Lecture: Ear to the Ground – Listening into Extraordinary Conversations between the Oceans and the Solid Earth (Prof. Chris Bean, DIAS) – THIS Wednesday 25th October 2017

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our lecture on “Graphite: the New Black Gold” (George Reynolds) had to be postponed.   We are so lucky to host another talk and many thanks to Professor Chris Bean for stepping in at such notice for this.

Planet Earth is a connected system of physical, chemical and biological interactions. Yet in our minds we tend to divide it into multiple compartments. Two of those compartments are the Oceans and the Solid Earth. With the exception of our weather systems, we usually think of them as separate entities, largely divided from each other. This could not be further from the truth. Even in the centre of continental land masses we can sense the oceans of the world through their distal ground vibrations. It is a long-range conversation. These vibrations hold information about the oceans themselves and through some clever decoding also allow us that keep a continuous health check on the whole planet, especially its volcanoes. In this talk we will explore the origins of the ocean’s ‘voice’ and see how it can be used to monitor our world.

Professor Christopher J. Bean

Short Bio. Chris Bean holds a BA in Mathematics, M.Sc. in Applied Geophysics and a PhD in Seismology. He is currently Professor of Geophysics in the School of Cosmic Physics, at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS). Previous positions include Professor of Geophysics at the School of Earth Sciences, University College Dublin and postdoctoral/visiting positions at Karlsruhe University Germany, IPGP Paris, Stanford University USA and the University of Granada Spain. His research interests include the quantification of ocean wave generated ambient microseism noise and pre-eruptive material failure on volcanoes. His primary research funders include the European Commission, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Geological Survey Ireland & Marine Institute.

Chris Bean heads towards Hekla volcano, Iceland.

When and where:  The lecture theatre in the Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Dublin 4 on Wednesday, October 25th, between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. Coffee and biscuits will available from 5:30 pm.  All welcome.