Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Nathan J Wood, Ph.D.
Nathan Wood is a supervisory research geographer with the USGS Western Geographic Science Center.
He supervises the WGSC Hazard Vulnerability Team that specializes in societal-vulnerability science, geospatial modeling, and web mapping applications. He has conducted research and written extensively on community vulnerability to natural hazards, such as asset exposure, demographic sensitivity, and pedestrian evacuation modeling. He has done work related to tsunami threats in Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Alaska, American Samoa, and Guam; volcanic hazards in Washington and California; and coastal hazards in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. He also works with natural scientists to model and create national-scale hazard maps, including landslide, sinkhole, and Valley Fever susceptibility. He is a co-leader of a project characterizing multi-hazard risk for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He is a USGS representative for the Coordinating Committee of the U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program.
Professional Experience
2014 – Current: Supervisory Research Geographer, USGS Western Geographic Science Center (WGSC)
2001 – 2014: Research Geographer, USGS WGSC
1999-2001: Project Manager, Extension Sea Grant, Oregon State University
1998-1999: Instructor, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Geography, Oregon State University, 2002
M.S. Marine Science, University of South Florida, 1996
B.S. Geology, Duke University, 1993
Science and Products
Connecting with our stakeholders - developing a better understanding of use and usability for science products
Subsidence Susceptibility Map for the Conterminous U.S.
CDI Risk Map
Tsunamis
Coastal Change
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Hazards Vulnerability Team
A data management and visualization framework for community vulnerability to hazards
Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
SAFRR Tsunami Scenario
Informing Conservation Management Decision-Making at Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
Slope-Relief Threshold Landslide Susceptibility Models for the United States and Puerto Rico
Community Exposure in U.S. American Samoa to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Hawaiian Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Northern Mariana Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Guam to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. California to Future Shoreline Change Hazards, reference year 2020
Geospatial files and tabular exposure estimates of sinkhole susceptibility for counties in the conterminous United States for current conditions and projections for the years 2070-2079 - Overview
Pedestrian evacuation time maps, flow depth time series, and population estimates for the island of Guam tsunami evacuation zone
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Virginia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Georgia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Florida, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. South Carolina, reference year 2020
Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Projections of multiple climate-related coastal hazards for the US Southeast Atlantic
Parsimonious high-resolution landslide susceptibility modeling at continental scales
Slope Unit Maker (SUMak): An efficient and parameter-free algorithm for delineating slope units to improve landslide modeling
Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam
Mapping landslide susceptibility over large regions with limited data
Multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior: An integration of expert elicitation, planning priorities, and geospatial analysis
National strategy for landslide loss reduction
Multiple climate change-driven tipping points for coastal systems
Variations in community evacuation potential related to average return periods in probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis
Influence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations
Community for data integration 2018 funded project report
Oahu Tsunami Evacuation Dashboard
Tsunami waves created by earthquakes far from Hawai’i arrive hours later along Hawaiian shorelines but can be difficult to escape if everyone uses their cars to evacuate. Working with the Hawai’i Emergency Management Agency, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used computer modeling to identify areas where people should be able to evacuate on foot in less than 15 minutes.
Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA)
The Hazard Exposure and Reporting Analytics (HERA) website helps communities understand how natural hazards could impact their land, people, infrastructure, and livelihoods. HERA provides tools and data to help communities as they plan and prepare for natural hazards.
Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst Tool
The Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst is an ArcGIS extension that estimates how long it would take for someone to travel on foot out of a hazardous area that was threatened by a sudden event such as a tsunami, flash flood, or volcanic lahar. It takes into account the elevation changes and the different types of landcover that a person would encounter along the way.
Science and Products
Connecting with our stakeholders - developing a better understanding of use and usability for science products
Subsidence Susceptibility Map for the Conterminous U.S.
CDI Risk Map
Tsunamis
Coastal Change
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Hazards Vulnerability Team
A data management and visualization framework for community vulnerability to hazards
Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
SAFRR Tsunami Scenario
Informing Conservation Management Decision-Making at Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
Slope-Relief Threshold Landslide Susceptibility Models for the United States and Puerto Rico
Community Exposure in U.S. American Samoa to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Hawaiian Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Northern Mariana Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Guam to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. California to Future Shoreline Change Hazards, reference year 2020
Geospatial files and tabular exposure estimates of sinkhole susceptibility for counties in the conterminous United States for current conditions and projections for the years 2070-2079 - Overview
Pedestrian evacuation time maps, flow depth time series, and population estimates for the island of Guam tsunami evacuation zone
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Virginia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Georgia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Florida, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. South Carolina, reference year 2020
Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Projections of multiple climate-related coastal hazards for the US Southeast Atlantic
Parsimonious high-resolution landslide susceptibility modeling at continental scales
Slope Unit Maker (SUMak): An efficient and parameter-free algorithm for delineating slope units to improve landslide modeling
Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam
Mapping landslide susceptibility over large regions with limited data
Multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior: An integration of expert elicitation, planning priorities, and geospatial analysis
National strategy for landslide loss reduction
Multiple climate change-driven tipping points for coastal systems
Variations in community evacuation potential related to average return periods in probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis
Influence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations
Community for data integration 2018 funded project report
Oahu Tsunami Evacuation Dashboard
Tsunami waves created by earthquakes far from Hawai’i arrive hours later along Hawaiian shorelines but can be difficult to escape if everyone uses their cars to evacuate. Working with the Hawai’i Emergency Management Agency, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used computer modeling to identify areas where people should be able to evacuate on foot in less than 15 minutes.
Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA)
The Hazard Exposure and Reporting Analytics (HERA) website helps communities understand how natural hazards could impact their land, people, infrastructure, and livelihoods. HERA provides tools and data to help communities as they plan and prepare for natural hazards.
Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst Tool
The Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst is an ArcGIS extension that estimates how long it would take for someone to travel on foot out of a hazardous area that was threatened by a sudden event such as a tsunami, flash flood, or volcanic lahar. It takes into account the elevation changes and the different types of landcover that a person would encounter along the way.