The Lab
Construction
Every experiment begins with careful planning. Although many experiments have been conducted in the Fragmentation Lab of the Department of Earth Sciences of LMU Munich, each one has its own specifications and requires the design and construction of new components.
Experiments
At the LMU facilities, we reconstruct the physical conditions of volcanic vents in order to create small-scale plumes.
Volcanic rock samples are first pressurized within a sealed autoclave. The pressure is then rapidly released, blowing up the materia in ash-sized fragments. Several instruments can be deployed simultaneously to observe and measure the plume characteristics and the occurrence of flashes.
Field Work
The next stage of the project involves field observations aimed at identifying the responsible parameters for generating the lightning. As part of a large-scale project supported by the European Research Council (ERC), we have developed a unique set of instruments which are capable of measuring and analysing flashes. We use them for example at the Cumbre Vieja volcanic chain, which provided an exceptional kick-off opportunity for our project.
The hard part – Data evaluation
After the field work, we come home with a lot of data that has to be processed…