Publications
Filter Total Items: 2187
Earthquakes, did you feel it?
The US Geological Survey (USGS) “Did You Feel It?”® (DYFI) system is an automated system for rapidly collecting macroseismic intensity data from Internet users’ shaking and damage reports and generating intensity maps immediately following earthquakes.Although the collection and assignment of DYFI-based Macroseismic Intensity (MI) data depart from traditional assignments, they are made more quickl
Authors
David J. Wald, Vince Quitoriano, James W. Dewey
Book review: The Dynamics of Risk: Changing Technologies and Collective Action in Seismic Events
No abstract available.
Authors
David J. Wald
The influence of frost weathering on the debris flow sediment supply in an alpine basin
Rocky, alpine mountains are prone to mass wasting from debris flows. The Chalk Cliffs
study area (central Colorado, USA) produces debris flows annually. These debris flows
are triggered when overland flow driven by intense summer convective storms mobilizes
large volumes of sediment within the channel network. Understanding the debris flow
hazard in this, and similar alpine settings, requires
Authors
Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Nadine G. Reitman, Joel B. Smith, Jeffrey A. Coe, Luke McGuire
A high-resolution seismic catalog for the initial 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake sequence: Foreshocks, aftershocks, and faulting complexity
I use template matching and precise relative relocation techniques to develop a high-resolution earthquake catalog for the initial portion of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, from July 4-16, encompassing the foreshock sequence and the first 10+ days of aftershocks following the Mw 7.1 mainshock. Using 13,525 routinely cataloged events as waveform templates, I detect and precisely locate a
Authors
David R. Shelly
Evaluation of ground‐motion models for U.S. Geological Survey seismic hazard forecasts: Hawaii tectonic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
The selection and weighting of ground‐motion models (GMMs) introduces a significant source of uncertainty in U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Modeling Project (NSHMP) forecasts. In this study, we evaluate 18 candidate GMMs using instrumental ground‐motion observations of horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) and 5%‐damped pseudospectral acceleration (0.02–10 s) for tectoni
Authors
Daniel E. McNamara, Emily Wolin, Peter M. Powers, Allison Shumway, Morgan P. Moschetti, John Rekoske, Eric M. Thompson, Charles Mueller, Mark D. Petersen
A domestic earthquake impact alert protocol based on the combined USGS PAGER and FEMA Hazus loss estimation systems
The U.S. Geological Survey’s PAGER alert system provides rapid (10-20 min) but general loss estimates of ranges of fatalities and economic impact for significant global earthquakes. FEMA’s Hazus software, in contrast, provides time consuming (2-5 hours) but more detailed loss information quantified in terms of structural, social, and economic consequences estimated at a much higher spatial resolut
Authors
David J. Wald, Hope A. Seligson, Jesse Rozelle, Jordan Burns, Kristin Marano, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Mike Hearne, Douglas Bausch
A 100-year geoelectric hazard analysis for the U.S. high-voltage power grid
A once-per-century geoelectric hazard map is created for the United States high-voltage
power grid. A statistical extrapolation from 31 years of magnetic field measurements is
made by identifying 84 geomagnetic storms with the Kp and Dst indices. Data from 24
geomagnetic observatories, 1079 magnetotelluric survey sites, and 17,258 transmission
lines are utilized to perform a geoelectric hazard
Authors
Greg M. Lucas, Jeffrey J. Love, Anna Kelbert, Paul A. Bedrosian, E. Joshua Rigler
Using a dense seismic array to determine structure and site effects of the Two Towers earthflow in northern California
We deployed a network of 68 three-component geophones on the slow moving Two
Towers earthflow in northern California. We compute horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios
(HVSRs) from the ambient seismic field. The HVSRs have two prominent peaks, one near
1.23 Hz and another between 4 and 8 Hz at most stations. The 1.23 Hz resonance is a property of the background noise field and may be due to a v
Authors
Amanda M. Thomas, Zack Spica, Miles Bodmer, William Schulz, Joshua J. Roering
Observations on the May 2019 Joffre Peak landslides, British Columbia
Two catastrophic landslides occurred in quick succession on 13 and 16 May 2019, from the north face of Joffre Peak, Cerise Creek, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia. With headscarps at 2560 m and 2690 m elevation, both began as rock avalanches, rapidly transforming into debris flows along middle Cerise Creek, and finally into debris floods affecting the fan. Beyond the fan margin, a flood
Authors
Pierre Friele, Tom Millard, Andrew Mitchell, Kate E. Allstadt, Brian Menounos, Marten Geertsema, John J. Clague
Seismic monitoring & response for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
The 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) passes through extremely remote regions, where there is a high potential for seismic activity. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the TAPS operator, has been on the forefront of seismic engineering and situational awareness, and continues to enhance its capabilities. TAPS has used earthquake monitoring since the pipeline was constructed in 1977 and r
Authors
S Strait, David J. Wald
An exploration of parametric earthquake risk transfer solutions that dynamically adapt to seismicity changes
(Re)insurance companies rely on earthquake risk models to estimate the frequency and severity of their potential financial losses. To protect themselves, they sometimes use parametric risk transfer solutions, which are derivative-form agreements that provide compensation as a function of routine measurable earthquake characteristics. These mechanisms typically remain in force for one to three year
Authors
Guillermo Franco, R Guidotti, Edward H. Field, K.R. Milner, Y.J. Lee, R. S. Stein
Debris-flow growth in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria: Preliminary results from analyses of pre- and post-event lidar data
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria triggered widespread debris flows in Puerto Rico. We used field observations and pre- and post-Maria lidar to study the volumetric growth of long-travelled (>400 m) debris flows in four basins. We found overall growth rates that ranged from 0.7 to 30.4 m3 per meter of channel length. We partitioned the rates into two growth mechanisms, aggregation of multiple
Authors
Jeffrey A. Coe, Erin K. Bessette-Kirton, Dianne L. Brien, Mark E. Reid