Hazel Rymer

Hazel Rymer is a British volcanologist and Pro-Vice Chancellor at the Open University. Her research investigates how active volcanoes affect their environment and impact global climate change. She leads the citizen science project Earth Watch.[1]

Hazel Rymer
Alma materUniversity of Reading (BSc)
Open University (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsVolcanology
InstitutionsOpen University
ThesisGravity studies of sub-surface structures and evolution of active volcanoes in Costa Rica (1985)
Websitewww.open.ac.uk/people/hr4

Early life and education

Rymer grew up in Reading, Berkshire[2] and studied physics at the University of Reading. She earned her PhD in geophysics from the Open University which studied sub-surfaces of volcanoes in Costa Rica.[3][4] She looked at the structure of pit craters in Masaya Volcano.[5]

Career and research

Rymer's research focuses on the environmental and ecological hazards posed by active volcanoes.[6] Rymer looked to track the volatile flux of the Mount Etna, Masaya and Poás volcanoes by monitoring the volcanic plume and environmental sinks.[6][7] She chose these volcanoes because they have persistent, low levels of volcanic activity.[8] Her research looks to inform evacuation strategies and crop cultivation.[6]

Rymer developed new techniques to evaluate the size of supervolcanoes.[9] She has worked on new microgravity meters to monitor the magma inside volcanoes.[10] The gravity meters contain very sensitive spring balances. Rymer places these meters at hundreds of places across a volcano, developing a contour map that details how gravity varies in space.[10] Rymer monitored the volcanoes for extended periods of time, in an effort to monitor the movement of magma, and whether eruptions will be explosive or not.[10] She has kept one gravity meter (GM513) for thirty years.[2] She holds several patents for low-cost gravity metres.[11][12]

She began to study the Poás Volcano, which she describes as her favourite, in 1989.[13][14] Because she has been travelling it for so long, she can make predictions about when the volcanoes may erupt in the future.[14] She leads the citizen science project Earth Watch, and since 2008 has used this to engage members of the public in earth monitoring.[1] Volunteers use Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors to monitor for volcanic gases and devices that collect geoelectric information.[8] Whilst monitoring the Poás Volcano, information from the citizen scientists helped the National Park officials restrict access to the crater during the 2009 degassing.[15] These informed operational guidelines for monitoring degassing for Nicaragua and Costa Rica.[15] As part of her monitoring work, Rymer visited the Poás Volcano in January 2009 when there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake.[6] The Poás Volcano erupted in 2009 and prevented further study.[8]

She also worked on Askja, a stratovolcano in Iceland, and observed changes in the seismic activity in 2007. She then investigated whether the magma was travelling north and whether it was accumulating below Krafla.[16] She is interested in the environmental impact of volcanoes.[1] She has investigated whether plants and soil are impacted by volcano-dervied heavy elements, so-called "bio-indicators".[8][14] She developed a molecular biology test to monitor the hairs of Tradescantia pallida, where volcanic pollution can cause a visible mutations of a recessive gene that can cause chromosomal damage in pollen.[8] Her group also use inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to study the concentrations of heavy elements in plant material.[8]

She served for six years on the council of the Geological Society of London. She is on the executive committee of the International Council for Open and Distance Education.[17] She contributed to the 2015 Encyclopedia of Volcanoes.[18] In 2016 Rymer appeared on The Life Scientific.[19] Rymer was appointed Pro-Vice Chancellor at the Open University in 2018.[17]

References
  1. Earthwatch, Dr. Hazel Rymer Discusses Volcanos, retrieved 3 February 2019
  2. Buckley, Anna (27 September 2018). The Life Scientific: Explorers. Orion. ISBN 9781474607490.
  3. Rymer, H.; Brown, G. C (1986). "Gravity fields and the interpretation of volcanic structures: Geological discrimination and temporal evolution". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 27 (3): 229–254. doi:10.1016/0377-0273(86)90015-6. ISSN 0377-0273.
  4. Rymer, Hazel (1985). Gravity studies of sub-surface structures and evolution of active volcanoes in Costa Rica. copac.jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). Open University. OCLC 496958724. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.355997.
  5. Rymer, Hazel; van Wyk de Vries, Benjamin; Stix, John; Williams-Jones, Glyn (1998). "Pit crater structure and processes governing persistent activity at Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua". Bulletin of Volcanology. 59 (5): 345–355. doi:10.1007/s004450050196. ISSN 1432-0819.
  6. "Earthquake and eruptive activity at Poás volcano, Costa Rica". OpenLearn. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  7. Locke, Corinne A.; Ferrucci, Fabrizio; Rymer, Hazel (1998). "Mount Etna: monitoring in the past, present and future". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 143 (1): 335–347. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1998.143.01.22. ISSN 0305-8719.
  8. "Volcanology and Ecology in Nicaragua". Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  9. "Assessing the size of explosive super-eruptions: how big is big?". ukri.org. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  10. "Weighing Volcanoes with Gravity | Interviews". thenakedscientists.com. The Naked Scientists. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  11. 6668646, Davies, Mark; Raymond Joseph Matela & Hazel Rymer, "Gravity meter", issued 2003-12-30
  12. "Gravity Meter". 2004. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  13. Morales, Louis D.; Barquero, Jorge; Stevenson, David; Kapadia, Phiroze; Dowden, John; Rymer, Hazel; Brown, Geoff (1989). "Energy budget analysis for Poás crater lake: implications for predicting volcanic activity". Nature. 339 (6223): 370–373. doi:10.1038/339370a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  14. GeologyLogic, Predicting Volcanoes, retrieved 3 February 2019
  15. "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  16. "Gravity measurements of magma movements; detection of possible precursors to new eruption in Iceland". ukri.org. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  17. "Executive Committee Member: Hazel Rymer". icde.org. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  18. The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes - 2nd Edition. ISBN 978-0-12-385938-9.
  19. "The Life Scientific, Hazel Rymer on volcanoes". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
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