Shane Cronin
Director Volcanic Risk Solutions
BSc (Hons) (Earth Sciences) 1991
PhD (Earth Science) 1997
Professor, Massey University
Shane Cronin Journey to the centre of the earth
Hot stuff
Well he hasn’t, of course, actually been to the centre of the Earth. But if you’re looking for a bit of Indiana Jones in your job, Shane Cronin’s is probably about as close as you get.
From Saudi Arabia to Iceland, Korea to Hawaii, he has traveled all around the world, helping countries figure out how to predict, and decrease the risk of volcanic eruption.
That involves things like standing scarily close to red hot flowing lava on a Indonesian volcano, and spending months driving across roadless swathes of Iceland in a 4WD, guided only by GPS. All in the line of duty.
There’s lots of hard work in the data-gathering and research, but you can’t deny that becoming a volcanologist sounds like a brilliant way to impress your friends, and have a real impact on the world.
Today Shane’s Research Centre, Volcanic Risk Solutions, is one of the largest of its type in the world, taking calls from many unexpected corners for its expertise in the unpredictability of volcanoes, how they work, and what the risk is to human inhabitants of Earth.
Hot stuff
Well he hasn’t, of course, actually been to the centre of the Earth. But if you’re looking for a bit of Indiana Jones in your job, Shane Cronin’s is probably about as close as you get.
From Saudi Arabia to Iceland, Korea to Hawaii, he has traveled all around the world, helping countries figure out how to predict, and decrease the risk of volcanic eruption.
That involves things like standing scarily close to red hot flowing lava on a Indonesian volcano, and spending months driving across roadless swathes of Iceland in a 4WD, guided only by GPS. All in the line of duty.
There’s lots of hard work in the data-gathering and research, but you can’t deny that becoming a volcanologist sounds like a brilliant way to impress your friends, and have a real impact on the world.
Today Shane’s Research Centre, Volcanic Risk Solutions, is one of the largest of its type in the world, taking calls from many unexpected corners for its expertise in the unpredictability of volcanoes, how they work, and what the risk is to human inhabitants of Earth.
Shane Cronin
Director Volcanic Risk Solutions
BSc (Hons) (Earth Sciences) 1991
PhD (Earth Science) 1997
Professor, Massey University
What do volcanologists do?
He's from Vulcan, but he's not a vulcanologist.
Do you like things that go ‘boom’? The smell of sulphur? Climbing mountains? Even when it’s boiling hot? Or freezing cold? Love chemistry, physics or statistics? Super-organised? Would like to travel the world?
Volcanology (or vulcanology – you can spell it both ways, although that’s nothing to do with First Officer Spock’s planet of origin, more on that later) might be for you.
The formal description of volcanology includes studying the formation of volcanoes. Forecasting when their eruptions might happen is arguably the most important part of this science, with many cities, farms and power-stations near volcanoes and geothermal areas. At the very least, it’s about setting up warning systems and plans to ensure that the impact on humans is minimal.
You’ll have to put in some hard work – there’s lots of work to be done in painstaking measurements, calculations and reports, but you could have a huge impact on, well the face of the Earth!
Find out more about earth science
Get started!
If you want to follow in Shane’s footsteps or just want to learn more about what he does all day, check out our Area of Interest page for Earth Science. There you’ll learn more relating to what Earth Science is really all about, what kinds of careers you can get in that field, and how Massey University can help you get started down that path – just like Shane.