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Observing the Volcano World - Book Launch Success!

21 September 2018

The launch of the new book 'Observing the Volcano World', co-edited by STS's Dr Carina Fearnley, was a great success.

Drs Carina Fearnley and Deanne Bird give their introductory talks

The result of several years of planning and the work of five co-editors, 'Observing the Volcano World' provides a comprehensive overview of volcanic crisis research, the goal being to establish ways of successfully applying volcanology in practice and to identify areas that need to be addressed for future progress.  Following introductory talks by Dr Fearnley and co-editor Dr Deanna Bird, a panel discussion took place featuring Prof. Jenny Barclay, Dr Richard Bretton, Dr Richard Gordon and Dr Chris Kilburn. The event was recorded and will be released later this month.

Panel discussion (l-r) Dr Richard Gordon, Prof. Jenny Barclay, Dr Richard Bretton, Dr Chris Kilburn

The book brings together authors from all over the globe who work with volcanoes, ranging from observatory volcanologists, disaster practitioners and government officials to NGO-based and government practitioners to address three key aspects of volcanic crises.  First, the book explores the unique nature of volcanic hazards, which makes them a particularly challenging threat to forecast and manage, due in part to their varying spatial and temporal characteristics. Second, it presents lessons learned on how to best manage volcanic events based on a number of crises that have shaped our understanding of volcanic hazards and crises management. Third, it discusses the diverse and wide-ranging aspects of communication involved in crises, which merge old practices and new technologies to accommodate an increasingly challenging and globalised world.

Interested in reading the book? Hard copies are available from Springer Publishing, but the book is also available for free via Open Access, an important step in making this knowledge widely available.