Quantum computational devices have seen rapid development in recent years, with the first claimed demonstrations of quantum devices performing calculations significantly faster than any classical computer, as well as first demonstrations of repeated, real-time quantum error correction. We are currently in the NISQ (noisy intermediate-scale quantum) era, characterized by devices that are too small and too error-prone to implement fault-tolerant computation. State-of-the-art devices have 10s to 100s of qubits, and error rates of around 1 in 1000 for two-qubit gates. In the absence of fault-tolerance however, considerable effort has been devoted to developing error mitigation techniques, and evidence is beginning to emerge that these may be sufficient to enable real world applications on quantum devices for problems that are difficult to solve classically. The first direct detection of gravitational waves occurred just a few years ago in 2015, the culmination of decades of global effort. The first detections were widely hailed as opening a new window on the universe, and have already had significant impact in the astrophysics and cosmology fields. Although detections of certain classes of sources are now becoming routine, weaker signals are difficult to detect in noisy data. The sensitivity of searches for certain classes of signals (e.g. continuous wave sources) is currently computationally limited, and new techniques are needed. Planned improvements to the global detector network over the coming years, as well as new ground and space-based instruments will improve the prospects for detection for as-yet undetected signals, however the very large number of expected signals and their increased length will only compound the data analysis challenge. The data recorded at a gravitational wave detector is a time series consisting of thousands of data points per second. Potential signals are well-modelled by general relativity, and the data is typically compared against templates of the same form, generated from analytical approximations to signal waveforms predicted by general relativity. Importantly, the computational difficulty arises not due to the size of the input, but due to the size of the template bank (and/or parameter space), making it a promising application area for quantum algorithms. Further, as template waveforms are well approximated by general relativity, and can be calculated analytically, templates may be loaded efficiently into a quantum register. These features suggest that it is feasible with current technology to study quantum algorithms for the data analysis problem, through a combination of classical simulations of quantum devices and, where possible, implementations on quantum hardware. This project will study quantum algorithms for use in gravitational wave astronomy, focussing on applications on currently available quantum hardware, or amenable to classical simulators of small quantum devices.

It is well known that climate change is rapidly altering polar habitats. However, it is largely unknown how organisms in those habitats will evolve and adapt in response to climate change. This hampers efforts to predict future changes in marine ecosystems. This research will examine how diatoms, an important group of plankton in the Southern Ocean, adapt to environmental change. During a research cruise to the Southern Ocean, diatoms will be sampled from different regions of the Southern Ocean, including the Drake Passage, the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean and the Ross Sea. Samples will be processed to examine genetic diversity in the field. In the lab, evolution experiments will be conducted to measure the rates of adaptation to increasing temperature and ocean acidification. Data on the diversity of field populations combined with data on rates of adaptability will provide key insights into the "evolvability" of marine diatoms. This project will support a doctoral student and a postdoctoral researcher as well as several undergraduates. These scientists will learn the fundamentals of experimental evolution, a skill set that is sorely needed in the field of ocean climate change biology. The project also includes a collaboration with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. The Metcalf Institute will design and implement a session focused on current research related to evolution and climate change to be held at the annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW). Although it is well understood that climate change is rapidly altering polar habitats, the evolutionary response of cold-adapted, biogeochemically important phytoplankton is essentially unknown and represents a major knowledge gap that hampers efforts to predict future changes at the base of the marine food web. Both physiological and genetic variation are key parameters for understanding evolutionary processes in phytoplankton but they are essentially unknown for Southern Ocean diatoms. The extent of these two factors in field populations (physiological and genetic variation) and the interaction between them will influence how and whether cold-adapted diatoms can respond to changing environments. This project is focused on diatoms and includes a combination of a) field work to identify genetic diversity within diatoms across the Drake Passage, the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean and the Ross Sea, b) experiments in the lab to assess the range of physiological variation in contemporary populations of diatoms and c) evolution experiments in the lab to assess how the combination of genetic diversity and physiological variation influence the evolutionary potential of diatoms under a changing environment. This research will uncover general relationships between physiological variation, genetic diversity, and evolutionary potential that may apply across microbial taxa and geographical regions, substantially improving efforts to predict shifts in marine ecosystems under global change. Results from this study can be integrated into developing models that incorporate evolution to predict ecosystem changes under future climate change scenarios. This project will support a doctoral student and a postdoctoral researcher as well as several undergraduates. These scientists will learn the fundamentals of experimental evolution, a skill set that is sorely needed in the field of ocean climate change biology. The project also includes a collaboration with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. The Metcalf Institute will design and implement a session focused on current research related to evolution and climate change to be held at the annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW).

The greatest loss of life from any historic volcanic eruption-generated tsunami was in 1883 when the Krakatau volcano in Indonesia erupted. During this large-volume, caldera-forming event, multiple, volcanically-triggered tsunamis were generated which, on striking the adjacent coasts of Java and Sumatra, killed approximately 33,000 people. The proposed tsunami generation mechanisms include pyroclastic density flows produced from collapsing eruption columns, explosions, caldera collapse and a lateral blast. Yet, despite numerous published papers on the relative contributions to the tsunami from these mechanisms, they are still not clearly identified or defined, and have been a source of speculation and controversy for over 130 years. In this multi-disciplinary study, the research on the Krakatau will improve our understanding of tsunamis generated by volcanic eruptions, especially those from large-volume, caldera-forming events which, because of their proximity to the sea, have the potential to generate devastating tsunamis. As a large-volume, caldera-forming event Krakatau is representative of other, similar examples, such as Santorini (southern Aegean) in 3500 BP and Kikai (Japan) in 7500 BP. Like these older, prehistoric events, the Krakatau eruption includes diverse tsunami generating mechanisms including pyroclastic density current (PDC) discharges into the sea, caldera collapse, and explosions. One of the critical aspects of Krakatau, which single it out as the best event to study is the post event survey carried out immediately after the eruption by Verbeek, which describes the eruption and the impact of the eruption and tsunami. These descriptions provide validation of the new numerical tsunami modelling, which is not available from any other analogous event. The broader background to the research is that new understandings of tsunami generation from other mechanisms, such as earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic collapse, has largely resulted from recent devastating events, such as Papua New Guinea, 1998, the Indian Ocean, 2004, and Japan, 2011. These events have caused over 300,000 fatalities and US$30 billion of damage. Due to the lack of a major recent event, eruption generated tsunamis remain largely unresearched. This multidisciplinary project therefore, will address a major knowledge gap in non-seismic mechanisms of tsunami generation - tsunamis from volcanic eruptions. Defining eruption mechanisms and their relative contributions in tsunami generation is essential to the development of robust numerical tsunami models. The first challenge, therefore is to identify the most likely tsunami mechanisms. Although, there is uncertainty over these mechanisms, the most likely are caldera collapse and the entry into the sea of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs). To identify the mechanisms that underpin the tsunami models there are number of additional challenges. The volcanic PDC deposits and the caldera collapse will be mapped out during a marine survey around Krakatau Island. There will be new numerical modelling of how pyroclastic density currents enter the sea and new numerical models of tsunami generation from pyroclastic density flows and caldera collapse. The numerical tsunami models will be validated by field work to research sediments deposited as the tsunami flooded the coast.

Anak Krakatau volcano, Indonesia, collapsed catastrophically on 22nd December 2018, forming a landslide-generated tsunami that caused over 400 deaths on surrounding coastlines. Very few volcanic landslides of this size and type, known as sector collapses, have been studied in detail. Because of this, our understanding of the factors that lead to sector collapse, and therefore our capacity to forecast such events and their associated hazards, remains relatively limited. Although there have been few historical examples of large volcanic landslides, they are common on longer, geological timescales and occur across all volcanic settings. The collapse of Anak Krakatau thus provides an important opportunity to improve our knowledge of this fundamental volcanic process. Anak Krakatau is the volcanic island that formed after the devastating eruption of Krakatau (also known as Krakatoa) in 1883, first emerging above sea level in 1929. Approximately half of the subaerial island of Anak Krakatau was removed by its recent sector collapse. The collapse occurred during an ongoing, relatively low-intensity eruption, similar to the type of activity that had characterised previous decades. However, satellite observations suggest that this style of activity changed around the time of the collapse, to a much more powerful explosive eruption. The precise timing of this change, and its potential role in the collapse, is something we will explore in detail in this research. Following the collapse, explosive activity continued and may have changed yet again, as seawater interacted with shallow erupting magma. This later stage of activity erupted large volumes of new material, rapidly filling the landslide scar and extending the island coastline in the days after the collapse. Our research will determine the specific role of eruptive activity in the sector collapse of Anak Krakatau. We will address whether changes in eruption behaviour, involving the ascent of fresh magma, preceded the collapse and thus acted as a trigger; or whether it was the collapse itself which led to the powerful explosive eruption, by suddenly depressurising the shallow magma stored beneath the volcano. We will also define the nature of eruptive activity that took place immediately after the collapse. In this phase of the eruption, material appears to have been ejected at a very high rate, and we will test the hypothesis that the collapse destabilised the underlying magma system, leading to a change in eruption behaviour. Such processes may be common at volcanoes affected by large sector collapses, forming part of a cycle of destruction and regrowth, but are currently poorly understood. Our work will draw upon detailed field sampling of eruption deposits spanning the collapse period. Field datasets will be interpreted alongside satellite imagery and other remote observations, numerical models that simulate eruption processes, and analyses of the chemical and textural record of magmatic processes preserved in our eruption-deposit samples. Together, our results will allow us to identify changes in the storage conditions, ascent rate and eruptive behaviour of magmas involved in different stages of activity. Our results will allow us to explore controls on the timing of the sector collapse, the role of eruptive activity in the collapse, and the impact the collapse itself had on the underlying magma system. By producing a comprehensive record of the Anak Krakatau collapse and eruptions, we will advance our understanding of volcanic sector collapses in general. We will also develop a much clearer picture of eruption processes and instabilities at Anak Krakatau, which will inform hazard mitigation plans for potential future landslides as the volcano regrows.

At 6pm local time on the September 28th 2018, a strike-slip earthquake, Mw 7.5, struck the west of Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. Earthquake shaking immediately destroyed large areas of Palu City, the nearest large town of 135,000 people. Further damage was caused by liquefaction of underlying, fine-grained fluvial sediments, which mobilised mudslides that swept through the city. Soon after the earthquake, tsunamis, with elevations of up to 11 m inundated local coastlines causing further destruction, especially to Palu City, and Donggal farther north. At present, 2,100 people are known to have died in the event with over 700 missing. A significant number of these died in the tsunamis. Recent tsunamis provide critical information on mechanisms and impacts which provide essential data on informing on hazard and risk. The mechanism of the Sulawesi earthquake is significant because it is different to recent devastating events, such as Papua New Guinea (1998), Indian Ocean (2004) and Japan (2011), which were triggered by thrust faulting. Sulawesi is a strike-slip rupture with dominantly horizontal movement. Present understanding of earthquake tsunami generation suggests that, because of the absence of significant vertical seabed elevation, it should not have generated the recorded (up to 11m) tsunamis. Preliminary numerical tsunami modelling confirms this understanding. An additional tsunami mechanism is required, and submarine landslides are most likely. Numerical modelling of tsunamis require validation from field observations to confirm their accuracy. These observations have to be made as soon as possible after impact because much of the evidence on the tsunami and its' scale is extremely fragile and short-lived. For example, the directions of flow may be identified by flattened grass; tsunami flow depth and elevation may be identified from water marks on buildings or building damage, vegetation stripping and debris caught in trees or bushes. Sediment deposited, especially in monsoonal conditions, is rapidly eroded or removed. It is vital therefore that after a major tsunami, field observations are made and the research carried out as soon as practicable. Here, for Sulawesi, we propose an urgent response field survey, based on pre-survey interpretations of before and after high-resolution satellite imagery. The results will identify in detail geographical variations on tsunami inundation which will inform on the impact, potential tsunami mechanisms and offer validation for numerical tsunami models. This methodology (desk study followed by field work) was successfully applied to the Japan 2011 tsunami, and is a first critical step towards developing an integrated system for interoperable digital field data collection. From the present field surveys there is information over much, but not all, of the area impacted by the tsunami (see 2). There is a close correlation between the offshore strike-slip rupture (mapped from remote - inSAR data) and field evidence for a tsunami from inundation measurements. There is also correlation between the offshore rupture and coastal subsidence, which supports coastal/submarine landslides as the tsunami mechanism. For the proposed survey, PI Tappin leads an international and multidisciplinary initiative (UK, Indonesia, US and Poland) to study the Sulawesi tsunami. This approach is most likely to fully understand the event, and is required because, at present tsunami warning in Indonesia is based on far-field earthquakes. Locally triggered events, such as Sulawesi, where there was minimal warning, are not at present addressed. More broadly, the project will contribute to an improved understanding of locally, strike-slip triggered, submarine landslide tsunamis and their hazard. The project will inform on improved mitigation strategies in this context. The research will form the basis for future, more in depth research.