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Reflecting on Mauna Loa's Reawakening

A Look Back at the 2022 Eruption

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September is National Preparedness Month

Are you ready?

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Research Team Forecasted Beach Impacts from Hurricane Idalia

USGS and NOAA partner to continually improve coastal change forecasts

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Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Deploys New Equipment on Kīlauea Summit

New webcam and more

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Alarming Future for California's Coastline

Computer modeling and new research predict significant erosion by 2100

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New USGS-FEMA study highlights economic earthquake risk in the United States

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The Haywired Scenario Exercise Toolkit is here!

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Natural Hazards Mission Area

Every year in the United States, natural hazards threaten lives and livelihoods and result in billions of dollars in damage. We work with many partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research on a wide range of natural hazards so that policymakers and the public have the understanding they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.

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Reducing Risk

Venn Diagram: Hazards and Society

USGS scientists develop new products to make science available to the public, emergency managers, and decision-makers. These efforts increase public safety and reduce risk and economic losses caused by natural hazards.

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Subduction Zone Science

Simple illustration of the various parts of a subduction zone where one oceanic plate is thrust beneath another.

The most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another.

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News

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What We Do: Coastal and Marine Science at USGS Santa Cruz

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USGS Researchers Return to Eastern Galapágos Spreading Center

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PCMSC Scientists Among USGS Contributors to National Climate Assessment

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Publications

Crustal block-controlled contrasts in deformation, uplift, and exhumation in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA, imaged through apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology and 3-D geological modeling

Deformation along strike-slip plate margins often accumulates within structurally partitioned and rheologically heterogeneous crustal blocks within the plate boundary. In these cases, contrasts in the physical properties and state of juxtaposed crustal blocks may play an important role in accommodation of deformation. Near the San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA, the Pacific−North American pla
Authors
Curtis William Baden, David L. Shuster, Jeremy H. Hourigan, Jared T. Gooley, Melanie Cahill, George E. Hilley
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Earthquake Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Kinematic evolution of a large paraglacial landslide in the Barry Arm fjord of Alaska

Our warming climate is adversely affecting cryospheric landscapes via glacial retreat, permafrost degradation, and associated slope destabilization. In Prince William Sound, Alaska, the rapid retreat of Barry Glacier has destabilized the slopes flanking the glacier, resulting in numerous landslides. The largest of these landslides (∼500 Mm3 in volume) is more than 2 km wide and has the potential t
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Lauren N. Schaefer, Jeffrey A. Coe, Katreen Wikstrom Jones, Brian D. Collins, Dennis M. Staley, Michael E. West, Ezgi Karasozen, Charles Prentice-James Miles, Gabriel J. Wolken, Ronald P. Daanan, Kelli Wadsworth Baxstrom
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program

U.S. Geological Survey risk research community of practice 2021 workshop report—Workshop on considering equitable engagement in research design

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Risk Research and Applications Community of Practice (Risk CoP) is a bureau-wide forum to share resources and discuss issues relevant to “conducting and applying scientific research in hazards—the dangerous processes or phenomena that may cause damage—to enhance the reduction of risk—the potential for societally relevant losses caused by hazards” (Ludwig and other
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Emily Brooks, Alice Pennaz, Matthew Jurjonas
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Natural Hazards Mission Area
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Science

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Person kneeling next to equipment surrounded by rocks and shrubs on a hillslope

"Maria Ygnacio" - Recent Conditions

Recent Monitoring Data
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program
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"Maria Ygnacio" - Recent Conditions

Recent Monitoring Data
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Person kneeling next to equipment surrounded by rocks and shrubs on a hillslope

Postfire Landslide Monitoring Station: “Maria Ygnacio” (2019 Cave Fire) near Santa Barbara, California

Wildfire can increase landslide susceptibility in mountainous terrain. The USGS maintains postfire landslide monitoring stations to track hillslope hydrologic conditions in the years following fire.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program
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Postfire Landslide Monitoring Station: “Maria Ygnacio” (2019 Cave Fire) near Santa Barbara, California

Wildfire can increase landslide susceptibility in mountainous terrain. The USGS maintains postfire landslide monitoring stations to track hillslope hydrologic conditions in the years following fire.
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mountainous valley with burn scar in foreground and person near an instrument with a solar panel

Dixie Fire Post-Fire Debris Flows: A Tale of Two Storms

This new geonarrative (Esri story map) highlights two storm events and their postfire impacts in the Dixie burn area.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center
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Dixie Fire Post-Fire Debris Flows: A Tale of Two Storms

This new geonarrative (Esri story map) highlights two storm events and their postfire impacts in the Dixie burn area.
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