GLOBE objectives and research lines
Vision
GLOBE envisions becoming a leading European reference hub at the interface of volcanic risk, global change, and advanced digital geoscience. We aim to contribute to safer territories, climate-resilient societies, and evidence-based governance by advancing scientific excellence and ensuring its integration into public services, environmental management, and decision-making frameworks.
Mission
GLOBE’s mission is to advance the understanding of volcanic systems and climate–environment interactions through integrated field research, laboratory analysis, analogue experiments, and high-performance numerical modelling. This scientific framework is complemented by advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine-learning approaches applied to geoscientific datasets (e.g. time series, geochemical databases, remote sensing products, and monitoring records).
By combining fundamental research with stakeholder engagement, the group ensures that scientific knowledge is translated into robust hazard assessment tools, scalable digital infrastructures, and operational applications that contribute to public safety, environmental sustainability, digital transformation, and social cohesion.
Strategic Objectives
To achieve its mission, GLOBE pursues four interconnected objectives:
Advance process-based understanding of volcanic and magmatic systems in diverse geodynamic and climatic contexts.
Quantify the interactions between climate variability, environmental change, and volcanic activity.
Develop interoperable, reproducible, and scalable modelling frameworks supported by High Performance Computing and artificial intelligence.
Strengthen science–policy interfaces through co-creation, knowledge transfer, and stakeholder-oriented risk reduction strategies.
Research Lines
1. Active Volcanic Systems and Volcanic Risk
This research line focuses on reconstructing eruptive histories, characterizing magma plumbing systems, and modelling future eruptive scenarios in active volcanic regions such as the Garrotxa Volcanic Field, the Canary Islands, Antarctica, and Central Anatolia.
By integrating stratigraphic, petrological, geochemical, geochronological, and modelling approaches, the group refines probabilistic hazard assessments and supports preparedness, territorial planning, and risk mitigation strategies. This line also incorporates research on social vulnerability and risk perception to strengthen community resilience and science–society interaction.
2. Climate Variability and Global Change
This research line investigates long-term climate variability and its environmental impacts, with particular emphasis on North Atlantic atmospheric dynamics and polar environments.
Through high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions and climate modelling, the group quantifies feedback mechanisms between climate processes and volcanic systems, contributing to climate adaptation strategies and sustainable territorial planning.
3. Advanced Numerical Modelling and Digital Geoscience
This pillar constitutes the digital backbone of GLOBE. The group develops physics-informed and data-driven modelling frameworks for eruptive plume dynamics, atmospheric particle dispersion, and multi-hazard forecasting.
By integrating HPC, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large-scale data analytics, GLOBE supports forecasting systems, uncertainty quantification, interoperable databases, and reproducible digital environments aligned with European research infrastructures.
