Experiments on ice melting in nature

Constraining the key controls on ice melting in glaciers and the ocean is essential for climate models. Edoardo Bellincioni is a PhD student, currently working in the Physics of Fluids group at the University of Twente under the supervision of Sander Husiman and Detlef Lohse. During his PhD, Edoardo has been running laboratory experiments to

Forecasting volcanic eruptions

Volcanic eruptions threaten more than one in ten people worldwide, with the greatest risk at volcanoes reawakening after long quiescence. In these settings, eruptions are often explosive and nearby communities may be unprepared.  After obtaining his PhD at IEEF, Dr Eric Newland has been working on the NERC-funded project “FEVER: Forecasting Eruptions at Volcanoes after

Entrainment across turbulent interfaces

Turbulent flows are known to broaden with downstream distance, owing to the entrainment and mixing of ambient fluid into the flow. In the special case where the background is non-turbulent, the entrainment across the interface between the turbulent flow and the non-turbulent ambient is driven by viscous diffusion of the turbulent fluid into the ambient. 

Multiphase flows in volcanic systems

This week’s scheduled speaker, Angus Fotherby, was unwell and could not give the first seminar of the new year. We wish him a quick recovery and hope he will be able to return before the end of term to tell us about Chromium contamination and remediation in India. Today, professor Andy Woods discussed a number

Coastal upwelling in lakes

Large lakes tend to be thermally stratified, with a layer of relatively warm water near the surface, and a deeper layer of colder water underneath. The temperature of the surface water fluctuates over the year, while the temperature of the deeper water remains more stable: hence, the thermal stratification is strongest during the summer, when

Plumes in a turbulent cross-flow

During the second part of today’s seminar, MPhil student James Sear presented the results of his new experiments on turbulent plumes in a cross-flow. During the last few months, James has been studying what happens when a steady flux of contaminants are released into a river: the contaminants are transported by the current, while being