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