Pete Rowley
@pyroclasticpete.bsky.social
Volcanologist at University of Bristol specialising in explosive eruptions, pyroclastic density currents, and hazards. Occasional brewer, baker and blacksmith. Runs UGUK Earth science teaching resource portal https://earth-science.org.uk/teach-earth
Some pyritised ammonites from Charmouth last weekend
November 14, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Some pyritised ammonites from Charmouth last weekend
One of the fluoro strips in my office has been going for the last month. Estates came in and replaced it today but they only have LED versions now. My office has gone from flickering Stasi-like interrogation room to making me wonder if I'm Mike TV
a man in a top hat stands next to a child and says " goggles on please "
ALT: a man in a top hat stands next to a child and says " goggles on please "
media.tenor.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:33 PM
One of the fluoro strips in my office has been going for the last month. Estates came in and replaced it today but they only have LED versions now. My office has gone from flickering Stasi-like interrogation room to making me wonder if I'm Mike TV
Reposted by Pete Rowley
Come do an exciting new PhD project with fieldwork in the Caribbean and S Pacific working on understanding what happens when powerful lahars enter the ocean - with me, @isobelyeo.bsky.social at @noc.ac.uk
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Assessing the impacts of ocean-entering lahars: A globally-important but poorly-understood process at University of Southampton on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Assessing the impacts of ocean-entering lahars: A globally-important but poorly-understood process at University of Southampton, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 15, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Come do an exciting new PhD project with fieldwork in the Caribbean and S Pacific working on understanding what happens when powerful lahars enter the ocean - with me, @isobelyeo.bsky.social at @noc.ac.uk
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Office hours just now:
Student: "will this notebook be OK? I'm concerned that ring bindings might not be hardy enough"
Me: "This ringbound notebook is fine. I've been using it since..." *checks first page* ".... 2006"
Student: That was the year I was born.
Student: "will this notebook be OK? I'm concerned that ring bindings might not be hardy enough"
Me: "This ringbound notebook is fine. I've been using it since..." *checks first page* ".... 2006"
Student: That was the year I was born.
Burn GIF
ALT: Burn GIF
media.tenor.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Office hours just now:
Student: "will this notebook be OK? I'm concerned that ring bindings might not be hardy enough"
Me: "This ringbound notebook is fine. I've been using it since..." *checks first page* ".... 2006"
Student: That was the year I was born.
Student: "will this notebook be OK? I'm concerned that ring bindings might not be hardy enough"
Me: "This ringbound notebook is fine. I've been using it since..." *checks first page* ".... 2006"
Student: That was the year I was born.
Reposted by Pete Rowley
This paper by Meredith et al. (2025) examines global city exposure to volcanic hazards, using metrics such as population and distance to GVP Holocene volcanoes to quantify and rank cities at risk. This data has also been visualised through a web app. nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/...
Cities near volcanoes: which cities are most exposed to volcanic hazards?
Abstract. Cities near volcanoes expose dense concentrations of people, buildings, and infrastructure to volcanic hazards. Identifying cities globally that are exposed to volcanic hazards helps guide l...
nhess.copernicus.org
August 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This paper by Meredith et al. (2025) examines global city exposure to volcanic hazards, using metrics such as population and distance to GVP Holocene volcanoes to quantify and rank cities at risk. This data has also been visualised through a web app. nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/...
Reposted by Pete Rowley
Looking for recommendations!
I went an online storage for our research group and their data. So we can archive video data, image data etc., from a long line of projects. Files downloadable, but secure/backed up. Where people can deposit easily for our own purposes (made open by other means).
I went an online storage for our research group and their data. So we can archive video data, image data etc., from a long line of projects. Files downloadable, but secure/backed up. Where people can deposit easily for our own purposes (made open by other means).
August 9, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Looking for recommendations!
I went an online storage for our research group and their data. So we can archive video data, image data etc., from a long line of projects. Files downloadable, but secure/backed up. Where people can deposit easily for our own purposes (made open by other means).
I went an online storage for our research group and their data. So we can archive video data, image data etc., from a long line of projects. Files downloadable, but secure/backed up. Where people can deposit easily for our own purposes (made open by other means).
Reposted by Pete Rowley
We tried compiling a global database of deposit descriptions of pyroclastic density current deposits. The aim was to help us do big data analysis, look for common trends, and to support modelling.
We got some interesting results but also, found some really significant issues and gaps #IAVCEI2025
We got some interesting results but also, found some really significant issues and gaps #IAVCEI2025
July 4, 2025 at 8:05 AM
We tried compiling a global database of deposit descriptions of pyroclastic density current deposits. The aim was to help us do big data analysis, look for common trends, and to support modelling.
We got some interesting results but also, found some really significant issues and gaps #IAVCEI2025
We got some interesting results but also, found some really significant issues and gaps #IAVCEI2025
My challenge for this weekend is to work out the delay on the BBC Glastonbury coverage based on what I can hear in the back garden and the speed of sound.
June 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
My challenge for this weekend is to work out the delay on the BBC Glastonbury coverage based on what I can hear in the back garden and the speed of sound.
If cats are liquid this must be some kind of pitch-drop experiment
June 18, 2025 at 8:09 AM
If cats are liquid this must be some kind of pitch-drop experiment
Diane Morgan's episodee of Who Do You think You are is a wonderful genre crossover / 4th wall experience.
June 14, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Diane Morgan's episodee of Who Do You think You are is a wonderful genre crossover / 4th wall experience.
Delighted that this paper has hit p[ublication. Nemi did a truly amazing job on all of this, and together with 3 other papers (1 published 2023, the others winging their way to print soon) has really moved forward our understanding of moisture in pyroclastic sediments.
NEW PAPER!
Happy to say my 3rd results chapter from my PhD has been published! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
(1/)
Happy to say my 3rd results chapter from my PhD has been published! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
(1/)
The influence of moisture on ash strength: implications for understanding volcanic stratigraphy - Bulletin of Volcanology
Ash layers within extensive pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits can be important in understanding the evolution of explosive eruptions. If interpreted as ashfall deposits, they may be used to i...
link.springer.com
May 6, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Delighted that this paper has hit p[ublication. Nemi did a truly amazing job on all of this, and together with 3 other papers (1 published 2023, the others winging their way to print soon) has really moved forward our understanding of moisture in pyroclastic sediments.
Reposted by Pete Rowley
Reposted by Pete Rowley
Great to see this research covered by the BBC - looking forward to seeing what we discover from all the data that were collected last month! Nice work by @isobelyeo.bsky.social on radio and TV interviews!
April 21, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Great to see this research covered by the BBC - looking forward to seeing what we discover from all the data that were collected last month! Nice work by @isobelyeo.bsky.social on radio and TV interviews!
Gneiss geology up here.
April 14, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Gneiss geology up here.
Whale (?) breaching in the Clyde this afternoon. Think it might be a Minke? Blew a water spout first then breached about a dozen times around the same place.
March 12, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Whale (?) breaching in the Clyde this afternoon. Think it might be a Minke? Blew a water spout first then breached about a dozen times around the same place.
This is just plain dangerous.
Thoughts are with friends and colleagues impacted by this. I guess there's no reasoning with uninformed zealots.
Thoughts are with friends and colleagues impacted by this. I guess there's no reasoning with uninformed zealots.
This includes the USGS Hawaiian and Alaska Volcano Observatories. HVO's Ironworks is a temporary space while a new facility is built to replace the Observatory critically damaged in 2018. Both groups are near their volcanoes. Neither has anywhere to go and both have been forbidden from telework.
Congress has just released a list of federal DOI offices to be closed under the ongoing massacre of our natural resource agencies -- it's extensive and includes many important NPS, BLM, USGS and USFWS facilities across the country. Truly horrific. democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/do...
March 2, 2025 at 7:52 PM
This is just plain dangerous.
Thoughts are with friends and colleagues impacted by this. I guess there's no reasoning with uninformed zealots.
Thoughts are with friends and colleagues impacted by this. I guess there's no reasoning with uninformed zealots.
8.30 pm. This is a trap. Any attempt to stroke floof will result in teeth and 4 sets claws being embedded in your hand. This is not to be confused with 7 am floof which must be stroked immediately to avoid loud meowing.
February 13, 2025 at 8:35 PM
8.30 pm. This is a trap. Any attempt to stroke floof will result in teeth and 4 sets claws being embedded in your hand. This is not to be confused with 7 am floof which must be stroked immediately to avoid loud meowing.
Reposted by Pete Rowley
🧪 Frustrated by the actions (or inactions) of some of our professional and learned societies during this ongoing attack on #science and scholarship more generally?
If so, this letter to the @royalsociety.org from my mate, @scurry.bsky.social, is worth a read and I hope, signing ✍🏻
If so, this letter to the @royalsociety.org from my mate, @scurry.bsky.social, is worth a read and I hope, signing ✍🏻
An open letter to the President of the @royalsociety.org – time to stand up for your values. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
An open letter to the President of the Royal Society – time to stand up for your values | Reciprocal Space
occamstypewriter.org
February 11, 2025 at 6:54 PM
🧪 Frustrated by the actions (or inactions) of some of our professional and learned societies during this ongoing attack on #science and scholarship more generally?
If so, this letter to the @royalsociety.org from my mate, @scurry.bsky.social, is worth a read and I hope, signing ✍🏻
If so, this letter to the @royalsociety.org from my mate, @scurry.bsky.social, is worth a read and I hope, signing ✍🏻
Me: Wifi in my office is incredibly slow and keeps dropping out"
IT: Please install this 140MB diagnostic software
Me: Download attempt 3 and counting before it times out.
IT: Please install this 140MB diagnostic software
Me: Download attempt 3 and counting before it times out.
January 28, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Me: Wifi in my office is incredibly slow and keeps dropping out"
IT: Please install this 140MB diagnostic software
Me: Download attempt 3 and counting before it times out.
IT: Please install this 140MB diagnostic software
Me: Download attempt 3 and counting before it times out.
Months of knocking shit off the mantle piece finally clears enough ground to just lie there and absorb heat from the fire
January 17, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Months of knocking shit off the mantle piece finally clears enough ground to just lie there and absorb heat from the fire
Start of teaching, school and faculty exam boards, NERC deadlines and PhD application shortlisting all landing in the same 7 day window.
a woman is using a vacuum cleaner in a living room while wearing a hula hoop around her waist .
ALT: a woman is using a vacuum cleaner in a living room while wearing a hula hoop around her waist .
media.tenor.com
January 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Start of teaching, school and faculty exam boards, NERC deadlines and PhD application shortlisting all landing in the same 7 day window.
Had a walk out at Stockholm woods near Priddy. Plenty of ice and snow still on the ground and some particularly pretty light through the trees
January 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Had a walk out at Stockholm woods near Priddy. Plenty of ice and snow still on the ground and some particularly pretty light through the trees
Actually snowed in. Couple of inches of snow with more falling and there doesn't appear to have been a gritter or plough even on the main roads.
January 7, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Actually snowed in. Couple of inches of snow with more falling and there doesn't appear to have been a gritter or plough even on the main roads.
Went to see the starlings at Ham Wall this evening. Always impressive (as long as you luck out and go to the right place...)
January 3, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Went to see the starlings at Ham Wall this evening. Always impressive (as long as you luck out and go to the right place...)