The accurate modelling of geophysical flows often requires information which is difficult to measure and therefore poorly quantified. For example, it is difficult to estimate the viscosity of lava during a volcanic eruption, or some of the properties of the ice flowing within a glacier.
However, when the flow is bounded by a free surface, the deformation of this free surface contains information which can be used to infer such unknown quantities. Professor Mathieu Sellier from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, has developed new mathematical methods and numerical tools to interpret the signature embedded in the free surface deformation.
Professor Sellier is currently visiting Cambridge and today gave the first seminar of term at the beginning of the new year at IEEF. He presented the results of a number of experiments, including one in which a real molten lava flow was recreated and recorded in the laboratory! During these experiments, data such as the shape and velocity of the flow at its free surface were used to recover unknown parameters, such as the viscosity of the fluid or the flow depth.
During the coming weeks, professor Sellier will continue his time in Cambridge, hosted by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and Jesus College. You can find more information about his research here.