Mike Coffin
Marine Geophysicist
Who is Mike Coffin?
Mike Coffin is a marine geophysicist whose research focuses on the interaction between large-scale volcanism, earthquakes, and the ocean environment. Educated at Dartmouth College and Columbia University, he has held research and leadership positions across four continents, including Geoscience Australia, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Tokyo, Japan's Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the University of Southampton and National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom, and, from 2011, the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), where he served as inaugural Executive Director; he later became a Research Professor at the University of Maine. In late January 2016 Coffin served as chief scientist aboard CSIRO's research vessel Investigator during the 'Heard Earth-Ocean-Biosphere Interactions' voyage, which mapped thousands of square kilometres of seafloor around Heard Island and the central Kerguelen Plateau to study links between underwater hydrothermal volcanism and phytoplankton growth. During the voyage the crew witnessed a rare eruption of Big Ben (Mawson Peak), one of the few times the active volcano has been directly observed erupting, since the island's remoteness and near-constant cloud cover normally hide it from view.
Sources: CSIRO, 'Big Ben Erupts: Australia's active volcano cluster blows its lid', February 2016 · Australian Antarctic Program Magazine, Issue 30, June 2016, 'Volcanic hotspot may fortify ocean life' · University of Maine, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, faculty biography page