Surveying underwater landslides in Antarctica

Matthew Owen, a UCL Geography postgraduate, with Dr Simon Day, from the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, has been invited to participate on a collaborative NERC/ British Antarctic Survey cruise on the RRS James Clark Ross from January to March next year. They will help investigate submarine volcano flank collapses around the South Sandwich Islands, and sediment failures in the Thiel Trough, a major glacial sediment outlet on the Weddell sea margin.

As a freelance marine geophysicist in recent years, Matthew has acquired many of the skills required for seabed mapping. The Antarctic work will be related to his PhD research, in the UCL Environmental Change Research Centre, relating to sediment failures on the Barra Fan, on the western British margin.