Publications
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The 2018 update of the US National Seismic Hazard Model: Ground motion models in the western US
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) is the scientific foundation of seismic design regulations in the United States and is regularly updated to consider the best available science and data. The 2018 update of the conterminous U.S. NSHM includes significant changes to the underlying ground motion models (GMMs), most of which are necessary to enable the new multi-p
Authors
Peter M. Powers, Sanaz Rezaeian, Allison Shumway, Mark D. Petersen, Nicolas Luco, Oliver S. Boyd, Morgan P. Moschetti, Arthur Frankel, Eric M. Thompson
Quick and dirty (and accurate) 3-D paleoseismic trench models using coded scale bars
Structure‐from‐motion (SfM) modeling has dramatically increased the speed of generating geometrically accurate orthophoto mosaics of paleoseismic trenches, but some aspects of this technique remain time and labor intensive. Model accuracy relies on control points to establish scale, reduce distortion, and orient 3D models. Traditional SfM methods use total station or Global Navigation Satellite Sy
Authors
Jaime Delano, Richard W. Briggs, Christopher DuRoss, Ryan D. Gold
Rapid observations of ocean dynamics and stratification along a steep island coast during Hurricane María
Hurricanes are extreme storms that affect coastal communities, but the linkages between hurricane forcing and ocean dynamics remain poorly understood. Here, we present full water column observations at unprecedented resolution from the southwest Puerto Rico insular shelf and slope during Hurricane María, representing a rare set of high-frequency, subsurface, oceanographic observations collected al
Authors
Olivia Cheriton, Curt Storlazzi, Kurt J. Rosenberger, Clark E Sherman, Wilford Schmidt
Principles for collaborative risk communication: Reducing landslide losses in Puerto Rico
Landslides are frequent and damaging natural hazards that threaten the people and the natural and built environments of Puerto Rico. In 2017, more than 70,000 landslides were triggered across the island by heavy rainfall from Hurricane María, prompting requests by local professionals for landslide education and outreach materials. This article describes a novel collaborative risk communication fra
Authors
Jocelyn West, Lindsay Ann Davis, Raquel Lugo Bendezú, Yahaira Álvarez Gandía, K. Stephen Hughes, Jonathan W. Godt, Lori Peek
How would a volcanic eruption affect your Tribe?
Volcanic eruptions are rare, but when they occur, they can profoundly affect nearby communities. In order to determine which communities are at risk, and in order for those communities to mitigate their risk, communities need to know whether they are in or near volcano hazard zones and have basic information about the hazards within those zones. In addition, individuals need to know whether they l
Authors
Cynthia A. Gardner, Joseph A. Bard
Coral reef restorations can be optimized to reduce coastal flooding hazards
Coral reefs are effective natural coastal flood barriers that protect adjacent communities. Coral degradation compromises the coastal protection value of reefs while also reducing their other ecosystem services, making them a target for restoration. Here we provide a physics-based evaluation of how coral restoration can reduce coastal flooding for various types of reefs. Wave-driven flooding reduc
Authors
Floortje Roelvink, Curt Storlazzi, Ap van Dongeren, Stuart Pearson
The timing and magnitude of changes to Hortonian overland flow at the watershed scale during the post-fire recovery process
Extreme hydrologic responses following wildfires can lead to floods and debris flows with costly economic and societal impacts. Process-based hydrologic and geomorphic models used to predict the downstream impacts of wildfire must account for temporal changes in hydrologic parameters related to the generation and subsequent routing of infiltration-excess overland flow across the landscape. However
Authors
Taojun Liu, Luke A. McGuire, Haiyan Wei, Francis K. Rengers, Hoshin Gupta, Lin Ji, David C. Goodrich
Correlation of porosity variations and rheological transitions on the southern Cascadia megathrust
The unknown onshore extent of megathrust earthquake rupture in the Cascadia subduction zone represents a key uncertainty in earthquake hazard for the Pacific Northwest that is governed by the physical state and mechanical properties of the plate interface. The Cascadia plate interface is segmented into an interseismically locked zone located primarily offshore that is expected to rupture in large
Authors
Hao Guo, Jeffrey McGuire, Haijiang Zhang
Prehistoric earthquakes on the Banning strand of the San Andreas fault, North Palm Springs, California
We studied a paleoseismic trench excavated in 2017 across the Banning strand of the San Andreas fault and herein provide the first detailed record of ground-breaking earthquakes on this important fault in Southern California. The trench exposed an ~40-m-wide fault zone cutting through alluvial sand, gravel, silt, and clay deposits. We evaluated the paleoseismic record using a new metric that combi
Authors
Bryan A. Castillo, Sally F. McGill, Katherine Scharer, Doug Yule, Devin McPhillips, James McNeil, Sourav Saha, Nathan D. Brown, Seulgi Moon
Structure and Qp-Qs relations in the Seattle and Tualatin basins from converted seismic phases
We use converted body‐wave phases from local earthquakes to constrain depth to basement and average attenuation relations for the Seattle basin in Washington and the Tualatin basin in Oregon. P‐, P‐to‐S‐(Ps), S‐to‐P‐(Sp), and S‐wave arrivals are present in three‐component recordings of magnitude 2.5–4.0 earthquakes at seismic stations located in these basins. Based on their relative travel times,
Authors
Ian Stone, Erin Wirth, Arthur Frankel
Postwildfire soil‐hydraulic recovery and the persistence of debris flow hazards
Deadly and destructive debris flows often follow wildfire, but understanding of changes in the hazard potential with time since fire is poor. We develop a simulation‐based framework to quantify changes in the hydrologic triggering conditions for debris flows as postwildfire infiltration properties evolve through time. Our approach produces time‐varying rainfall intensity‐duration thresholds for ru
Authors
Matthew A. Thomas, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Luke A. McGuire, Dennis M. Staley, Katherine R. Barnhart, Brian A. Ebel
Horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios from California sites: Open-source database and data interpretation to establish site parameters
Frequency-dependent horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) of Fourier amplitudes from three-component recordings can provide information on one or more site resonant frequencies and relative levels of amplification at those frequencies. Such information is potentially useful for predicting site amplification but is not present in site databases that have been developed over the last 15–20 y
Authors
Pengfei Wang, Paolo Zimmaro, Tatiana Gospe, Sean Kamran Ahdi, Alan Yong, Jonathan P. Stewart