... more An uplifted, >50-m-thick, half-dissected, submarine-emplaced (below wave-base) scoria cone occurs as dipping beds in coastal outcrops at Nishiizu, on the Izu Peninsula in Japan. Concentrically outward-dipping, weakly stratified, ungraded, framework-supported thin-to-very thick beds consist of brown coarse tuff to scoria lapilli-tuff, with outsized fluidal bombs throughout; accessory lithic clasts chiefly occur in the lowermost visible beds. Scoria bombs have quenched margins, weak bread-crust textures and their vesicle number densities decrease inward, which is indicative of fast surface cooling. Composite textures in the scoria bombs indicate recycling and agglutination of quenched and semimolten pyroclasts at the submarine vent. In contrast to weak concentric gradations in vesicle size distribution in the bombs, lapilli have asymmetrical gradients in vesicle size distribution, indicating that they are fragments of coarser, quenched lumps. Three grain-sizemodes characterise theNishiizu brown scoria, with coarse magma lumps ejected during magmatic fragmentation and quench-jointed upon contact with seawater, to be subsequently fragmented into lapilli and coarse ash by various styles of fragmentation where seawater plays a critical role. The conewas constructed by slow-moving fallout-fed granular flow/creep, fed directly by suspension settling focused at the crater rim but extending onto the cone flanks, with only minor resedimentation by granular flows. Nishiizu deposits yield an exceptional record of eruption and sedimentation dynamics during submarine cone-building activity, and in this study we compare their vesiculation and fragmentation mechanisms with those of potential subaerial analogues.

Research paper thumbnail of Uplift of Central Mongolia Recorded in Vesicular Basalts

The Journal of Geology, 2016

Epeirogenic histories of highland areas have confounded earth scientists for decades, as there ar... more Epeirogenic histories of highland areas have confounded earth scientists for decades, as there are few sedimentary records of paleoelevation in eroding highlands. For example, mechanisms that have led to the high elevations of the Hangay Mountains in central Mongolia are not clear, nor is it well understood how the epeirogenic history of central Mongolia is connected to that of a broader region of high elevation that extends hundreds of kilometers to the north, east, and west. However, preserved basaltic lava flows record paleoelevation in the size distributions of vesicles at the tops and bottoms of flow units. As an initial step toward better understanding the tectonics of this part of Asia, we collected and analyzed samples from several basaltic lava flows from throughout the Hangay Mountains to use as a paleoaltimeter on the basis of lava flow vesicularity. Samples were dated and scanned with x-ray tomography to provide quantitative information regarding their internal vesicle size distributions. This yielded the pressure difference between the top and bottom of each flow for paleoelevation calculation. Results suggest that the Hangay Mountains experienced uplift of more than 1 km sometime during the past 9 m.yr. The magnitude of uplift of the Hangay, in addition to the composition of its lavas, the geomorphology of the region, its drainage pattern history, and other proxies, bears on possible mechanisms for uplift of this part of central Asia.

Research paper thumbnail of Determination of Bubble Sizes in Volcanic Melts by Confocal Microscopy and Subsequent 3D Image Analysis

Bubbles in silicic melts are studied for many characteristics including size, shape and volume to... more Bubbles in silicic melts are studied for many characteristics including size, shape and volume to understand vesiculation processes behind volcanic eruptions. This work presents a new and innovative method of reconstructing bubbles in volcanic melts using confocal microscopy. A sample of volcanic glass produced in a laboratory experiment was studied using the Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM). LSCM have unique

Research paper thumbnail of 3D Image Analysis of Geomaterials using Confocal Microscopy

Confocal microscopy is one of the most significant advances in optical microscopy of the last cen... more Confocal microscopy is one of the most significant advances in optical microscopy of the last century. It is widely used in biological sciences but its application to geomaterials lingers due to a number of technical problems. Potentially the technique can perform non-invasive testing on a laser illuminated sample that fluoresces using a unique optical sectioning capability that rejects out-of-focus light

Research paper thumbnail of On 3D reconstruction of bubbles in volcanic ash particles

Bubbles in volcanic ash particles are primarily represented by the remnants of films and plateau ... more Bubbles in volcanic ash particles are primarily represented by the remnants of films and plateau borders from disrupting foam. Without preservation of complete bubbles, measuring bubble size distributions a challenging task, but one for which we have taken a novel approach. Concavities in ash particles retain a record of bubble sizes in the curvature of their concave surfaces that resulted

Research paper thumbnail of Earth System Atlas: citable publication and visualization of datasets

The rapid growth of digital data archived around the world, stored on a large number of different... more The rapid growth of digital data archived around the world, stored on a large number of different web servers and in numerous formats, are often under-exploited because of the difficulties that arise from data persistence, ease of access and format incompatibilities. The metadata and physical infrastructure necessary to make these data widely accessible and useful to the scientific community and the wider general audience (policy makers, educators, and the lay public) is often incomplete, or missing altogether. Web access to data also has a tendency to disappear when funds are no longer available to support these scattered individual efforts. As a result, access to and knowledge of data sources and their reliability and limitations is frequently a major stumbling block for scientists, policy makers, NGOs, educators and others. Data from significantly different disciplines have been stored and manipulated in highly different ways, and while it is possible to overlay diverse data on a...

Research paper thumbnail of Saving the world\u27s rivers: what must be done?

Research paper thumbnail of Toward the standardization of image analysis from X-ray tomography: Applications to vesicular rocks used for paleoelevation studies

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2003

We have developed a technique for measuring paloelevation through the study of vesicular basalts.... more We have developed a technique for measuring paloelevation through the study of vesicular basalts. It is based on determining size distributions of vesicles from x-ray tomographic data. The data requires further processing to separate partially coalesced or closely adjacent vesicles. We have found that peeling and reconstruction of voxel layers is an effective means of identifying individual entities within a complex structure from tomographic image data. In order to accomplish this, several steps are involved, some of which have traditionally required ad hoc interpretation on the part of the user. These include selection of thresholds between vesicle and rock, criteria for splitting apart partially coalesced vesicles, construction of a binning grid for resulting vesicle size classes, and interpretation of resulting histograms. With a more standardized procedure, it is possible to remove (at least partially) user input in the step by step process, thus increasing portability of the technique. The reduction of the large number of user-defined parameters in the sample analysis will make it possible to further automate the process, thus enabling faster processing and greater sample throughput. It also increases the reproducibility of results between labs or investigators analyzing similar rocks. This will be necessary for any large-scale studies of paleoelevation involving multiple labs and large numbers of sample analyses.

Research paper thumbnail of Global health security early warning system through knowledge-based field observations

Research paper thumbnail of Coordination and Control: Limits in Standard Representations of Multi-Reservoir Operations in Hydrological Modeling

Model-based risk assessment of hydrological extremes needs to consider the interactions between t... more Model-based risk assessment of hydrological extremes needs to consider the interactions between the many stakeholders in a river basin as well as the institutions and regulations that mediate them. Unfortunately, commonly employed representations of human-operated structures in hydrological models are limited in their ability to capture human-mediated coordination and control actions in complex river basin systems. This study contributes a detailed diagnostic analysis of the parametric controls and their effects in standard reservoir representations in flood and drought modeling. Our diagnostic analysis uses the Water Balance Model (WBM), which features detailed representations of the human infrastructure coupled to the natural processes that shape water balance dynamics. Our analysis focuses on challenges posed by human-mediated coordination and control actions using the multi-reservoir cascade of the Upper Snake River Basin (USRB) in the Western U.S. We employ a time-varying sensitivity analysis that utilizes Method of Morris factor screening to quantify how the parametrizations of the reservoir release rules impact modeled flows throughout the USRB. Our results demonstrate the importance of understanding the state-space context in which reservoir releases occur and where operational coordination plays a crucial role in avoiding or mitigating water-related extremes. Understanding how major infrastructure is coordinated and controlled in major river basins is essential to properly assessing future flood and drought hazards in a changing world. This implies that the validation of hydrological models for this purpose should move beyond the usual goodness-of-fit checks of outlet flows to incorporate an assessment of the actual emergency response operations used to mitigate hydrological extremes. 1 Introduction The cumulative impacts of reservoir cascades on river flows has been recognized and demonstrated worldwide by early global

Research paper thumbnail of Bubble Size Distribution Analysis of Basalts from X-ray Tomography

Research paper thumbnail of Exploration of eruption mechanisms through parametric sensitivity analysis: Using a numerical model as a diagnostic tool

Research paper thumbnail of Timing of Colorado Plateau Uplift: Constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations

Agu Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of Analysis of near-zero temperature anomalies in high latitude regions

Agu Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Analysis of changes in water cycle across Northern Eurasia with Rapid Integrated Mapping and Analysis System (RIMS)

Historical and contemporary changes in various components of the hydrological cycle across the No... more Historical and contemporary changes in various components of the hydrological cycle across the Northern Eurasia have been investigated using multiple observational and modeled data compiled in Rapid Integrated Mapping and Analysis System (RIMS) for North Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). To evaluate potential future patterns of change in the Northern Eurasian water cycle we have used climate change projections simulated by several coupled Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (AO GCMs). Future changes in hydrological regime were assessed using the UNH Water Balance and Water Transport Models (WBM/WTM) which take into account water management including irrigation and reservoir regulation. We found significant shifts in the regional hydrology and quantified potential natural and anthropogenic causes of these changes. The results of our historical and future analysis have demonstrated an intensification of hydrological cycle in many regions of the Northern E...

Research paper thumbnail of 3-D reconstruction of ash vesicularity: Insights into the origin of ash-rich explosive eruptions

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2013

ABSTRACT Explosive volcanic eruptions are characterized by highly variable degrees of magma fragm... more ABSTRACT Explosive volcanic eruptions are characterized by highly variable degrees of magma fragmentation, even during a single eruptive event. The increasing amount of fine pyroclasts is often uncritically related to explosive magma–water interaction (i.e., hydromagmatic fragmentation). Here we report examination of two examples of major explosive eruptions from the Quaternary Vulsini Volcanic District (central Italy), in which the fine-grained nature of deposits, even in near-vent settings, indicates negligible effect of transport and implies the eruption of highly fragmented magmas. SEM morphoscopy of the juvenile products rules out extensive ash production due to hydromagmatic fragmentation. We apply a recently developed Stereo-Scanning Electron Microscopy (SSEM) technique (Proussevitch et al., 2011) to determine vesicularity features (e.g., bubble size distribution and bubble number density; hereafter BSD and BND, respectively) of ash particles. SSEM analysis provides new insights into magma vesiculation history and fragmentation mechanism leading to major ash-rich eruptions. We conclude that extensive ash production was related to essentially magmatic processes involving high degrees of decompression in shallow magma reservoirs.

Research paper thumbnail of Timing of Colorado Plateau uplift: Initial constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations

Geology, 2002

... Bouse and Muddy Creek Formations have been used to support post-Miocene uplift of ... Thissen... more ... Bouse and Muddy Creek Formations have been used to support post-Miocene uplift of ... Thissensitivity derives from the fact that a well-mixed population of bubbles within an ... Chamberlain, CP, and Poage, MA, 2000, Reconstructing the paleotopography of mountain belts from the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Development of numerical codes for the BUBBLEDRIVE volcanic conduit flow model: Functions and modules

Egs Agu Eug Joint Assembly, Apr 1, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental science applications with Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS)

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science

The Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS) has been developed at the University of N... more The Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS) has been developed at the University of New Hampshire as an online instrument for multidisciplinary data visualization, analysis and manipulation with a focus on hydrological applications. Recently it was enriched with data and tools to allow more sophisticated analysis of interdisciplinary data. Three different examples of specific scientific applications with RIMS are demonstrated and discussed. Analysis of historical changes in major components of the Eurasian pan-Arctic water budget is based on historical discharge data, gridded observational meteorological fields, and remote sensing data for sea ice area. Express analysis of the extremely hot and dry summer of 2010 across European Russia is performed using a combination of near-real time and historical data to evaluate the intensity and spatial distribution of this event and its socioeconomic impacts. Integrative analysis of hydrological, water management, and population data for Central Asia over the last 30 years provides an assessment of regional water security due to changes in climate, water use and demography. The presented case studies demonstrate the capabilities of RIMS as a powerful instrument for hydrological and coupled human-natural systems research.

Research paper thumbnail of Development of Distributed Research Center for analysis of regional climatic and environmental changes

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science

We present an approach and first results of a collaborative project being carried out by a joint ... more We present an approach and first results of a collaborative project being carried out by a joint team of researchers from the

Research paper thumbnail of Vesiculation and fragmentation history in a submarine scoria cone-forming eruption, an example from Nishiizu (Izu Peninsula, Japan)

Bulletin of Volcanology, 2016

An uplifted, >50-m-thick, half-dissected, submarine-emplaced (below wave-base) scoria cone... more An uplifted, >50-m-thick, half-dissected, submarine-emplaced (below wave-base) scoria cone occurs as dipping beds in coastal outcrops at Nishiizu, on the Izu Peninsula in Japan. Concentrically outward-dipping, weakly stratified, ungraded, framework-supported thin-to-very thick beds consist of brown coarse tuff to scoria lapilli-tuff, with outsized fluidal bombs throughout; accessory lithic clasts chiefly occur in the lowermost visible beds. Scoria bombs have quenched margins, weak bread-crust textures and their vesicle number densities decrease inward, which is indicative of fast surface cooling. Composite textures in the scoria bombs indicate recycling and agglutination of quenched and semimolten pyroclasts at the submarine vent. In contrast to weak concentric gradations in vesicle size distribution in the bombs, lapilli have asymmetrical gradients in vesicle size distribution, indicating that they are fragments of coarser, quenched lumps. Three grain-sizemodes characterise theNishiizu brown scoria, with coarse magma lumps ejected during magmatic fragmentation and quench-jointed upon contact with seawater, to be subsequently fragmented into lapilli and coarse ash by various styles of fragmentation where seawater plays a critical role. The conewas constructed by slow-moving fallout-fed granular flow/creep, fed directly by suspension settling focused at the crater rim but extending onto the cone flanks, with only minor resedimentation by granular flows. Nishiizu deposits yield an exceptional record of eruption and sedimentation dynamics during submarine cone-building activity, and in this study we compare their vesiculation and fragmentation mechanisms with those of potential subaerial analogues.

Research paper thumbnail of Uplift of Central Mongolia Recorded in Vesicular Basalts

The Journal of Geology, 2016

Epeirogenic histories of highland areas have confounded earth scientists for decades, as there ar... more Epeirogenic histories of highland areas have confounded earth scientists for decades, as there are few sedimentary records of paleoelevation in eroding highlands. For example, mechanisms that have led to the high elevations of the Hangay Mountains in central Mongolia are not clear, nor is it well understood how the epeirogenic history of central Mongolia is connected to that of a broader region of high elevation that extends hundreds of kilometers to the north, east, and west. However, preserved basaltic lava flows record paleoelevation in the size distributions of vesicles at the tops and bottoms of flow units. As an initial step toward better understanding the tectonics of this part of Asia, we collected and analyzed samples from several basaltic lava flows from throughout the Hangay Mountains to use as a paleoaltimeter on the basis of lava flow vesicularity. Samples were dated and scanned with x-ray tomography to provide quantitative information regarding their internal vesicle size distributions. This yielded the pressure difference between the top and bottom of each flow for paleoelevation calculation. Results suggest that the Hangay Mountains experienced uplift of more than 1 km sometime during the past 9 m.yr. The magnitude of uplift of the Hangay, in addition to the composition of its lavas, the geomorphology of the region, its drainage pattern history, and other proxies, bears on possible mechanisms for uplift of this part of central Asia.

Research paper thumbnail of Determination of Bubble Sizes in Volcanic Melts by Confocal Microscopy and Subsequent 3D Image Analysis

Bubbles in silicic melts are studied for many characteristics including size, shape and volume to... more Bubbles in silicic melts are studied for many characteristics including size, shape and volume to understand vesiculation processes behind volcanic eruptions. This work presents a new and innovative method of reconstructing bubbles in volcanic melts using confocal microscopy. A sample of volcanic glass produced in a laboratory experiment was studied using the Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM). LSCM have unique

Research paper thumbnail of 3D Image Analysis of Geomaterials using Confocal Microscopy

Confocal microscopy is one of the most significant advances in optical microscopy of the last cen... more Confocal microscopy is one of the most significant advances in optical microscopy of the last century. It is widely used in biological sciences but its application to geomaterials lingers due to a number of technical problems. Potentially the technique can perform non-invasive testing on a laser illuminated sample that fluoresces using a unique optical sectioning capability that rejects out-of-focus light

Research paper thumbnail of On 3D reconstruction of bubbles in volcanic ash particles

Bubbles in volcanic ash particles are primarily represented by the remnants of films and plateau ... more Bubbles in volcanic ash particles are primarily represented by the remnants of films and plateau borders from disrupting foam. Without preservation of complete bubbles, measuring bubble size distributions a challenging task, but one for which we have taken a novel approach. Concavities in ash particles retain a record of bubble sizes in the curvature of their concave surfaces that resulted

Research paper thumbnail of Earth System Atlas: citable publication and visualization of datasets

The rapid growth of digital data archived around the world, stored on a large number of different... more The rapid growth of digital data archived around the world, stored on a large number of different web servers and in numerous formats, are often under-exploited because of the difficulties that arise from data persistence, ease of access and format incompatibilities. The metadata and physical infrastructure necessary to make these data widely accessible and useful to the scientific community and the wider general audience (policy makers, educators, and the lay public) is often incomplete, or missing altogether. Web access to data also has a tendency to disappear when funds are no longer available to support these scattered individual efforts. As a result, access to and knowledge of data sources and their reliability and limitations is frequently a major stumbling block for scientists, policy makers, NGOs, educators and others. Data from significantly different disciplines have been stored and manipulated in highly different ways, and while it is possible to overlay diverse data on a...