Hazel Rymer on volcanoes
The Life Scientific
BBC
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2016
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hazel Rymer has journeyed closer to the centre of the earth than most, regularly peering into the turbulent, fiery world than makes up the earth's core. By taking measurements of micro-gravity on, and inside, volcanoes all over the world, she hopes to better understand why they erupt and what happens when they do. Having lost a close colleague to a random volcanic eruption, she appreciates the risks involved and, at the same time, insists that they are no greater than driving on the M25. She talks to Jim Al-Khalili about learning to think like a geologist after studying physics; the joys and frustrations of doing fieldwork on volcanoes; and why she loves gravity meter, G513.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and |
| 0:02.0 | welcome to the podcast of the Life Scientific. |
| 0:04.0 | First broadcast on BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Jim Alleili and my mission is to interview the |
| 0:10.0 | most fascinating and important scientists alive today and to find out what makes |
| 0:15.1 | them tick. Spluttering molten rock, extraordinary heat and intense pressure, my |
| 0:21.6 | guest today has journeyed closer to the center of the earth |
| 0:24.5 | than anyone I know, to the turbulent and fiery world that makes up the Earth's interior. |
| 0:29.7 | Professor Hazel Reimer regularly witnesses eruptions of burning lava and steaming gases bursting through the surface of our planet. |
| 0:38.0 | Her mission to try and understand volcanoes. |
| 0:41.0 | How do they work? Why do they erupt and what are the consequences |
| 0:45.0 | when they do? As a student I know you hated finicky equipment and swore you |
| 0:49.9 | to avoid it at all costs but somehow you've ended up in a lifelong relationship with a |
| 0:54.1 | highly temperamental scientific instrument the gravity meter taking readings on and |
| 1:00.4 | in volcanoes all over the world. |
| 1:02.6 | Hazel Raima, welcome to the Life Scientific. |
| 1:04.7 | Hello, nice to be here. |
| 1:06.2 | Now, for those of us who've not had the privilege, |
| 1:10.1 | what does it feel like climbing down into the crater of an active volcano? |
| 1:15.0 | I think it is probably the most awesome thing that you can ever do. |
| 1:20.0 | Just looking down into the crater is absolutely fantastic. |
| 1:24.0 | And all that bubbling molten rock, tremendous heat, that doesn't put you off? |
... |
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