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Staff list

Volcanology Team – July 2019

The volcanology team is composed of 26 permanent researchers ( 9 professors and assistant professors, 8 physicist, 4 CNRS researchers, 3 IRD researchers, 1 INRAP researcher, 1 teacher), 2 emeritus, 2 post-doctorates and 12 PhD candidates.

The volcanology platform includes geophysical measurement equipment (DGPS, resistivity tomography, spontaneous polarization, electromagnetic soundings, ERT, GPR, seismic stations), instruments for the textural characterization of volcanic products (G3 morpho-granulometer, pycnometers and permeameters in the textural analysis laboratory),  the experimental volcanology laboratory, in house numerical modelling softwares and satellite and ground-based remote sensing tools (Doppler radars, DOAS, MultiGas, IR cameras, drones and image processing laboratory). It should be noted that some of these instruments are part of the OPGC’s observation services.

	Geophysics
	Textural analysis laboratory
	Laboratory of experimental volcanology
	Numerical modelling
	Remote sensing

Rang A :

The answers to these questions were elaborated in response to questions from students by several researchers of the laboratory, Luca Teray, Raphael Paris, Karim Kelfoun and Valérie Cayol. If these answers do not answer your questions, please contact Valérie Cayol (valerie.cayol@uca.fr) or Karim Kelfoun (karim.kelfoun@uca.fr).

Questions :

• What exactly is the name of your job?

• In which professional sector is this job located?

• Who is your employer?

• Where is your workplace located?

• What is your working rhythm?

• Why did you choose this profession?

• What is the purpose of your job?

• What needs do you meet by doing this job?

• Can you describe concretely the activities you often do, so that I can get a picture of your daily work?

• Tell me about a typical day at work.

• What other professionals do you work with? (working alone / in a team / partners…)

• What qualities are essential for your job?

• Tell me about the positive aspects of your job

• Tell me the negative points about your job

• Does a volcanologist go near active volcanoes to study them?

• If you ever have to go out into the field, what are the first difficulties you will encounter on these excursions?

• What diploma or training do you need today to do your job?

Anwsers :

What exactly is the name of your job?

In practice, the name of our profession is researcher, teacher-researcher, professor or physicist. You can also be a doctoral student or a post-doctoral researcher, but these positions correspond to fixed-term contracts. Our object of study is volcanoes. We are researchers in volcanology. You can also say volcanologist or vulcanologist of course.

In which professional sector is this job located?

The civil service.

Who is your employer?

The Magmas and Volcanoes Laboratory’s researchers have a variety of employers. They are the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA) or the Institut de Recherches et Développement (IRD).

Where is your workplace located?

The researchers have offices at the university but they are also required to carry out laboratory analyses and measurement campaigns on land sometimes located on other continents. The research laboratory to which we are attached is a joint research unit, which means that it associates CNRS researchers and a university. The IRD is also associated with the laboratory.

What is your working rhythm?

Researchers work 35 hours a week and are entitled to 9 weeks of holiday. But researchers are generally passionate about their work. It is also a competitive profession, so researchers do not count their hours. In practice, researchers work 50 hours a week and it is not uncommon for them to take less than 5 weeks’ holiday a year.

Why did you choose this profession?

Because it’s a job that allows you to satisfy your curiosity. The approach is very satisfying because it generally consists of going back and forth between field observations, laboratory observations and simulations. In addition, you have relative freedom in the choice of research areas, approaches and timetables.

What is the purpose of your job?

See for example the video presentation of the volcanology team http://lmv.uca.fr/recherche/volcanologie/ .

At the Magmas and Volcanoes Laboratory, we seek to understand volcanism from its source in the Earth’s mantle to the emission of volcanic products into the atmosphere. The questions we ask are: why do volcanoes erupt, what are the precursors of an eruption, what type of activity will occur, how does this activity evolve, what is its impact on human activities (aviation, agriculture, health, etc.), plants, animals and the climate ? In addition to the hazards immediately linked to volcanic activity (lava flows, mudflows, pyroclastic flows, explosions, volcanic bombs and ash, tsunamis), volcanoes release greenhouse gases (CO2), acid gases (SO2) and ash, which have an impact on the climate and populations.

What needs do you meet by doing this job?

A need to understand the world around us. Some of our research also allows us to better assess the risks associated with volcanism. We also participate in the transmission of knowledge to society through teaching at the university and our exchanges with the media (newspapers, television, radio, cinema, festivals).

Can you describe in concrete terms the activities you often do, so that I can get a picture of your daily work?

To carry out our research we combine field observations (with in situ or remote measuring devices, with drones or satellites), laboratory observations (physico-chemical analysis of volcanic products, physical experiments), and models, whether carried out by laboratory experiments or on computers. The purpose of these models is to better understand the physical processes that govern the observed behaviour. Because nature is complex, problems are simplified to study particular parameters. But, like many people, we spend most of our time in front of a computer, as we not only have to process data, but also to set up projects to obtain funding, to write reports and publications, to prepare conferences, to discuss by e-mail or video conference with other colleagues, and to this add some administrative work.

Tell me about a typical day at work

Researchers spend time supervising students, writing projects, administering their own and other people’s research, reading and writing articles, preparing conferences and of course doing their research (analysis of data sets, laboratory analyses, modelling, etc.).

What other professionals do you work with? (working alone / in teams / partners…)

Each of us, is a specialist in a specific field (lava flows, volcanic earthquakes, tsunamis, gases, etc.). To better understand volcanism and its impact, we need to work with other researchers with complementary specialities, either in the laboratory or in other laboratories: mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, doctors, etc. As our studies involve observations of volcanoes, we collaborate with volcanological observatories located on the national territory (in Reunion Island, Guadeloupe or Martinique) or abroad. We also sometimes collaborate with professionals in the private sector for research related to geomaterials, hydrology, geothermal energy or natural hazards.

What are the qualities needed to do your job?

You have to be curious and passionate, have a good physical sense, and be academically excellent. You have to be very independent and have your own questions, while being able to work in a team. You also need to be able to communicate orally at conferences and in writing through articles that will be published in English in scientific journals. It is nowadays necessary to be fluent in English.

Tell me about the positive aspects of your job

It is a job that feeds our questions about the world around us. The possibility of satisfying our curiosity is a great source of satisfaction for many researchers.

We have a great deal of freedom: freedom to choose our research topics insofar as these topics allow us to obtain funding, freedom to choose with whom we want to work, and relative freedom of schedule. All this is possible provided that we produce knowledge through articles published in scientific journals and communications at conferences.

It is also a profession that allows you to be at the crossroads of many scientific disciplines (geology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, geography, economics, sociology, etc.), which is very enriching, and which gives you the opportunity to travel and meet people from different cultures.

In addition to their research, teacher-researchers also teach, both at Licence level (the first three years of study after the baccalaureate) and at Master level (fourth and fifth years of study after the baccalaureate). The researchers and teacher-researchers also supervise doctoral students (three years of research after a Master’s degree). We are thus in constant contact with students, teaching, questioning and being questioned.

Tell me about the negative aspects of your job

It’s hard to set limits on what you want to do and can do. We often bring work home with us and it is sometimes difficult to « disconnect » from work. It’s a passionate job that has the defects of its qualities. Researchers’ salaries are not particularly high and differ little according to their rank and responsibilities. Opportunities for promotion are limited. In short, you don’t do this job for the money. For example, a researcher with ten years’ seniority earns barely 2500 euros net per month.

Does a volcanologist go near active volcanoes to study them?

The image of the volcanologist is, in the collective imagination, attached to that of an adventurer in a reflective suit taking measurements just a few metres from the molten lava, or descending into a smoking crater! This vision comes largely from the documentaries and books of Haroun Tazieff and Katia and Maurice Kraft, which were made in the second half of the 20th century. However, it no longer really corresponds to the reality of a volcanologist’s work. Nowadays, it is possible to monitor volcanoes remotely, using satellites, drones or stations installed on volcanoes that transmit their measurements to the other side of the world. Volcanologists are no longer the backpackers of the 1970s. Many researchers also study volcanoes in the laboratory or digitally, which does not require them to go into the field. However, it will always be necessary to go close to active volcanoes to understand them better. Some of the activities of today’s volcanologist in the field that will not disappear soon include:

• installing and maintaining measuring stations (seismometers, gnss, cameras, gas analysers, etc.) on volcanoes
• collecting samples (rocks, ash, lava, gas) to be analysed in the laboratory to better understand recent and old eruptions
• testing new measurement and observation techniques currently being developed in the laboratory and which will become part of the volcanologists’ toolbox in the future (the most emblematic example is the application of drones for volcanology)
• carrying out surveys (cartographic but also geographical and sociological) in volcanic regions to assess vulnerability to volcanic hazards and the resulting risk

Finally, it should be noted that some of these activities sometimes require visits to very active areas (e.g. lava flows, crater lip or fumarole fields), although this is becoming increasingly rare. These operations are of course carried out after an extremely rigorous risk assessment and with equipment specially designed to protect against possible dangers.

If you ever have to go into the field, what are the first difficulties you will encounter on these excursions?

Volcanic terrains are very diverse, they can be located on every continent with all the varieties of political regimes that this implies, they can be at sea level in Hawaii to almost 7000m in the Andes (not to mention submarine volcanoes), it can be over 40°C in the Afar region of Ethiopia, as well as -20°C on Erebus in Antarctica. They can be located within minutes of a large city (e.g. Vesuvius and Naples) or hundreds of kilometres from any inhabited area (e.g. some volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands). The volcano may be inactive or erupting. In short, you can expect anything! This is why all missions must be carefully prepared, from the scientific point of view (work programme and contingency plans), the natural point of view (weather, activity) and the logistical point of view (accommodation, transport, food, health), without neglecting the administrative aspects (authorisations, customs) which can prove decisive. In short, a well-prepared mission is often a successful mission (whatever the conditions), and the most difficult thing is to be well prepared, which can be learned from experience.

What is the diploma or training required today to practice your profession?

You need a doctorate (bachelor’s degree + 8 years of study), and in general you need to have completed one or more post-doctorates (research contracts), often abroad. You must have an exemplary academic record and have demonstrated that you conduct independent research leading to publications in reputable international journals. Typically, the CNRS hires 5 researchers in earth sciences per year for the whole country. In 2020, there are 80 candidates for these 5 positions. The last researchers hired by the CNRS in the Volcanology team of the Magmas and Volcanoes Laboratory were hired in 2006 and 2020. As far as other types of positions are concerned, the Volcanology team has hired 1 professor, 2 lecturers, 2 physicists and 3 researchers attached to the IRD over the last ten years. It is therefore a very competitive profession. Competition continues to obtain funding to carry out our projects (about 10% of the projects submitted to the National Research Agency are subsidised). To face up to this competition, and to persevere despite the difficulties that may arise, you need to be highly motivated.

The volcanoes we study

Understanding volcanism requires the acquisition of field data: visible and thermal imagery, geophysical campaigns, gas, rock and ash sampling for petrological and geochemical analyses, mapping of deposits and destruction, etc.

Our targets depend on the current activity, research themes and our collaborations with French laboratories and observatories, as well as partner countries.

Soufrière de Guadeloupe

Piton de la Fournaise volcano

Italian volcanoes

Indonesian volcanoes

Andean volcanism

African volcanoes