In studying the internal structure of the Earth the Geophysics section relies on the classical tools of seismology and the variations in the gravitational field supplemented by electromagnetic methods and theoretical geodynamic modelling.
In recent years, our research has exploited measurements from Space, of the effects of global ocean circulation on the Earth’s magnetic field to detailed images of the Earth’s mantle, obtained from combining earthquake waves recorded on worldwide seismometers, gravity and magnetic datasets.
Researchers within the section study the impact on the deep ocean of large atmospheric storms and the long term geophysical processes that lead to the formation of sedimentary basins, offshore Ireland. Through the installation of temporary high density seismic networks, significant advances were also made in our understanding of small earthquake populations in Ireland. We see superb examples of very small earthquakes (usually too small to be felt by humans) repeat slipping in an identical fashion. Hence even in a geographical location with little tectonic activity, there are very interesting dynamic processes at play.
Deployment of an Ocean Bottom Seismometer in 2018
These seismic networks are also leading to better images of sub-surface geological structure, which has implications for our understanding of how the Earth’s crust and its resources formed. Although DIAS has a remit to focus on fundamental research, nonetheless through the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geoscience (iCRAG) and collaborations with the Geological Survey, Ireland (GSI) the geophysics section has strengthened its collaboration with industry partners, over recent years.
Our fieldwork
activities in recent years saw the deployment of Ocean Bottom
Seismometers (OBS) in the NE Atlantic, the development of our of
bespoke seismic networks in Iceland and the Galapagos, and
electromagnetic networks on the Azores. These latter deployments both
have a focus on volcanoes and both involve strong international
collaborations.
The section had several new project successes in recent years, noteably the €1 million Euro European Space Agency (ESA) award to Zdenek Martenic, Sergei Lebedev and Javier Fullea entitled “3D Earth – A Dynamic Living Planet,” and a prestigious Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) award to Javier Fullea deriving from his successful A-rated European Research Council starter (ERC) application.
DIAS Geophysics use seismic and electromagnetic networks to monitor and image volcanic systems.
Others include, Sergei Levedev’s SFI/GSI/Marine Institute 2017 funded project (€1.25 Million), SEA-SEIS (Structure, Evolution and SEISmic hazard off the Irish offshore). Led by DIAS the project will also bring together collaborators from the Geological Survey Ireland, University of Oxford and GFZ Potsdam. In turn SEASEIS is made possible by the 2017 commissioned iMARL Marine Infrastructure award (€2.9 Million) to Chris Bean. SEA-SEIS will bridge our understanding of the NorthAtlantic – Arctic region, for the first time.
DIAS Geophysics are partners within the @eurovolc H2020 project where the first annual meeting occurred this week at the Volcano Observatory of the Azores Islands at the University of Azores in Ponta Delgada #eurovolc
Congrats to @StKiliansDS team Roan Batard, Ethan McQuaid & Marilou Gerbelot-Barillon on winning the Group 2nd place in Physical, Chemical & Mathematical Sci at @BTYSTE lfor their project: 'What makes Dublin shake?' @dias_geophysics were delighted to support you with your project! twitter.com/NBourgeois_Pro…
With support from the @GeolSurvIE , €1.5m is being invested to expand and upgrade the Irish National Seismic Network (insn.ie) New funding will result in more stations, greater coverage & more accurate recording of earthquakes in Ireland. tinyurl.com/yb6ho2cp
A seismometer has just been deployed on the surface of Mars! " This was the first time a science instrument had ever been placed onto the surface of another planet" For more info tinyurl.com/y7amv9qo
Our own Prof. Sergei Lebedev has been listed as one of the top 100 scientists making the world a better place!
For more info' on his project check out sea-seis.ie and also Prof. Chris Bean's imarl.ie#deepoceanlisteningtinyurl.com/ybd2hgo8
Dr. Duygu Kiyan recently presented her work at the AGU Meeting in Washington, USA. Along with her colleagues, she is imaging Ireland's lithosphere using legacy and newly acquired magnetotelluric data across Ireland. @iCRAGcentre@DIAS_Dublin@GeolSurvIE@tcdastro
"Forecasting the Unpredictable: Earthquake science in a crowded world" by Prof. John McCloskey is DIAS's 2018 Statutory Public Lecture of the School of Cosmic Physics. Schrodinger Theatre, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Wednesday Dec 12th at 18:30. Admission is free!
The field season of the DIAS led HERSK project started last week when Icelandic Met Office engineers transported seismic gear with skidoos onto Hekla volcano. The HEkla Real-time Seimic networK project
is funded by the GSI shortcall program and led by Martin Möllhoff at DIAS.
This inflation has critically stressed the rocks in the volcano, such that small local earthquakes are being triggered by the tiny ground shaking from large distant earthquakes in the surrounding Pacific ‘ring of fire’.
Recent ascent of magma to shallow levels in the volcano has caused more than one metre of uplift of the volcano’s surface and thousands of small earthquakes.
The fundamental aim of this international collaboration is to improve our understanding of how earthquakes can trigger one another by studying the seismicity at Sierra Negra.
Geophysicists from DIAS have recently assisted the University of Edinburgh & the Instituto Geofisico at the Escuela Politecnica Nacional (IGEPN), deploy a network of seismometers at Sierra Negra, a large basaltic volcano in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
#DIASDublin welcomed Mr. Yukiya Amano, DG of the International Atomic Energy Agency @iaeaorg today where, as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he gave a keynote address on "IAEA: Atoms for Peace and Development". Retweeted by
DIAS Geophysics
Scientific Research
In studying the internal structure of the Earth the Geophysics section relies on the classical tools of seismology and the variations in the gravitational field supplemented by electromagnetic methods and theoretical geodynamic modelling.
In recent years, our research has exploited measurements from Space, of the effects of global ocean circulation on the Earth’s magnetic field to detailed images of the Earth’s mantle, obtained from combining earthquake waves recorded on worldwide seismometers, gravity and magnetic datasets.
Researchers within the section study the impact on the deep ocean of large atmospheric storms and the long term geophysical processes that lead to the formation of sedimentary basins, offshore Ireland. Through the installation of temporary high density seismic networks, significant advances were also made in our understanding of small earthquake populations in Ireland. We see superb examples of very small earthquakes (usually too small to be felt by humans) repeat slipping in an identical fashion. Hence even in a geographical location with little tectonic activity, there are very interesting dynamic processes at play.
These seismic networks are also leading to better images of sub-surface geological structure, which has implications for our understanding of how the Earth’s crust and its resources formed. Although DIAS has a remit to focus on fundamental research, nonetheless through the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geoscience (iCRAG) and collaborations with the Geological Survey, Ireland (GSI) the geophysics section has strengthened its collaboration with industry partners, over recent years.
Our fieldwork activities in recent years saw the deployment of Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) in the NE Atlantic, the development of our of bespoke seismic networks in Iceland and the Galapagos, and electromagnetic networks on the Azores. These latter deployments both have a focus on volcanoes and both involve strong international collaborations.
The section had several new project successes in recent years, noteably the €1 million Euro European Space Agency (ESA) award to Zdenek Martenic, Sergei Lebedev and Javier Fullea entitled “3D Earth – A Dynamic Living Planet,” and a prestigious Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) award to Javier Fullea deriving from his successful A-rated European Research Council starter (ERC) application.
Others include, Sergei Levedev’s SFI/GSI/Marine Institute 2017 funded project (€1.25 Million), SEA-SEIS (Structure, Evolution and SEISmic hazard off the Irish offshore). Led by DIAS the project will also bring together collaborators from the Geological Survey Ireland, University of Oxford and GFZ Potsdam. In turn SEASEIS is made possible by the 2017 commissioned iMARL Marine Infrastructure award (€2.9 Million) to Chris Bean. SEA-SEIS will bridge our understanding of the NorthAtlantic – Arctic region, for the first time.
In terms of infrastructure, the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) is in the process of expansion with support from the GSI.
For more detailed information on individual research projects and their research outcomes, see the staff page and the publications page.
Check out our most Recent Research Activies.
Geophysics
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in southern Peru on the 1st March 2019 at 08:50:41 UTC. The event depth is 257km and hence no major damage is expected. Details: insn.ie/2019-03-01-m7-… @DIAS_Dublin @GeolSurvIE @k_verbruggen
DIAS Geophysics are partners within the @eurovolc H2020 project where the first annual meeting occurred this week at the Volcano Observatory of the Azores Islands at the University of Azores in Ponta Delgada #eurovolc
We commenced geophysical data collection as part of the 'Geourban' project last week in Merrion Sq, Dublin. Excellent collaboration with @GeolSurvIE @iCRAGcentre @DubCityCouncil @GDGeosolutions
Congrats to @StKiliansDS team Roan Batard, Ethan McQuaid & Marilou Gerbelot-Barillon on winning the Group 2nd place in Physical, Chemical & Mathematical Sci at @BTYSTE lfor their project: 'What makes Dublin shake?' @dias_geophysics were delighted to support you with your project! twitter.com/NBourgeois_Pro…
With support from the @GeolSurvIE , €1.5m is being invested to expand and upgrade the Irish National Seismic Network (insn.ie) New funding will result in more stations, greater coverage & more accurate recording of earthquakes in Ireland. tinyurl.com/yb6ho2cp
A seismometer has just been deployed on the surface of Mars! " This was the first time a science instrument had ever been placed onto the surface of another planet" For more info tinyurl.com/y7amv9qo
Our own Prof. Sergei Lebedev has been listed as one of the top 100 scientists making the world a better place! For more info' on his project check out sea-seis.ie and also Prof. Chris Bean's imarl.ie #deepoceanlistening tinyurl.com/ybd2hgo8
Dr. Duygu Kiyan recently presented her work at the AGU Meeting in Washington, USA. Along with her colleagues, she is imaging Ireland's lithosphere using legacy and newly acquired magnetotelluric data across Ireland. @iCRAGcentre @DIAS_Dublin @GeolSurvIE @tcdastro
Our visiting guest, Professor John McCloskey @EdinburghUni spoke to @NewstalkFM @SeanMoncrieff this afternoon about the unpredictability of volcanoes! Don’t miss his talk tonight - 6.30pm @TCD_physics, organised by @dias_geophysics. Full details: bit.ly/2AqmORP
"Forecasting the Unpredictable: Earthquake science in a crowded world" by Prof. John McCloskey is DIAS's 2018 Statutory Public Lecture of the School of Cosmic Physics. Schrodinger Theatre, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Wednesday Dec 12th at 18:30. Admission is free!
To know more about the marine geophysics research conducted here in @dias_geophysics check out imarl.ie for #deepoceanlistening and also Sergei's project sea-seis.ie on the deployment of seismometers in the North Atlantic this summer. @10Things_ToKnow
Prof. Chris Bean and Dr Sergei Lebedev from @dias_geophysics @DIAS_Dublin join @jonathan_mccrea to look at Irish seabed research - 8.30pm @RTEOne - @GeolSurvIE tonight on @10Things_ToKnow
The field season of the DIAS led HERSK project started last week when Icelandic Met Office engineers transported seismic gear with skidoos onto Hekla volcano. The HEkla Real-time Seimic networK project is funded by the GSI shortcall program and led by Martin Möllhoff at DIAS.
The DIAS geophysics team along with their colleagues successfully deployed the seismic network in this unique, natural laboratory in the Galapagos.
This inflation has critically stressed the rocks in the volcano, such that small local earthquakes are being triggered by the tiny ground shaking from large distant earthquakes in the surrounding Pacific ‘ring of fire’.
Recent ascent of magma to shallow levels in the volcano has caused more than one metre of uplift of the volcano’s surface and thousands of small earthquakes.
The fundamental aim of this international collaboration is to improve our understanding of how earthquakes can trigger one another by studying the seismicity at Sierra Negra.
Geophysicists from DIAS have recently assisted the University of Edinburgh & the Instituto Geofisico at the Escuela Politecnica Nacional (IGEPN), deploy a network of seismometers at Sierra Negra, a large basaltic volcano in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
#DIASDublin welcomed Mr. Yukiya Amano, DG of the International Atomic Energy Agency @iaeaorg today where, as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he gave a keynote address on "IAEA: Atoms for Peace and Development". Retweeted by DIAS Geophysics
Prof. Chris Bean describing the new Ocean Bottom Seismometers at the iMARL launch to @k_verbruggen of @GeolSurvIE @SeanKyneTD and Mark Ferguson of @scienceirel