Publications
Filter Total Items: 2280
The recurrence interval of post-fire debris-flow generating rainfall in the southwestern United States
In the southwestern United States, post-fire debris flows commonly initiate during short bursts of intense rainfall. To date, the frequency of the rainfall rates has not been quantified. Here, we combine an existing database of debris-flow occurrences and corresponding peak storm intensities with a geospatial library of rainfall recurrence interval (RI) information and climate type to...
Authors
Dennis M. Staley, Jason W. Kean, Francis K. Rengers
Hillslopes in humid-tropical climates aren’t always wet: Implications for hydrologic response and landslide initiation in Puerto Rico, USA
The devastating impacts of the widespread flooding and landsliding in Puerto Rico following the September 2017 landfall of Hurricane Maria highlight the increasingly extreme atmospheric disturbances and enhanced hazard potential in mountainous humid‐tropical climate zones. Long‐standing conceptual models for hydrologically driven hazards in Puerto Rico posit that hillslope soils remain...
Authors
Matthew A. Thomas, Benjamin B. Mirus, Joel B. Smith
Now trending … Earthquake information
The U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program has overall successfully fulfilled its mission of providing timely earthquake information via web applications and other methods. Imagine a single month of earthquake data delivery, serving 3.6 billion total data requests, including 29 million pageviews by 7.1 million users, 606 million automated data feeds, and 45 million catalog...
Authors
William S. Leith, Jeremy Fee, Eric M. Martinez, Lynda A. Lastowka
Financial risk innovation: Development of earthquake parametric triggers for contingent credit instruments
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has developed financial risk management strategies for natural disasters focusing primarily on the emergency phase of the catastrophes where financial support is more cost-efficient and certainly most needed. The main IDB financial instrument to provide liquidity in the aftermath of catastrophic events is the Contingent Credit Facility (CCF). The...
Authors
Guillermo Collich, Rafael Rosillo, Juan Martinez, David J. Wald, Juan José Durante
Landslides after wildfire: Initiation, magnitude, and mobility
In the semiarid Southwestern USA, wildfires are commonly followed by runoff-generated debris flows because wildfires remove vegetation and ground cover, which reduces soil infiltration capacity and increases soil erodibility. At a study site in Southern California, we initially observed runoff-generated debris flows in the first year following fire. However, at the same site three years...
Authors
Francis K. Rengers, Luke A. McGuire, Nina S. Oakley, Jason W. Kean, Dennis M. Staley, Hui Tang
Adjusted geomagnetic data—Theoretical basis and validation
Adjusted geomagnetic data are magnetometer measurements with provisional correction factors applied such that vector quantities are oriented in a local Cartesian frame in which the X axis points north, the Y axis points east, and the Z axis points down. These correction factors are determined from so-called absolute measurements, which are “ground truth” observations made in the field...
Authors
E. Joshua Rigler, Abram E. Claycomb
Procedures for developing multi-period response spectra at non-conterminous United States sites
This study complements proposals to the Provisions Update Committee of the Building Seismic Safety Council that would incorporate multi-period response spectra (MPRS) in the 2020 edition of the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures (2020 NEHRP Provisions) and related proposals to the ASCE 7-22 Seismic Subcommittee of the American Society of Civil...
Authors
Mai Tong, Robert D. Hanson, Charles A. Kircher, Sanaz Rezaeian, Nico Luco
Calibration of the U.S. Geological Survey National Crustal Model
The U.S. Geological Survey National Crustal Model (NCM) is being developed to include spatially varying estimates of site response in seismic hazard assessments. Primary outputs of the NCM are continuous velocity and density profiles from the Earth’s surface to the mantle transition zone at 410-kilometer (km) depth for each location on a 1-km grid across the conterminous United States...
Authors
Oliver S. Boyd
Recording the aurora borealis (northern lights) at seismometers across Alaska
We examine three continuously recording data sets related to the aurora: all‐sky camera images, three‐component magnetometer data, and vertical‐component, broadband seismic data as part of the EarthScope project (2014 to present). Across Alaska there are six all‐sky cameras, 13 magnetometers, and >200>200 seismometers. The all‐sky images and magnetometers have the same objective, which...
Authors
C. Tape, Adam T. Ringler, D.L. Hampton
Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures
Human activity causes vibrations that propagate into the ground as high-frequency seismic waves. Measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread changes in human activity, leading to a months-long reduction in seismic noise of up to 50%. The 2020 seismic noise quiet period is the longest and most prominent global anthropogenic seismic noise reduction on record. While the...
Authors
Thomas Lecocq, Stephen Hicks, Koen Van Noten, Kasper van Wijk, Paula Koelemeijer, Raphael S.M. De Plaen, Frederick Massin, Gregor Hillers, Robert E. Anthony, Maria-Theresia Apoloner, Mario Arroyo-Solorzano, Jelle D. Assink, Pinar Buyukakpinar, Andrea Cannata, Flavio Cannavo, Sebastian Carrasco, Corentin Caudron, Esteban J. Chaves, David G. Cornwell, David Craig, Oliver F.C. den Ouden, Jordi Diaz, Stefanie Donner, Christos P. Evangelidis, Läslo G. Evers, Benoit Fauville, Gonzalo A. Fernandez, Dimitrios Giannopoulos, Steven J. Gibbons, Társilo Girona, Bogdan Grecu, Marc Grunberg, Gyorgy Hetenyi, Anna Horleston, Adolfo Inza, Jessica C.E. Irving, Mohammadreza Jamal-Reyhani, Alan Kafka, Mathijs R. Koymans, Celeste Labedz, Eric Larose, Nathaniel J. Lindsey, Mika McKinnon, Tobias Megies, Meghan S. Miller, William G. Minarik, Louis Moresi, Victor H. Marquez-Ramirez, Martin Mollhoff, Ian Nesbitt, Shankho Niyogi, Javier Ojeda, Adrien Oth, Simon Proud, Jeremy J. Pulli, Lise Retailleau, Annukka E. Rintamaki, Claudio Satriano, Martha Savage, Shanhar Shani-Kamiel, Reinoud Sleeman, Efthimios Sokos, Katie Stammler, Alexander E. Stott, Shiba Subedi, Mathilde B. Sørensen, Taka'aki Taira, Mar Tapia, Faith Turhan, Ben van der Pluijm, Mark Vanstone, Jerome Vernge, Tommi A.T. Vuorinen, Tristram Warren, Joachim Wassermann, Han Xiao
Reconstructing the velocity and deformation of a rapid landslide using multiview video
Noncontact measurements of spatially varied ground surface deformation during landslide motion can provide important constraints on landslide mechanics. Here, we present and test a new method for extracting measurements of rapid landslide surface displacement and velocity (accelerations of approximately 1 m/s2) using sequences of stereo images obtained from a pair of inexpensive...
Authors
Thomas D Rapstine, Francis K. Rengers, Kate E. Allstadt, Richard M. Iverson, Joel B. Smith, Maciej Obryk, Matthew Logan, M. J. Olsen
Bellwether sites for evaluating changes in landslide frequency and magnitude in cryospheric mountainous terrain: A call for systematic, long-term observations to decipher the impact of climate change
Permafrost and glaciers are being degraded by the warming effects of climate change. The impact that this degradation has on slope stability in mountainous terrain is the subject of ongoing research efforts. The relatively new availability of high-resolution (≤ 10 m) imagery with worldwide coverage and short (≤ 30 days) repeat acquisition times, as well as the emerging field of...
Authors
Jeffrey A. Coe