Virginie Pinel studied Earth Sciences at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon before joining the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) where, during her doctorate, she was introduced to the field of physical volcanology under the guidance of Claude Jaupart. Then, wishing to turn to observations, she did a post-doctorate funded by the Centre National des Études Spatiales (CNES) working on the application of satellite radar data to the study of volcanoes. Since 2004, she has been working at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). She is involved in promoting the use of remote sensing data in volcanological observatories. She is also developing magma transport and storage models to interpret the geophysical observations recorded on volcanoes. It also uses data assimilation techniques to improve the prediction of eruptions by optimising the integration of dynamic models and observations made in ‘real time’ as part of the monitoring of active volcanoes.
