New session of IPGP’s Physical Volcanology MOOC

Why is the Earth a volcanic planet and what are the main types of volcanic eruption that can occur? How can volcanic eruptions be understood and modelled? Can we predict a volcanic eruption and how do we manage an eruptive crisis?

The “Physical Volcanology” MOOC aims to answer these questions by introducing the basic geological knowledge and physical science methods needed to understand how volcanoes work. Over the course of each session, the course will progress from the description of volcanic phenomena to the identification and modelling of the physical processes that generate these phenomena, thus unveiling the approach and methods of physical volcanology.

Proposed by Édouard Kaminski, professor of geophysics at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, University of Paris, and led by PhDs in geosciences from the IPGP, this MOOC is aimed at anyone interested in volcanoes and wishing to deepen their knowledge and understanding of volcanic phenomena.

Most of the content, in French, will be accessible to as many people as possible, but a level of mathematics equivalent to a science final year will be required to assimilate the more theoretical aspects (presented in week 5).

The Physical Volcanology MOOC is organised into seven chapters, each of which is divided into two to four video sessions of around ten minutes each. Each video session is supplemented by a compulsory multiple-choice questionnaire and optional application exercises “to go further”. One of the exercises will consist of an analogue experiment ‘at home’, and the course will end with a ‘fictitious volcanic crisis management’ exercise. You should expect to spend two to three hours a week following the course and preparing for the exercises.

> Registration and practical information on the www.fun-mooc.fr platform .