#70 - Dr. Mike Poland - Yellowstone: The Gravity of the Situation

The State of The Universe

Episode 70 features Dr. Mike Poland. We discuss whether Yellowstone is at risk of another super eruption, how it is monitored, what precursors will indicate an oncoming eruption, probing volcanic activity with measurements of surface gravity, and much more!

Mike is a research geophysicist with the Cascades Volcano Observatory and the current Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. His area of specialization is volcano geodesy, which emphasizes the surface deformation and gravity fields associated wth volcanic activity. This work involves the use of space-based tecnologies, like Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), as well as ground-based techniques, like microgravity surveys. Mike has taken part in studies on a variety of volcanic systems in the United states, including Mount St. Helens and other volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest, Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes in Hawaii, and the Yellowstone caldera. His recent work has focused on using gravity change over time to understand the character of the fluids that drive volcanic unrest, and also on the potential of satellite data to improve forecasts of future changes in volcanic activity.

You can learn more about Mike and the USGS's efforts to monitor the Yellowstone Caldera at https://www.youtube.com/user/usgs/videos or https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/article_home.html

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