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Sarah E. Ogburn, PhD (she/her/hers)

Volcanologist with the USGS-USAID Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), which helps respond to volcanic crises around the world.

I am a Volcanologist with the USGS-USAID Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), which helps respond to volcanic crises around the world. My main role is to develop, populate, query, and analyze databases of volcanic eruption information for eruption forecasting. During crisis responses, I help facilitate and participate in event tree exercises, perform global database analyses, and assess and model mass flow hazards. I am also heavily involved in international capacity building and knowledge exchange workshops, including event tree workshops, expert elicitation exercises, pyroclastic flow and lahar modeling training courses, and hazard map workshops. I teach a module on lahar and pyroclastic flow hazard mapping at the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes (CSAV) International Training Course every year. Additionally, I developed the IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk Volcanic Hazard Maps Database. My other research interests also include pyroclastic flow dynamics (including ash-cloud surge detachment), geophysical flow modeling, hazard-mapping, and dome-forming eruptions. I am originally from Louisville, Kentucky. 

*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