Antonio Polo Sánchez

Antonio grew up in Salamanca, Spain. After finishing high-school he studied a bachelor’s degree in Geology at the University of Salamanca. During his degree, he developed an interest in volcanoes and because of that, he contacted asking for supervision of his degree thesis to his future PhD director. His thesis was Antonio’s first contact with Antarctic research since it was focused on the petrography (what different rocks constituted by, in which proportion and how the components are distributed) study of Deception Island (Antarctica) and Los Frailes (Spain) volcanoes. 

Deciding to continue his studies in volcanology, Antonio moved to France to undertake a two-year master’s degree in volcanology at Clermont-Auvergne University. His master’s research was focused on Santorini in Greece, in which he characterised how much time the magma stays beneath the surface before erupting (residence timescales through diffusion chronometry) in one of its historical eruptions. 

Once finished, Antonio moved to Spain under a one-year scholarship at Geosciences Barcelona – CSIC, and came back to Antarctic research working on the characterisation of volcanic tephra layers founded in marine sediment cores drilled along Bransfield Strait, Antarctica. 

He is currently working towards his PhD to understand how the different volcanoes located along Bransfield Strait (Deception Island, Three Sisters, Orca) may erupt in the future. 

Apart from his scientific background, Antonio speaks French and English. He loves hiking and sightseeing.