Michelle L. Coombs, Ph.D.
Michelle Coombs is a Research Geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Volcanic Science Center. She served as Scientist-in-Charge of the Alaska Volcano Observatory from 2016-2023. In this position, Dr. Coombs leads eruption responses, oversees expansion and modernization of volcano monitoring techniques, and guides applied and fundamental research on a host of problems related to volcanology.
Professional Experience
2016–2023: Scientist-in-Charge, Alaska Volcano Observatory, Volcano Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK
2004–Present: Research Geologist, Alaska Volcano Observatory
2001–2004: Research Geologist, Volcano Hazards Team, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park CA
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Affiliate faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks
CONVERSE Steering Committee member, 2020–present
Member of AGU student awards committee, 2011–2015
Associate Editor, Bulletin of Volcanology, 2013–2016
Editorial board, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2007–2018
Co-editor for 28-chapter USGS Professional Paper 1769, The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska, 2010
Co-editor for Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research special issue on Growth and collapse of Hawaiian volcanoes, 2006
Education and Certifications
Williams College, BA Geology, 1994
University of Alaska Fairbanks, PhD Geology, 2001
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Geophysical Union, 1996–present
Geological Society of America, 2001–present (elected Fellow in 2015)
International Assoc. of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior, 1999–present
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 77
Imaging observations of thermal emissions from Augustine Volcano using a small astronomical camera: Chapter 24 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Long-exposure visible-light images of Augustine Volcano were obtained using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera during several nights of the 2006 eruption. The camera was located 105 km away, at Homer, Alaska, yet showed persistent bright emissions from the north flank of the volcano corresponding to steam releases, pyroclastic flows, and rockfalls originating near the summit. The...
Authors
Davis D. Sentman, Stephen R. McNutt, Hans C. Stenbaek-Nielsen, Guy Tytgat, Nicole DeRoin
The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano - Combined analyses of thermal satellite data and reduced displacement: Chapter 23 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Augustine Volcano erupted explosively after 20 years of quiescence on January 11, 2006, followed by approximately 2 months of dome building and lava extrusion. This is the best monitored eruption in Alaska to date; the diverse complementary datasets gathered enable an interdisciplinary interpretation of volcanic activity. An analysis of reduced displacement (continuous measure of seismic...
Authors
Saskia M. van Manen, Jonathan Dehn, Michael W. West, Stephen Blake, David A. Rothery
High-resolution satellite and airborne thermal infrared imaging of the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 22 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Thermal infrared (TIR) images provided a timely pre- and syn-eruption record of summit changes, lava flow emplacement, and pyroclastic-flow-deposit distribution during the Alaska Volcano Observatory's (AVO) response to the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano. A series of images from both handheld and helicopter mounted forward looking infrared radiometers (FLIR) captured detailed views...
Authors
Rick Wessels, Michelle L. Coombs, David J. Schneider, Jonathan Dehn, Michael S. Ramsey
Timing, distribution, and character of tephra fall from the 2005-2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chaper 9 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano
The 2005–6 eruption of Augustine Volcano produced tephra-fall deposits during each of four eruptive phases. Late in the precursory phase (December 2005), small phreatic explosions produced small-volume, localized, mostly nonjuvenile tephra. The greatest volume of tephra was produced during the explosive phase (January 11–28, 2006) when 13 discrete Vulcanian explosions generated ash...
Authors
Kristi L. Wallace, Christina A. Neal, Robert G. McGimsey
Pyroclastic flows, lahars, and mixed avalanches generated during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 10 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Each of the three phases of the 2006 eruption at Augustine Volcano had a distinctive eruptive style and flowage deposits. From January 11 to 28, the explosive phase comprised short vulcanian eruptions that punctuated dome growth and produced volcanowide pyroclastic flows and more energetic hot currents whose mobility was influenced by efficient mixing with and vaporization of snow...
Authors
James W. Vallance, Katharine F. Bull, Michelle L. Coombs
Characterizing pyroclastic-flow interactions with snow and water using environmental magnetism at Augustine Volcano: Chapter 11 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
In-place measurements of environmental magnetic susceptibility of pyroclastic flows, surges and lahars emplaced during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano show that primary volume magnetic susceptibilities of pyroclastic materials decreased where the flows encountered water and steam. The Rocky Point pyroclastic flow, the largest flow of the eruption sequence, encountered a small pond...
Authors
James E. Beget
Remote telemetered and time-lapse cameras at Augustine Volcano: Chapter 12 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Before and during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) installed a network of telemetered and nontelemetered cameras in Homer, Alaska, and on Augustine Island. On December 1, 2005, a network camera was installed at the Homer Field Station, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (UAF/GI) facility on a bluff near Homer, where...
Authors
John F. Paskievitch, Cyrus Read, Thomas Parker
Ejecta and landslides from Augustine Volcano before 2006: Chapter 13 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
A late Wisconsin volcano erupted onto the JurassicCretaceous sedimentary bedrock of Augustine Island in lower Cook Inlet in Alaska. Olivine basalt interacting with water erupted explosively. Rhyolitic eruptive debris then swept down the south volcano flank while late Wisconsin glaciers from mountains on western mainland surrounded the island. Early to middle Holocene deposits probably...
Authors
Richard B. Waitt
Preliminary slope-stability analysis of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 14 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Augustine Volcano has been a prolific producer of large debris avalanches during the Holocene. Originating as landslides from the steep upper edifice, these avalanches typically slide into the surrounding ocean. At least one debris avalanche that occurred in 1883 during an eruption initiated a far-traveled tsunami. The possible occurrence of another edifice collapse and ensuing tsunami...
Authors
Mark E. Reid, Dianne L. Brien, Christopher F. Waythomas
Petrology and geochemistry of the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 15 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Deposits from the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska, record a complex history of magma mixing before and during the eruption. The eruption produced five major lithologies: low-silica andesite scoria (LSAS; 56.5 to 58.7 weight percent SiO2), mostly during the initial explosive phase; high-silica andesite pumice (HSA; 62.2 to 63.3 weight percent SiO2), prevalent during the...
Authors
Jessica Larsen, Christopher J. Nye, Michelle L. Coombs, Mariah Tilman, Pavel E. Izbekov, Cheryl E. Cameron
Augustine Volcano - The influence of volatile components in magmas erupted A.D. 2006 to 2,100 years before present: Chapter 16 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
The petrology and geochemistry of 2006 eruptive products of Augustine Volcano, Alaska, have been investigated through analyses of whole-rock samples, phenocrysts, silicate melt inclusions, and matrix glasses to constrain processes of magma evolution, eruption, and degassing. Particular attention was directed toward the concentrations and geochemical relationships involving the magmatic...
Authors
James M. Webster, Charlie Mandeville, Beth Goldoff, Michelle L. Coombs, Christine Tappen
Geodetic constraints on magma movement and withdrawal during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 17 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
For the first time in the United States, a modern geodetic network of continuously recording Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers has measured a complete eruption cycle at a stratovolcano, Augustine Volcano in Alaska, from the earliest precursory unrest through the return to background quiescence. The on-island network consisted of five continuously recording, telemetered GPS...
Authors
Peter F. Cervelli, Thomas J. Fournier, Jeff T. Freymueller, John A. Power, Michael Lisowski, Benjamin Pauk
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 77
Imaging observations of thermal emissions from Augustine Volcano using a small astronomical camera: Chapter 24 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Long-exposure visible-light images of Augustine Volcano were obtained using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera during several nights of the 2006 eruption. The camera was located 105 km away, at Homer, Alaska, yet showed persistent bright emissions from the north flank of the volcano corresponding to steam releases, pyroclastic flows, and rockfalls originating near the summit. The...
Authors
Davis D. Sentman, Stephen R. McNutt, Hans C. Stenbaek-Nielsen, Guy Tytgat, Nicole DeRoin
The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano - Combined analyses of thermal satellite data and reduced displacement: Chapter 23 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Augustine Volcano erupted explosively after 20 years of quiescence on January 11, 2006, followed by approximately 2 months of dome building and lava extrusion. This is the best monitored eruption in Alaska to date; the diverse complementary datasets gathered enable an interdisciplinary interpretation of volcanic activity. An analysis of reduced displacement (continuous measure of seismic...
Authors
Saskia M. van Manen, Jonathan Dehn, Michael W. West, Stephen Blake, David A. Rothery
High-resolution satellite and airborne thermal infrared imaging of the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 22 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Thermal infrared (TIR) images provided a timely pre- and syn-eruption record of summit changes, lava flow emplacement, and pyroclastic-flow-deposit distribution during the Alaska Volcano Observatory's (AVO) response to the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano. A series of images from both handheld and helicopter mounted forward looking infrared radiometers (FLIR) captured detailed views...
Authors
Rick Wessels, Michelle L. Coombs, David J. Schneider, Jonathan Dehn, Michael S. Ramsey
Timing, distribution, and character of tephra fall from the 2005-2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chaper 9 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano
The 2005–6 eruption of Augustine Volcano produced tephra-fall deposits during each of four eruptive phases. Late in the precursory phase (December 2005), small phreatic explosions produced small-volume, localized, mostly nonjuvenile tephra. The greatest volume of tephra was produced during the explosive phase (January 11–28, 2006) when 13 discrete Vulcanian explosions generated ash...
Authors
Kristi L. Wallace, Christina A. Neal, Robert G. McGimsey
Pyroclastic flows, lahars, and mixed avalanches generated during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 10 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Each of the three phases of the 2006 eruption at Augustine Volcano had a distinctive eruptive style and flowage deposits. From January 11 to 28, the explosive phase comprised short vulcanian eruptions that punctuated dome growth and produced volcanowide pyroclastic flows and more energetic hot currents whose mobility was influenced by efficient mixing with and vaporization of snow...
Authors
James W. Vallance, Katharine F. Bull, Michelle L. Coombs
Characterizing pyroclastic-flow interactions with snow and water using environmental magnetism at Augustine Volcano: Chapter 11 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
In-place measurements of environmental magnetic susceptibility of pyroclastic flows, surges and lahars emplaced during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano show that primary volume magnetic susceptibilities of pyroclastic materials decreased where the flows encountered water and steam. The Rocky Point pyroclastic flow, the largest flow of the eruption sequence, encountered a small pond...
Authors
James E. Beget
Remote telemetered and time-lapse cameras at Augustine Volcano: Chapter 12 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Before and during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) installed a network of telemetered and nontelemetered cameras in Homer, Alaska, and on Augustine Island. On December 1, 2005, a network camera was installed at the Homer Field Station, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (UAF/GI) facility on a bluff near Homer, where...
Authors
John F. Paskievitch, Cyrus Read, Thomas Parker
Ejecta and landslides from Augustine Volcano before 2006: Chapter 13 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
A late Wisconsin volcano erupted onto the JurassicCretaceous sedimentary bedrock of Augustine Island in lower Cook Inlet in Alaska. Olivine basalt interacting with water erupted explosively. Rhyolitic eruptive debris then swept down the south volcano flank while late Wisconsin glaciers from mountains on western mainland surrounded the island. Early to middle Holocene deposits probably...
Authors
Richard B. Waitt
Preliminary slope-stability analysis of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 14 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Augustine Volcano has been a prolific producer of large debris avalanches during the Holocene. Originating as landslides from the steep upper edifice, these avalanches typically slide into the surrounding ocean. At least one debris avalanche that occurred in 1883 during an eruption initiated a far-traveled tsunami. The possible occurrence of another edifice collapse and ensuing tsunami...
Authors
Mark E. Reid, Dianne L. Brien, Christopher F. Waythomas
Petrology and geochemistry of the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 15 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
Deposits from the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska, record a complex history of magma mixing before and during the eruption. The eruption produced five major lithologies: low-silica andesite scoria (LSAS; 56.5 to 58.7 weight percent SiO2), mostly during the initial explosive phase; high-silica andesite pumice (HSA; 62.2 to 63.3 weight percent SiO2), prevalent during the...
Authors
Jessica Larsen, Christopher J. Nye, Michelle L. Coombs, Mariah Tilman, Pavel E. Izbekov, Cheryl E. Cameron
Augustine Volcano - The influence of volatile components in magmas erupted A.D. 2006 to 2,100 years before present: Chapter 16 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
The petrology and geochemistry of 2006 eruptive products of Augustine Volcano, Alaska, have been investigated through analyses of whole-rock samples, phenocrysts, silicate melt inclusions, and matrix glasses to constrain processes of magma evolution, eruption, and degassing. Particular attention was directed toward the concentrations and geochemical relationships involving the magmatic...
Authors
James M. Webster, Charlie Mandeville, Beth Goldoff, Michelle L. Coombs, Christine Tappen
Geodetic constraints on magma movement and withdrawal during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 17 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska
For the first time in the United States, a modern geodetic network of continuously recording Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers has measured a complete eruption cycle at a stratovolcano, Augustine Volcano in Alaska, from the earliest precursory unrest through the return to background quiescence. The on-island network consisted of five continuously recording, telemetered GPS...
Authors
Peter F. Cervelli, Thomas J. Fournier, Jeff T. Freymueller, John A. Power, Michael Lisowski, Benjamin Pauk
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government