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.
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