Tamsin Mather

Tamsin Mather
FRS MAE
Tamsin Mather at the summit of Villarrica volcano, Chile in 2003
Born
Tamsin Alice Mather

1976 (age 47–48)[1][3]
Bristol,[4] England
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (MSci, MPhil, PhD)
ChildrenTwo[5]
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsVolcanology[2]
Atmospheric chemistry[2]
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford
ThesisNear-source chemistry of tropospheric volcanic plumes (2004)
Websitewww.earth.ox.ac.uk/people/mather Edit this at Wikidata
Scholia has a profile for Tamsin A. Mather (Q55487783).

Tamsin Alice Mather FRS MAE (born 1976)[1][3][4] is a British Professor of Earth Sciences at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford[2][6][7][8] and a Fellow of University College, Oxford.[9] She studies volcanic processes and their impacts on the Earth's environment[10] and has appeared on the television and radio.

Education

Mather was born and raised in Bristol, the daughter of William Mather and Felicity Mather.[4] She was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1999, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in 2000 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2004.[1][11] As an undergraduate she studied the Natural Sciences Tripos before switching to the History and Philosophy of Science for her MPhil (in the same MPhil class as Helen Macdonald and Katherine Angel).[1] She spent a year working abroad before returning to science for her PhD which was completed in the Department of Earth Sciences and investigated the chemistry of volcanic plumes in the troposphere.[11][12][13] Her PhD involved working in Chile, Nicaragua and Italy.[13][14]

Career and research

Mather studies volcanic behaviour working to understand volcanoes as natural hazards, planetary scale processes and natural resources.[15][16] Mather is a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and a fellow of University College, Oxford.[17]

She is part of the Centre for the Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) project,[18] which is a “collaborative centre for understanding tectonic and volcanic processes and hazards though the integrated application of Earth Observation (EO) data, ground-based measurements, and geophysical models”.

Other current projects include: the European Research Council funded project Revealing hidden volcanic triggers for global environmental change events in Earth’s geological past using mercury (Hg); Rethinking Natural Resources [19] funded by the Oxford Martin School.

Previous projects include the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded RiftVolc project,[20] researching past and current volcanism and volcanic hazards in the main Ethiopian rift; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded Volatiles, Geodynamics & Solid Earth Controls on the Habitable Planet programme researching deep Earth influences in the long-term evolution of the Earth;[21] the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Strengthening Resilience in Volcanic Areas collaboration, (STREVA) which looked to establish a risk assessment framework for volcanoes.[22]

Her research into the role of volcanism in planetary scale processes[23] includes the discovery that volcanic vents perform nitrogen fixation making it available to for use by life, possibly a significant source on the early Earth as life was evolving.[24][25] and the potential of the element mercury as a tracer for past large-scale volcanism with widespread environmental impacts including mass extinction events.[26]

Mather's other research includes investigations into volcanic plumes,[27] the effects of volcanic emissions and aerosols on the environment, and the structure and stability of volcanoes.[28] She has also studied the emissions from Buncefield fire at the Buncefield oil depot in 2005[28] and is interested in the mercury cycle,[29] as well as other biogeochemical cycles.

Mather has led or collaborated on work studying volcanoes around the world, both in situ and using remote sensing data from ground or satellite based platforms.[5] Volcanoes Mather has studied include Bárðarbunga,[30] Hekla,[31] and Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland,[32] the Santorini caldera in Greece,[33] the Villarica, Lascar, Chaitén[34] and Calbuco volcanoes in Chile,[35][13][36] Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua[37] (where she was held up at gunpoint),[5][38] Mount Etna in Italy,[39] Galeras in Colombia,[40] the Santiaguito lava dome complex in Guatemala,[41] and the Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia.[20][42]

Mather's research has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC),[43] the European Research Council and the Royal Society.[23]

In 2005 she served as a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) Fellow[44] producing a POSTnote note on Carbon capture and storage,[45] she served as co-editor-in-chief of Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2014–2019, on the board of directors of the Geochemical Society 2017–2019,[44] on the Natural Environment Research Council Science Board/Committee 2017–2021 and on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program Science Advisory Group 2019–2022. She currently serves as the Chair of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group for UK and Ireland [46] and the Police Science Council.[47]

Media and outreach

In 2016 Mather appeared on the BBC World Service discussing volcanoes and earthquakes.[48] Mather was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific in 2017.[5] She has taken part in Pint of Science, lectured at the Royal Institution[49][50] and appeared on podcasts.[5] She was a guest on The Infinite Monkey Cage alongside Jo Brand and Clive Oppenheimer in February 2018[51] and spoke at New Scientist Live in 2018.[12] and was again a guest on The Infinite Monkey Cage in July 2023 [52]

In 2024 she published her first book 'Adventures in Volcanoland' in the UK (Abacus) and USA (Hanover Square Press).

Awards and honours

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Mather, Tamsin (2013). "Tamsin Mather CV" (PDF). earth.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Tamsin Mather publications indexed by Google Scholar Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ a b Tamsin Mather at Library of Congress
  4. ^ a b c Anon (2019). "Mather, Prof. Tamsin Alice". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U290852. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ a b c d e Al-Khalili, Jim (2017). "Tamsin Mather on what volcanic plumes reveal about our planet". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  6. ^ Tamsin Mather publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  7. ^ "Tamsin Mather's home page". Earth.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  8. ^ "Department of Earth Sciences » Tamsin Mather". Earth.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Tamsin Mather - University College Oxford". Univ.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  10. ^ Pyle, D.M.; Mather, T.A. (2009). "Halogens in igneous processes and their fluxes to the atmosphere and oceans from volcanic activity: A review". Chemical Geology. 263 (1–4): 110–121. Bibcode:2009ChGeo.263..110P. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.11.013. ISSN 0009-2541. S2CID 129568822.
  11. ^ a b Mather, Tamsin Alice (2004). Near-source chemistry of tropospheric volcanic plumes. cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 890159789. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.616245.
  12. ^ a b "Tamsin Mather". live.newscientist.com. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  13. ^ a b c Forde, Anne (2005). "A Volcanologist's Vista". sciencemag.org. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  14. ^ "Meet Tamsin Mather, a volcanologist who cameos in the Mars Diary". marsdiary.org. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  15. ^ "We could power the world with volcanoes". futurism.com. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  16. ^ "Tamsin Mather". theconversation.com. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  17. ^ "Professor Tamsin Mather". ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  18. ^ "Welcome to the Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET)". Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics.
  19. ^ "Rethinking Natural Resources".
  20. ^ a b "Rift Volcanism: Past, Present and Future". ed.ac.uk. University of Edinburgh.
  21. ^ "Deep Volatiles".
  22. ^ "What we do". streva.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  23. ^ a b c Anon (2018). "Tamsin Mather". royalsociety.org. Royal Society. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Why more women should consider a career in science". The Guardian. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  25. ^ Martin, Jason (20 July 2009). "Oxford teacher's volcano ventures". Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  26. ^ "New evidence that volcanic eruptions triggered the dawn of the dinosaurs". 20 June 2017.
  27. ^ Mather, T. A.; Pyle, D. M.; Oppenheimer, C. (2003). "Tropospheric volcanic aerosol". Volcanism and the Earth's Atmosphere. Geophysical Monograph Series. Vol. 139. pp. 189–212. doi:10.1029/139GM12. ISBN 0-87590-998-1. ISSN 0065-8448.
  28. ^ a b "Professor Tamsin Mather - University of Oxford". Ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  29. ^ Pyle, David M.; Mather, Tamsin A. (2003). "The importance of volcanic emissions for the global atmospheric mercury cycle". Atmospheric Environment. 37 (36): 5115–5124. Bibcode:2003AtmEn..37.5115P. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2003.07.011. ISSN 1352-2310.
  30. ^ Schmidt, Anja; Leadbetter, Susan; Theys, Nicolas; Carboni, Elisa; Witham, Claire S.; Stevenson, John A.; Birch, Cathryn E.; Thordarson, Thorvaldur; Turnock, Steven; Barsotti, Sara; Delaney, Lin; Feng, Wuhu; Grainger, Roy G.; Hort, Matthew C.; Höskuldsson, Ármann; Ialongo, Iolanda; Ilyinskaya, Evgenia; Jóhannsson, Thorsteinn; Kenny, Patrick; Mather, Tamsin A.; Richards, Nigel A. D.; Shepherd, Janet (2015). "Satellite detection, long-range transport, and air quality impacts of volcanic sulfur dioxide from the 2014-2015 flood lava eruption at Bárðarbunga (Iceland)" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 120 (18): 9739–9757. Bibcode:2015JGRD..120.9739S. doi:10.1002/2015JD023638. ISSN 2169-897X.
  31. ^ Rose, William I.; Millard, Genevieve A.; Mather, Tamsin A.; Hunton, Donald E.; Anderson, Bruce; Oppenheimer, Clive; Thornton, Brett F.; Gerlach, Terrence M.; Viggiano, Albert A.; Kondo, Yutaka; Miller, Thomas M.; Ballenthin, John O. (2006). "Atmospheric chemistry of a 33–34 hour old volcanic cloud from Hekla Volcano (Iceland): Insights from direct sampling and the application of chemical box modeling". Journal of Geophysical Research. 111 (D20). Bibcode:2006JGRD..11120206R. doi:10.1029/2005JD006872. ISSN 0148-0227.
  32. ^ Harrison, R G; Nicoll, K A; Ulanowski, Z; Mather, T A (2010). "Self-charging of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash plume". Environmental Research Letters. 5 (2): 024004. Bibcode:2010ERL.....5b4004H. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/5/2/024004. hdl:2299/4663. ISSN 1748-9326.
  33. ^ Parks, Michelle M.; Biggs, Juliet; England, Philip; Mather, Tamsin A.; Nomikou, Paraskevi; Palamartchouk, Kirill; Papanikolaou, Xanthos; Paradissis, Demitris; Parsons, Barry; Pyle, David M.; Raptakis, Costas; Zacharis, Vangelis (2012). "Evolution of Santorini Volcano dominated by episodic and rapid fluxes of melt from depth". Nature Geoscience. 5 (10): 749–754. Bibcode:2012NatGe...5..749P. doi:10.1038/ngeo1562. ISSN 1752-0894. Closed access icon
  34. ^ Watt, Sebastian F. L.; Pyle, David M.; Mather, Tamsin A.; Martin, Robert S.; Matthews, Naomi E. (2009). "Fallout and distribution of volcanic ash over Argentina following the May 2008 explosive eruption of Chaitén, Chile". Journal of Geophysical Research. 114 (B4). Bibcode:2009JGRB..114.4207W. doi:10.1029/2008JB006219. ISSN 0148-0227.
  35. ^ "Professor Tamsin A. Mather" (PDF). earth.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2018.
  36. ^ Mather, T. A.; Tsanev, V. I.; Pyle, D. M.; McGonigle, A. J. S.; Oppenheimer, C.; Allen, A. G. (2004). "Characterization and evolution of tropospheric plumes from Lascar and Villarrica volcanoes, Chile". Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 109 (D21): n/a. Bibcode:2004JGRD..10921303M. doi:10.1029/2004JD004934. ISSN 0148-0227.
  37. ^ Mather, T. A.; Allen, A. G.; Oppenheimer, C.; Pyle, D. M.; McGonigle, A. J. S. (2003). "Size-Resolved Characterisation of Soluble Ions in the Particles in the Tropospheric Plume of Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua: Origins and Plume Processing". Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry. 46 (3): 207–237. Bibcode:2003JAtC...46..207M. doi:10.1023/A:1026327502060. ISSN 0167-7764. S2CID 91232105.
  38. ^ "Bandits must've seen our car on the crater rim; two guys with a rifle and a machete turned up". sciencefocus.com. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  39. ^ Martin, R. S.; Mather, T. A.; Pyle, D. M.; Power, M.; Allen, A. G.; Aiuppa, A.; Horwell, C. J.; Ward, E. P. W. (2008). "Composition-resolved size distributions of volcanic aerosols in the Mt. Etna plumes". Journal of Geophysical Research. 113 (D17). Bibcode:2008JGRD..11317211M. doi:10.1029/2007JD009648. ISSN 0148-0227.
  40. ^ Parks, Michelle (2013). Volcanic processes during eruption and unrest : combining satellite and ground-based monitoring at Galeras and Santorini volcanoes. ora.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.588458.
  41. ^ Scott, Jeannie A. J. (2013). Origin and evolution of the Santiaguito lava dome complex, Guatemala. ora.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.600026. Free access icon
  42. ^ Hutchison, William (2015). Past, present and future volcanic activity at restless calderas in the Main Ethiopian Rift. ora.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.714049.
  43. ^ "GTR". Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  44. ^ a b "2018 Board of Directors :: Geochemical Society". geochemsoc.org. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  45. ^ "Carbon capture and storage (CCS), March 2005". 7 January 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  46. ^ "Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group".
  47. ^ "Police Science Council".
  48. ^ Anon (2016). "The Unpredictable Planet: Understanding Volcanoes and Earthquakes, The Forum - BBC World Service". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  49. ^ "The science beneath our feet: De-extinction and volcanoes". rigb.org. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  50. ^ "Volcanic violence and magnetic madness". pintofscience.co.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  51. ^ "Volcanoes, Series 17, The Infinite Monkey Cage".
  52. ^ "Supervolcanoes, Series 27, The Infinite Monkey Cage".
  53. ^ "Professor Tamsin Mather FRS". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  54. ^ "Geochemistry Fellows: Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry". eag.eu.com.
  55. ^ "Academia Europaea Tamsin Mather MAE". ae-info.org.
  56. ^ "Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture". Royal Society. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  57. ^ "UK National Commission for UNESCO - 2008 UK and Ireland Fellows". UK National Commission for UNESCO. Retrieved 20 July 2018.