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Dr Ana Ferreira has secured prestigious EU funding.
9 December 2020
The European Research Council bestows the Consolidator Grants to outstanding researchers who have a promising scientific track record, Dr Ferreira, Reader in Seismology was awarded funds for her project entitled ‘UPFLOW: Upward mantle flow from novel seismic observations.
The main goal of UPFLOW is to understand the upward movement of hot rock in the mantle (~30-3,000 km depth beneath our feet) towards the surface. This is important because ultimately the mantle controls earthquakes, volcano eruptions and mountain building. Further, upward mantle flow is critical to return volatiles to the atmosphere and to produce Earth’s largest melting events.
UPFLOW will allow me to develop breakthrough seismic imaging methods and to lead a step-change in observational seismology to obtain the sharpest ever seismic images of upward mantle flow. We will also conduct a new, large-scale seismic experiment in the Atlantic by deploying ~35 ocean bottom seismometers in the sea floor in the Azores-Madeira-Canary islands region, which is an under-studied natural laboratory comprising significant upward mantle flow that is poorly understood in general.
The project includes an international partner - IPMA, the Portuguese institute for Sea and Atmosphere - who will provide a research vessel for the offshore deployment, and will include collaboration with scientists in Portugal, the UK, Germany, Ireland and France.