Janine Krippner is a physical

volcanologist A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, col ...

from New Zealand who uses

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

to study

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...

s and is a popular science communicator.

Early life and education

Krippner was born in

Te Awamutu Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato, Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipā District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south ...

, New Zealand. She completed her Bachelors (2006) and Masters (2009) at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

under the supervision of Roger Briggs. For this work she studied

Mount Ngauruhoe Mount Ngauruhoe () is a volcanic cone in New Zealand. It is the youngest vent in the Mount Tongariro, Tongariro stratovolcano complex on the Central Plateau, New Zealand, Central Plateau of the North Island and first erupted about 2,500 y ...

, an active

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

-to-

composite cone volcano. She worked for

Shell Australia Shell Australia is the Australian subsidiary of Shell. Shell has operated in Australia since 1901, initially delivering bulk fuel into Australia, then establishing storage and distribution terminals, oil refineries, and a network of service sta ...

between 2010 and 2012 as a graduate geoscientist. She completed her PhD on ''"Large dome collapse driven block-and-ash flows on Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka, and pyroclastic flows on Mount St. Helens"'', at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 2017, funded by NASA. Whilst a PhD student she was listed by

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

as one of the top scientists to follow on Twitter. Krippner was appointed a Phipps Science Communication Fellow in 2015.

Research and career

Krippner joined

Concord University Concord University is a public university in Athens, West Virginia. The institution traces back to February 28, 1872, when the West Virginia Legislature passed "an Act to locate a Branch State Normal School, in the town of Concord Church, in ...

as a postdoctoral researcher in 2018, where she continued her PhD research on

pyroclastic Pyroclast, Pyroclastic or Pyroclastics may refer to: Geology * Pyroclast, or airborne volcanic tephra fragments * Pyroclastic rock, rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions * Pyroclastic cone, landform of ejecta fro ...

density currents. She was part of a volcanic tephra project ''THROUGHPUT: Standards and Services for Community Curated Repositories'', looking at

Cascades Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as many of those in the ...

volcanic deposits. The project, funded by the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

EarthCube program, looks to report research in earth sciences using online tools, social media, and publicly accessible databases. Between 2019 and 2020 Krippner worked as a Contract Scientist for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Global Volcanism Program The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) documents Earth's volcanoes and their eruptive history during the Quaternary Period of Earth's geologic history, with particular emphasis on volcanic activity during the Holocene Epoc ...

(GVP) writing volcanic activity reports for their Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, and later as an Image Collection and Outreach Specialist to update photo captions, revise volcanic hazard galleries in coordination with the VolFilms project, and expand the GVP image collection, as well as continuing to write volcano reports. Krippner is best known for her active presence on social media, sharing stories about volcanic eruptions. Krippner followed the activity of

Mount Agung Mount Agung (, ) is an active volcano in Karangasem Regency, Bali, Indonesia. It is located southeast of Mount Batur volcano, also in Bali. It is the highest point on Bali, and dominates the surrounding area, influencing the climate, especially ...

from Pittsburgh using social media and official monitoring information, providing clear explanations for the technical language and directing people to reliable sources. She used

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

to provide information about the volcano's activity in English, helping tourists on-site. Due to her efforts during the Agung eruption, she was given the Geosciences in the Media Award for 2020 by the

AAPG The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with about 17,000 members across 129 countries. The AAPG works to "advance the science of geology, especially as it relates to ...

. Krippner keeps a popular science blog ''In the Company of Volcanoes'' with Alison Graettinger. She has served as an editor of the open-access journal Volcanica. Along with Erik Klemetti, in 2019 she began hosting the ''Popular Volcanics'' podcast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krippner, Janine New Zealand volcanologists New Zealand women scientists University of Pittsburgh alumni 21st-century New Zealand scientists 21st-century women scientists University of Waikato alumni New Zealand science communicators People from Te Awamutu Living people Year of birth missing (living people)