Department of Earth Sciences welcomes new Volcanoes, Society and Climate Research Group
Volcanoes, Society and Climate Research Group
Oxford Earth Sciences are thrilled to welcome our new Associate Professor of Environmental Geophysics, Thomas Aubry, and the Volcanoes, Society and Climate Research Group. Thomas joins us with postdoctoral researcher Dr Isabel Smith, and DPhil students Becca Tanner and Magali Verkerk. The group works at the crossroads of physical volcanology and climate science to understand the hazards, societal impacts and climatic effects of explosive volcanic eruptions, but also how volcanic processes and impacts could be affected by climate change.
Thomas is originally from France where he was trained in physics and climate science at the École Normale Supérieure, before completing a PhD in physical volcanology at the University of British Columbia (Canada) in 2018. He subsequently held individual research fellowships at the University of Cambridge and Sidney Sussex College, before taking up a lectureship at the University of Exeter in 2022.
Associate Professor Thomas Aubry
Between Thomas, Isabel, Becca and Magali, the expertise of the new group includes satellite remote sensing, analogue experimental modelling and numerical modelling of volcanic plumes, as well as numerical modelling of stratospheric aerosols and of the climate system. They push for a whole-system understanding of climate and volcanoes to improve mitigation of volcanic environmental and societal impacts, as well as climate change.
As part of the CMIP Climate Forcing Task Team, Thomas currently coordinates the production of volcanic emission and forcing datasets to drive next-generation climate model simulations that will underpin the 7th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also co-chairs the Tephra Hazard Modelling Commission of IAVCEI, the international association of volcanology. The group is excited to expand existing new collaborations and develop new ones with scientists at all career stages across the Department and the University of Oxford.
Thomas has also been appointed a Tutorial Fellow at St Hugh’s College and will teach Earth Sciences undergraduates in volcanology, climate science, quantitative methods and geophysics.
Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Isabel Smith
DPhil Student Magali Verkerk
DPhil Student Becca Tanner
