Ashton Flinders

Dr. Ashton Flinders is a research geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, where he manages the observatory’s gravity monitoring and mapping program. His work focuses on determining the material properties and structures of magma reservoirs within Earth’s crust across a range of tectonic settings. His multidisciplinary approach integrates marine and terrestrial geophysics, including gravity, magnetics, and seismology, with a particular focus at the intersection of crustal geophysics, ocean mapping, exploration, and characterization. 

He holds master’s degrees in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and in Ocean Engineering, with a focus on ocean mapping, from the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, where his research focused on applications of high-performance computing and three-dimensional full-waveform seismic tomography in volcanic settings. Dr. Flinders is a USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow and Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) alumnus. He has accumulated more than one year of collective at-sea experience across more than 20 research cruises, spanning ocean exploration, academic research, sonar quality assurance testing, and mineral exploration.