Itahisa Gonzalez Alvarez

Profile

Academic background

• BSc Physics, University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain). Bachelor’s thesis awarded the maximum mark.
• MSc Geophysics, University of Granada (Granada, Spain). Master’s thesis awarded the maximum mark (honours).

Research interests

I am interested in realistic seismic wave propagation and realistic Earth’s inner structure.

My master’s thesis focused on simulating the propagation of seismic waves through a realistic medium in order to find an explanation to the anomalies observed at several seismic arrays installed on Deception Island, Antarctica.

For my PhD, I focus on the study of the small-scale structure of the lithosphere by statistically characterising different attenuation mechanisms using an Energy Flux Model. I use Bayesian inference to obtain the characteristic scale length of the heterogeneity, as well as the RMS velocity fluctuations (heterogeneity strength). The main aim of my project is to use this information to develop a technique that can sucessfully remove the effect of scattering from seismic recordings.

Research groups

I am part of the team organising and running our institute’s fortnightly Seismology Group Meetings.

Conference participation

• 2018, New Advances in Geophysics – Geophysical answers to global security challenges. London.
  Small-scale heterogeneities beneath three Australian arrays. Oral presentation.

• 2018, AGU Fall Meeting. Washington DC.
  Lithospheric scattering and structure beneath seismic arrays from teleseismic P waveforms. Poster presentation.

• 2019, CTBT: Science and Technology Conference. Vienna.
  Lithospheric scattering and structure beneath seismic arrays from teleseismic P waveforms. Poster presentation.

• 2019, Postgraduate Research in Progress Conference. Bristol.
  Lithospheric scattering and structure beneath seismic arrays from teleseismic P waveforms. Oral presentation.

• 2019, British Seismological Meeting. Edinburgh.
  Lithospheric scattering and structure beneath seismic arrays from teleseismic P waveforms. Oral presentation.

• 2019, AGU Fall Meeting. San Francisco.
  Lithospheric scattering and structure beneath seismic arrays from teleseismic P waveforms. Oral presentation.

Training/Workshop participation

• 2018, NERC Numerical Earth Science MOdelling Short Course. Durham
• 2018, Doctoral Training: Internal Earth. Ecole de Physique des Houches, France.
• 2019, Munich Earth Skience School. Germany.
• 2019, Annual Workshop of the IASPEI/IAVCEI. Spain.

Placements

• Spanish Institute of Oceanography – Final year placement (3 months) during my undergraduate degree.
• Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – Osservatorio Etneo – Catania, Sicily – (3 months) Placement at the end of my MSc.
• AWE Blacknest – PhD CASE Partner (3.5 months).

Demonstrating

• Global Seismology (2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020).
• Tectonophysics (2017-2018, 2018-2019).
• Computers and programming in Geosciences (2018-2019).

Outreach

• Prior to my PhD:
  -Regular participation in several scientific events/fairs doing outreach/public engagement during my undergraduate degree.-
  -Worked part-time for the outreach team at University of La Laguna for a year after completing my master's degree.
• During my PhD:
  -After School Club – I ran several sessions about earthquakes, seismic engineering and astronomy for secondary school students from different schools.
  -Skype a scientist – Successfully talked to various groups of students about earthquakes/geophysics.
  -Weather and Water days – Outreach event for secondary school students with different activities/experiments related to weather and water as part of the Leeds Festival of Science.
  -Geophysics Field Day – Demonstration of Field Applied Geophysics techniques for high school students.

I was awarded the Outreach Award at the annual NERC DTP Conference in 2019.

Research groups and institutes

• Deep Earth
• Geodynamics and Tectonics
• Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics