• Question: whats your best peace of work you have ever done?

    Asked by re09 to James P, James V, Nuala on 5 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Hi re09,

      My best piece of work so far is my initial results paper, which I published last August. First person to do this work anywhere in the world and it was all mine (with help from my supervisors and some colleagues). A really awesome experience to have my work published and so far, it’s definately my best work!

      I hope more, and better work will follow in the years to come though!

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Hi re09,
      During my PhD I helped to develop a method that can be used to image fractures in the earth’s crust. This can be useful in all sorts of situations: for example

      1) in coal mines, if there are too many fractures, you may get a cave-in,
      2) in oil reservoirs, where oil can flow along fractures, so the best place to drill is one with a lot of fractures, and,
      3) in volcanoes, where magma can flow along fractures before an eruption.

      How it works is a little bit technical, but I’ll do my best to explain simply. When seismic waves travel through a fractured rock, they are modified slightly. I developed method to use these modulations, using small seismic events from around the area of interest to work out where the fractures are.

      This idea is now used by people in the oil industry, as well as people working on volcanoes, and I was the one who came up with it. Which I find pretty cool to be honest 🙂 !!!

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Hey re09,

      I suppose that depends. The piece of work i enjoyed the most was probably when i went out on a research cruise and got to learn to use all the equipment! Scientifically the best piece of work is what i am doing right now, i wont bore you with the details but i am trying to make the computer model represent sea ice better!

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