(1950- ) French Geophysicist
How do scientists know what the deeper parts of Earth look like if it cannot be seen? The answer is that seismic waves generated by earthquakes penetrate all of Earth and are received by seismographs worldwide. By analyzing small variations in these waves, seismologists can image the interior parts of the Earth much like a sonogram images a fetus. Barbara Romanowicz is one of the premier experts on imaging the Earth’s interior. Her research covers all levels, but some of her most exciting research has been on the core and deep mantle. She found that the inner solid core, rather than simply a solid massive ball as previously considered, has a layering or anisotropy to it. Romanowicz interpreted this anisotropy to reflect convection as reported in her paper “Anisotropy in the Center of the Inner Core,” among others. She also performed fine detailed imaging of the lowermost mantle above the outer core. Again, previous assumptions of a uniform character were disproved when she found that there are topographical and density anomalies there. This work is summarized in the paper “Anisotropic Structures at the Base of the Mantle.”
Romanowicz also produces seismic tomography images, essentially CAT scans of the upper mantle and lower crust (e.g., “Seismic Tomography of the Earth’s Mantle”). She compared this tomography to plate motions, both current and past, and found good correlations. Basically, hot and cold regions develop based upon whether there is mantle upwelling (hot) like at divergent boundaries, or subduction zones where it is cooler because cooler crust is being driven into the as-thenosphere. She modeled the deep structure beneath the Tibetan Plateau, the continental United States, and the Atlantic Ocean.
A third area of interest for Romanowicz is earthquake processes. She looks at the release of energy, focal mechanisms, and sources of major earthquakes. This work includes the scaling of events and real-time estimation of earthquake parameters. She also studies the attenuation (loss of energy) of seismic waves as they travel through the Earth. Some of the earthquakes that she has studied include 1999 Izmit, Turkey; 1989 Loma Pri-eta, California; 1988 Spitak, Armenia; 1985 Chile; 1986 Romania; 1989 Macquarie Ridge, Australia; and earthquakes in Sudan and Syria. This expertise has prompted several earthquake hazard reduction groups in California to solicit her opinion and aid.
Barbara Romanowicz was born on April 5, 1950, in Suresnes, France. She attended the University of Paris, France, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics with honors in 1974. She attended Harvard University, Massachusetts, for graduate studies and earned a master of science in applied physics in 1975. She returned to the University of Paris and completed doctoral degrees in both astronomy and geophysics in 1975 and 1979, respectively. Romanowicz served as a research associate at the Institute for the Physics of the Earth in Paris, France, in 1978-1979 before becoming a postdoctoral research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1979 to 1981. Romanowicz returned to the Institute for the Physics of the Earth to assume the position of director of research and the director of the geoscope program in 1981. In 1991, she joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley where she remains today. She is also director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory. Barbara Romanowicz married Mark Jonikas in 1979; they have two children.
Barbara Romanowicz is in the midst of a very productive career. She is an author of more than 110 articles in international journals, professional volumes, and governmental reports. Many of these papers are benchmark studies on the deep architecture of the Earth as well as earthquake processes. Several appear in the high-profile journal Science. The contributions to geology and geophysics by Romanowicz have been recognized by the profession as evidenced by her honors and awards. She received the French Academy of Sciences Prize, the Silver Medal from the French National Academy of Sciences, and the Wegener Medal from the European Union of Geosciences.
Romanowicz has also performed significant service to the profession. Among much committee and panel work, she was president of the Seis-mological Section of the American Geophysical Union. She also served as vice president of the Federation of Digital Seismic Networks and the seismological section of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (France). She served on numerous committees and panels for the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the Seismological Society of America, and on several evaluation committees for departments at Harvard University and University of California at Los Angeles, among others. Her editorial work is also extensive, including serving as the European editor for Geophysical Research Letters and editor for Physics of Earth and Planetary Interiors.
