Academic Programmes - Student Biographies
Getachew Ebuy Tedla
Ph. D. Candidate
International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC)
I am a lecturer in the Physics Department at Mekelle University, Ethiopia. I completed my undergraduate degree in applied physics from Addis Ababa University. I then pursued an M.Sc. in geo-Information sciences and earth observation at the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Netherlands with a specialization in applied geophysics. My study was funded by the Netherlands Fellowship programme. I also attended short courses in exploration geophysics and environmental and ground water modeling, sponsored by EIGS and UNESCO.
My career began as a geophysicist at the Geological survey of Ethiopia. I then joined Mekelle University working as a graduate assistant, lecturer and finally as the head of the department. I started my Ph.D. project in November 2006 at ITC and am funded by the ITC research fund. As a student member of the AfricaArray I would like to see an increase in the number of geophysics professionals working towards developing the natural resources of Africa for the betterment of society.
My research focuses mainly on satellite gravity and the regional crust structure in Africa. From geophysics we know that an accurately determined Earth's gravity field over a wide range of spatial scales is of fundamental importance for understanding the structure and dynamics of the solid Earth. Current satellite gravity missions provide gravity field signals to be used in combination with topography at commensurate resolution to resolve the compositional, thermal, and mechanical structure of the deep crust and upper mantle.
Hence, in this research, satellite gravity data from GRACE and GOCE will be inverted for crust thickness and tectonic modeling using a priory seismological and various geophysical constraints. In general the objectives of the research are to:
- Evaluate the global gravity models and sensors with respect to crust thickness and tectonic modeling in Africa;
- Develop a joint inversion algorithm to invert satellite gravity and seismological constraints for crustal thickness;
- Develop a crustal model for Africa that integrates satellite, terrestrial gravity and seismological constraints; and
- Model macro-scale tectonic processes in Africa and integrate with surface wave tomographic models.