SZNet, the international collaboration component of SZ4D, is gearing up for its second year of activities beginning with an international workshop and field trip in January.

An in-person workshop focusing on Ocean Floor Observational Technology

SZNet brought together over 80 scientists from four continents to the Ocean Floor Observational Technology Workshop this January in Santiago, Chile. Held in collaboration with the Science of Slow to Fast Earthquakes Network, the week-long event featured two international workshops and day-long excursions to sites near Santiago and Valparaíso, including a visit to SHOA, the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy.

The Workshop featured presentations from 25 leading scientists, highlighting current ocean floor technologies and the state of research efforts around the globe. Lively discussions allowed international scientists from across disciplines and career stages to discuss current needs of the scientific community and suggest paths forward. The Workshop Subcommittee is preparing a report that will summarize key outcomes and provide recommendations for shaping future SZ4D efforts. Keep an eye out for the workshop report, which will be released later in April.

Chile Field Trip

A team of 25 scientists, including 17 participants and 8 field lead leaders, spent 10 days in the field crossing Chile from east to west at approximately 35 degrees South (~150 km south of Santiago),  beginning in the (volcanic) cordillera and making stops in Chile's central valley and coastal regions exploring stratigraphic exposures and landforms. This immersive field experience provided a comprehensive introduction to Chilean geology while fostering collaboration and connection among participants.

Selected through a rigorous application process from a competitive pool of 142 applicants, the participants represent a diverse range of backgrounds, career stages, research interests, and nationalities. Read their experience through our Postcards from the field, and stay tuned for a detailed field guide available soon on the field trip webpage.

Meet the 2025 Chile Field Trip Cohort

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Alexandra Daniels | Boise State University

• Grant Long | Stanford University

• Chelsea Mackaman-Lofland | University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Ian Wynn | University of Hawai'i at Manoa

• Diana Roman | Carnegie Science

• Ignacio Sepulveda | San Diego State University

• Jeremias Likerman | UBA-CONICET

• Maria Pia Rodriguez | Universidad Andrés Bello

• Mariano Agusto | Universidad de Buenos Aires

• Pamela Paz Jara | Universidad de Santiago de Chile and the Sociedad Geológica de Chile

• Sofía Belén Iannelli | Instituto de Estudios Andinos (University of Buenos Aires - National Council on Scientific and Technical Research)

• Tomas Capaldi | University of California San Diego - Scripps Institution of Oceanography

• Jonathan Delph | Purdue University

• Sarah Jaye Oliva | Universidad de Chile

• Morgan Adamson | University of California, Santa Barbara

• Mauricio Espinoza | Universidad de Concepción

2025 US & Chile Exchange Program

Meet the final two of our five 2024 Exchange Participants as they share their journeys and scientific achievements from the program. Learn about their experiences and the impact of their exchange.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to welcome five outstanding participants to the 2025 US–Chile Exchange Program, selected from a competitive pool of 28 applicants. Stay tuned to the Exchange Program website to learn more about them soon.

And mark your calendars—the third iteration of this program is on the horizon! Host registration opens on April 1, with participant applications to follow shortly after. We look forward to hearing from you!

Meet Stephanie McNamara

About Stephanie's research project

This research exchange kick-started my thesis work on dune migration, provided valuable experience in planning and leading a fieldwork campaign, and offered a unique cultural experience that highlighted the interconnectedness of various subduction zone geohazards and local communities. 

This fieldwork campaign would not have been possible without assistant professor, Tomás Trewhela and civil engineering undergraduate student, Felipe Espinoza from the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Viña del Mar, Chile. Together, we set-up and monitored three short-term and three long-term dune-obstacle experiments at a coastal dunefield in Ritoque, Chile. We investigated sand flux unwind and downwind of two artificial “trees” with differing branch densities, as well as an array of tightly spaced pillars. We compared these experiments to an adjacent control group and used data from our nearby meteorological station and the contents of the upwind and downwind sand traps to investigate dune-obstacle interactions. Our key questions are: do obstacles fix or aggravate sediment transport? Can we expand these results to guide dune migration to protect local infrastructure? Wind conditions for the short-term experiment did not result in significant sediment transport, but Trewhela and Espinoza continue to monitor the long-term version of this experiment.

After my fieldwork campaign, I attended the Slow to Fast Earthquake Workshop and the Ocean Floor Observational Technology Workshop in Santiago, Chile. I also attended the pre- and post-workshop field trips where I got to learn about the formation of the Andes, network with other Earth Scientists, and visit the Chilean National Tsunami Warning Center. This experience deepened my understanding of the interconnectedness of subduction zone geohazards and their impact on local communities. While in Chile, I formed relationships with lab members and learned about their experiences with earthquakes, hillside failure, tsunamis, and sand transport in Viña del Mar. This research experience reaffirmed my passion for interdisciplinary Earth science research in coastal geohazards.

About Stephanie

I am a second-year PhD student in geophysics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I earned my bachelor's degree in Physics, but I sought ways to apply my science to communities and ecosystems. That’s when I discovered the geophysics program and found my place in Earth Science. I am passionate about the intersection of human infrastructure and natural environments, community outreach, and global science.

My PI, Nathalie Vriend, forwarded the SZNet Chile/US Exchange opportunity to me and connected me with her existing collaborator, Tomás Trewhela. I was thrilled at the opportunity to conduct dune research for the first time, lead my own fieldwork, improve my Spanish, and immerse myself in Chilean culture. This exchange was an incredible opportunity for both personal and professional development. It provided a meaningful introduction to global Earth science and has inspired me to continue pursuing science with a focus on positive community impact.

Meet Nate Klema

About Nate's research project

In January 2025 Nate Klema travelled worked with the research groups of Cristian Escauriaza and Megan Williams developing their ongoing multidisciplinary research project in the Melimoyu Reserve in Chilean Patagonia.  Nate spent a week in Santiago at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica learning about the area and the groups existing work and discussing ideas for building studies to better understand coupling between oceanic sediment transport processes and landscape development associated with Melimoyu Volcano.  Nate then spent a week at the Melimoyu Reserve with student Martina Monastario deploying fiber-optic cable (from a kayak) to test the efficacy of distributed temperature sensing for understanding differences in fluvial cycles associated with a low elevation rain-fed catchment versus a glacial fed river system coming off the volcano.  The team is planning to return to Melimoyu for a more focused field study of the upper Marchant River system adjacent to the volcano.  They think this is an excellent location for studying feedback between volcanic, glacial, fluvial, and marine processes toward better understanding subduction zone landscape evolution dynamics.

Left: Deploying fiber-optic at Melimoyu. Right: Checking data quality at the base station at the Melimoyu Reserve.

About Nate

Nate Klema grew up in southwest Colorado where he developed an early interest in landscapes and their formation.  He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Fort Lewis College and worked full time for 13 years as a guide on rafting trips through Grand Canyon National Park where he first realized how physics can be used to understand natural landscapes.  He went on to pursue a PhD from University of Oregon studying volcanic landscape evolution with Dr Leif Karlstrom, which he completed in 2023.  He has now returned to Fort Lewis College where he is an Assistant Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Engineering.

Virtual Workshop | Subduction Zone Time Series Legacy Data 

SZNet's Virtual Workshop on Subduction Zone Time Series Legacy Data started an important conversation among the scientific community about unarchived data that could benefit from public, open access. Over 50 scientists participated in real-time, sharing information about datasets they have access to and discussing archiving needs and challenges. Representatives from major archival organizations provided insights into existing archiving resources, guidelines, costs, and barriers to archiving. 

All presentations are now available on the SZ4D youtube channel. If you or a colleague have access to a dataset that could benefit to the scientific community and faces archival challenges, we encourage you to reach out at contact@sz4d.org. 

A workshop report summarizing key outcomes and recommendations and recommendations on data archiving needs will be published soon on the SZ4D website.