Dear staff and students,

On Friday the 23^rd of June at 16:00 in KBG Cosmos, Caron Vossen, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, will give the final FEST talk of the academic year about:

Illuminating volcanic ash plumes: Monitoring explosive eruptions using volcanic lightning

Volcano monitoring is improving rapidly, but the detection of volcanic ash plumes is still lagging somewhat behind, especially if visual observations (either ground-based or through satellites) are not available or possible. Volcanic lightning is a common phenomenon during explosive eruptions. Its occurrence is directly related to processes within the volcanic ash plume and it can be detected remotely and instantaneously, thus providing a good and safe alternative to confirm the emission of ash. During my talk, I will discuss how volcanic lightning is generated, how we can detect it and what it tells us about the eruption magnitude and style by showing examples of three different volcanoes: Sakurajima (Japan), Stromboli (Italy) and Cumbre Vieja (La Palma). In addition, I will talk about how we can study volcanic lightning in the laboratory by simulating volcanic eruptions.

Drinks will afterwards be served outside the Vening Meinesz building.

Hope to see many of you there!

Best wishes,

The FEST committee