Understanding and Monitoring Landslide Risk on Tristan da Cunha

Tuesday 27th October 2026 at 3pm UK time (2pm UTC / 4pm CEST)

Dr Anna Hicks, British Geological Survey

Please register at: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d8877278-f5d4-4410-9579-1b1888f9fc56@b311db95-32ad-438f-a101-7ba061712a4e(After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar)

Abstract: Tristan da Cunha is one of the most remote inhabited volcanic islands on Earth. Its steep volcanic slopes, deeply incised gulches and exposure to intense rainfall create a complex landslide and flood hazard for the island’s only settlement and its critical infrastructure. Understanding that risk, however, is particularly challenging in a place where conventional monitoring networks, field access and communications are all constrained. This seminar tells the story of an evolving programme of work to better understand landslide processes on Tristan and, importantly, to turn that understanding into a monitoring system that is useful on the island. I will explore how satellite Earth observation, geomorphological interpretation, field observations and environmental monitoring can be brought together to understand when, where and why hazardous slope and gulch processes occur. I will discuss our work with the Tristan community to develop a more locally owned approach to environmental monitoring, connecting remotely derived scientific information with rainfall, weather, cameras and observations made on the ground. The aim is not simply to generate more data, but to create an semi-automated monitoring system that supports local understanding and decision-making and can be sustained in one of the most geographically isolated communities in the world. The Tristan project provides a useful test case for thinking about the relationship between cutting-edge Earth observation, relatively simple ground-based monitoring and community knowledge — and how these different ways of seeing a changing landscape can together contribute to practical disaster risk reduction.

We are delighted to announce that the Global Earthquake Model Foundation (GEM) is providing a 3-day workshop (28-30 September 2026) on Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK. This workshop includes both an introduction to PSHA and discussion about specific topics at the frontiers of both earthquake science and PSHA practice. Participants will learn the basics of PSHA and the use of the OpenQuake tools for developing and running PSHA models, with a focus on fault-based seismic source model development. There will also be time for participants to present their research (on a volunteer basis) as well as ample time to discuss how to advance earthquake forecasting through deeper integration with earthquake science data and theory, in areas such as time dependence, on-fault vs. off-fault strain and seismicity.

This workshop is supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through its funding of the UK’s subscription to the Global Earthquake Model Foundation.

Registration

• Registration fee: Free.
• To secure your place, please fill in the online registration form here. The registration form will stay open until 15/09/2026.

Precedence is given to students and academics in UK institutions.

Accommodation

Please note that accommodation is not included, so you’ll need to book your own. As Oxford is a popular tourist destination and late September is a busy time, we strongly recommend booking accommodation as early as possible. A few good places to start looking:

• University Rooms (Oxford colleges)
• Booking.com
• Hotels.com

Transportation

Our department is conveniently located within walking distance of Oxford city centre, Oxford Train Station, and Gloucester Green Bus Station, making it easy to reach the workshop on foot from most city centre accommodation. If your accommodation is a little further away, we recommend using local bus services, taxis, or Uber. If you plan to drive to the workshop and require parking, please let us know in advance, as parking availability is limited.

Further practical information will be sent to registered participants closer to the workshop.

If you have any questions or require additional assistance, please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. 

COMET Co-Director Professor Juliet Biggs (University of Bristol) was recently awarded a ten-year Faraday Discovery Fellowship from the Royal Society. The Royal Society states that the fellowship awards exceptional mid-career academics “using cutting-edge techniques to explore questions at the frontiers of human knowledge”, and recognise the achievements of the country’s leading researchers.

Juliet’s work is titled “MAGMA 4D – Improved resilience to volcanic hazards through satellite-based monitoring and forecasting”, and will focus on building a global satellite volcano observatory by combining next-generation satellite data, artificial intelligence, and physics-based models to improve the way volcanoes are monitored and forecast. With a greater understanding of how the volcanoes work, the research hopes to deliver earlier warnings and provide better projection for the communities at most risk.

Such long-term funding is rare and hugely important to be able to focus on these complicated real-world scenarios, create new and important global networks, and generate huge impact in the field.

We at COMET are thrilled with this success and look forward to seeing the amazing work and opportunities that will come with the project!

The UK Centre for Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) invites you to the next instalment of our COMET+ webinar series, viewable from the home office.

Speaker: Dr Muhammad Aufaristama, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Title of the talk: Dense Time Series Remote Sensing for Geological Hazards

Date: Friday 19th June 2026

Time: 3pm UK time (2pm UTC / 4pm CEST / 7am PDT / 10pm Beijing)

Register: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d98f1a13-955a-4dd3-8150-ded9dd1916ee@b311db95-32ad-438f-a101-7ba061712a4e

(After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar)

Abstract: Dense satellite time series are changing how geological hazards can be observed, shifting the focus from isolated before–after image comparisons to continuous monitoring of disturbance, timing, and recovery. This talk focuses on landslides as a model geohazard and shows how long optical Earth observation archives can be used to detect where failures occur, when they happen, and how affected terrain recovers afterwards. Building on recent work with Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) in Google Earth Engine and the LandTrendr temporal segmentation framework, I use Landsat-derived NDVI trajectories, together with topographic constraints where appropriate, to identify disturbance–recovery signatures associated with landslide activity. Examples from globally distributed test sites and regional-scale applications in Indonesia demonstrate that dense time series remote sensing can support scalable inventory generation, historical reconstruction, and semi-automated monitoring across diverse environments. The results also highlight key limitations: performance remains sensitive to cloud cover, rapid revegetation, medium-resolution pixel size, and the detectability of small failures. Overall, the work shows that the main value of dense time series lies not only in mapping surface disturbance, but in capturing its temporal evolution, with potential relevance beyond landslides wherever hazards produce measurable surface change.

COMET Scientists, Professor Tamsin Mather and Professor David Pyle (University of Oxford) have teamed up with illustrator Daniel Long and publishers Nosy Crow to produce the book ‘Think Big: The Power of Volcanoes’, aimed at 7- to 11-year-olds.

Tamsin said ‘I have always wanted to write a book about volcanoes for younger readers as I think they are such an exciting way to explore thinking more deeply about our and other planets. I think that the best science books for this age group are all about combining words and pictures to tell a scientific story. Daniel’s illustrations are utterly beautiful, capture the science and are really fun to look at too. I love the way he has drawn from old pictures of eruptions as well as lots and lots recent photos of volcanoes. It was fantastic to watch him develop his illustrations around our words!’

David said ‘This was a very rewarding project – starting with the challenge of distilling our technical understanding of “how volcanoes work” into precise but accessible language for the readers. The visuals really make the book come to life. I particularly like Daniel’s images of different rocks in hand-specimen!’

The book published today will be launched with a morning of talks and activities at Oxford’s Natural History Museum this coming Saturday 6th June 2026.

Details of this Saturday’s events in Oxford are here: https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/event/the-power-of-volcanoes

More details and now to buy the book here: https://nosycrow.com/book/university-of-cambridge-think-big-the-power-of-volcanoes/?srsltid=AfmBOor-84koYz_4_EOUWUU6KR9WXleqgK-c1r9FARDJlTSElaLpKg5J

We’re excited to share an 8‑week paid summer industry internship with COMET and Lighthill Risk Network | MS Amlin, open to 2nd–4th year undergraduates with the Right to Work in the UK.

Research project: Investigating how depth uncertainty propagates through probabilistic seismic hazard models

Supervisors: Dr Alice Turner and Professor Alex Copley (University of Cambridge) & Dr Will Sturgeon and Dr Luke Wedmore (MS Amlin)

Global earthquake catalogues are automatically-generated, and are known to poorly
constrain earthquake depths. Recent results (e.g., Wimpenny and Watson, 2021) have
shown that where more accurate techniques are used, involving human input, much more
accurate depth estimates can be obtained, and these often differ by more than 10 km
from those in the catalogues. This difference has huge implications when assessing
earthquake hazard, because of the extreme sensitivity of ground-shaking to the depth of
the causative earthquakes. Hazard assessments are often undertaken using Ground
Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs), using poorly-constrained catalogue depths as
input constraints for the likely depths of future events.

This project will assess the effects of using accurately-constrained earthquake depths on
the assessment of earthquake hazard. It will focus on the North Anatolian Fault Zone in
Turkey, which hosts large, damaging earthquakes in close proximity to major population
centres.. Over the 8 weeks of the placement, the student will determine accurate depths
of earthquakes in the region (data collection). They will then estimate earthquake hazard
metrics from both the accurately-determined depths, and the previously-used poorly
constrained catalogue depths, and thereby establish how earthquake depth accuracy
influences hazard assessment.

How to Apply:

Eligibility: To be eligible for this scheme you must: (1) be a current 2nd-4th year
undergraduate student with no prior research internship experience, and (2) hold the right
to work in the UK. Earth Sciences is the least diverse STEM subject, and therefore we
strongly encourage applicants from minority backgrounds and those who are the
first generation in their families to have attended University.

Salary: Interns will be paid at the Real Living Wage at the host institution (£470 pw, 35
hours per week) with pro-rata holiday allowance and a small expense budget to facilitate industry collaboration.

Application form: Apply via the application form (takes around 20 minutes to complete)

Application deadline: Friday 5 June 2026, 5.00pm

The UK Centre for Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) invites you to the next instalment of our COMET webinar series, viewable from the home office.

We are pleased to welcome Professor John Elliott, a COMET Scientist from the University of Leeds, as our speaker.

Title of the talk: Deformation, strains and velocities for the Alpine Himalayan Belt from trans-continental Sentinel-1 InSAR & GNSS

Date: Thursday 21st May 2026

Time: 3pm UK time (2pm UTC / 4pm CEST / 7am PDT / 10pm Beijing)

Register: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/345ba5d8-9beb-4e1b-b68a-3f6adc813d21@bdeaeda8-c81d-45ce-863e-5232a535b7cb