Publications
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Exploring the interior of Europa with the Europa Clipper Exploring the interior of Europa with the Europa Clipper
The Galileo mission to Jupiter revealed that Europa is an ocean world. The Galileo magnetometer experiment in particular provided strong evidence for a salty subsurface ocean beneath the ice shell, likely in contact with the rocky core. Within the ice shell and ocean, a number of tectonic and geodynamic processes may operate today or have operated at some point in the past, including...
Authors
James Roberts, William B. McKinnon, Catherine Elder, Gabriel Tobie, John Biersteker, Duncan Young, Ryan S. Park, Gregor Steinbrugge, Francis Nimmo, Samuel Howell, Julie C. Castillo-Rogez, Morgan Cable, Jacob Abrahams, Michael T. Bland, Chase Chivers, Corey Cochrane, Andrew Dombard, Carolyn M. Ernst, Antonio Genova, Christopher Gerekos, Christopher R. Glein, Camilla Harris, Hamish Hay, Paul O. Hayne, Matthew Hedman, Hauke Hussmann, Xianzhe Jia, Krishan Khurana, Walter Kiefer, Randolph L. Kirk, Margaret Kivelson, Justin D. Lawrence, Erin J. Leonard, Jonathan Lunine, Erwan Mazarico, Thomas B. McCord, Alfred S. McEwen, Carol Paty, Lynnae Quick, Carol A. Raymond, Kurt Retherford, Lorenz Roth, Abigail Rymer, Joachim Saur, Kirk Scanlan, Dustin Schroeder, David Senske, Wencheng Shao, Krista Soderlund, Elizabeth Spiers, Marshall Styczinski, Paolo Tortora, Steven Vance, Michaela Villarreal, Benjamin Weiss, Joseph Westlake, Paul Withers, Natalie Wolfenbarger, Bonnie J. Buratti, Haje Korth, Robert Pappalardo, Interior Thematic Working Group
Learnings from rapid response efforts to remotely detect landslides triggered by the August 2021 Nippes earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace in Haiti Learnings from rapid response efforts to remotely detect landslides triggered by the August 2021 Nippes earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace in Haiti
On August 14, 2021, a Mw 7.2 earthquake struck the Tiburon Peninsula of western Haiti triggering thousands of landslides. Three days after the earthquake on August 17, 2021, Tropical Storm Grace crossed shallow waters offshore of southern Haiti triggering more landslides worsening the situation. In the aftermath of these events, several organizations with disaster response capabilities...
Authors
Pukar Amatya, Corey Scheip, Aline Deprez, Jean-Philippe Malet, Stephen L. Slaughter, Alexander L. Handwerger, Robert Emberson, Dalia Kirschbaum, Julien Jean-Baptiste, Mong-Han Huang, Marin Clark, Dimitrios Zekkos, Jhih-Rou Huang, Fabrizio Pacini, Enguerran Boissier
Seismic images and subsurface structures of northeastern Edwards Air Force Base, Kern County, California Seismic images and subsurface structures of northeastern Edwards Air Force Base, Kern County, California
We used multi-component seismic data (including two-dimensional images of compressional-wave velocity [vP], shear-wave velocity [vS], the ratio of compressional-wave velocity to shear-wave velocity [vP/vS ratio], Poisson’s ratio [μ], and seismic reflections) along a transect across northeastern Edwards Air Force Base to investigate the upper few hundred meters of the subsurface. The...
Authors
Rufus D. Catchings, Mark R. Goldman, Joanne H. Chan, Robert R. Sickler, Coyn J. Criley
The spatial distribution of debris flows in relation to observed rainfall anomalies: Insights from the Dolan Fire, California The spatial distribution of debris flows in relation to observed rainfall anomalies: Insights from the Dolan Fire, California
A range of hydrologic responses can be observed in steep, recently burned terrain, which makes predicting the spatial distribution of large debris flows challenging. Studies from rainfall-induced landslides in unburned areas show evidence of hydroclimatic tuning of landslide triggering, such that the spatial distribution of events is best predicted by the observed rainfall anomaly...
Authors
David B. Cavagnaro, Scott W. McCoy, Matthew A. Thomas, Jaime Kostelnik, Donald N. Lindsay
Bedrock erosion by debris flows at Chalk Cliffs, Colorado, USA: Implications for bedrock channel evolution Bedrock erosion by debris flows at Chalk Cliffs, Colorado, USA: Implications for bedrock channel evolution
Debris flow erosion into bedrock helps to set the pace of mountain denudation, but there are few empirical observations of this process. We studied the effects of debris flows on bedrock erosion using Structure-From-Motion photogrammetry and multiple real-time monitoring measurements. We found that the distribution of bedrock erosion across the channel cross-section could be generalized...
Authors
Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Jeffrey A. Coe, Megan Hanson, Joel Smith
Ground‐motion variability from kinematic rupture models and the implications for nonergodic probabilistic seismic hazard analysis Ground‐motion variability from kinematic rupture models and the implications for nonergodic probabilistic seismic hazard analysis
The variability of earthquake ground motions has a strong control on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), particularly for the low frequencies of exceedance used for critical facilities. We use a crossed mixed‐effects model to partition the variance components from simulated ground motions of Mw 7 earthquakes on the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch fault zone. Total...
Authors
Grace Alexandra Parker, Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson
Runout model evaluation based on back-calculation of building damage Runout model evaluation based on back-calculation of building damage
We evaluated the ability of three debris-flow runout models (RAMMS, FLO2D and D-Claw) to predict the number of damaged buildings in simulations of the 9 January 2019 Montecito, California, debris-flow event. Observations of building damage after the event were combined with OpenStreetMap building footprints to construct a database of all potentially impacted buildings. At the estimated...
Authors
Katherine R. Barnhart, Jason W. Kean
Forecasting the inundation of postfire debris flows Forecasting the inundation of postfire debris flows
In the semi-arid regions of the western United States, postfire debris flows are typically runoff generated. The U.S. Geological Survey has been studying the mechanisms of postfire debris-flow initiation for multiple decades to generate operational models for forecasting the timing, location, and magnitude of postfire debris flows. Here we discuss challenges and progress for extending...
Authors
Katherine R. Barnhart, Ryan P Jones, David L. George, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean
Viscous relaxation of Oort and Edgeworth craters on Pluto: Possible indicators of an epoch of early high heat flow Viscous relaxation of Oort and Edgeworth craters on Pluto: Possible indicators of an epoch of early high heat flow
Impact craters, with their well-defined initial shapes, have proven useful as heat flow probes of a number of icy bodies, provided characteristics of viscous relaxation can be identified. For Pluto's numerous craters, such identifications are hampered/complicated by infilling and erosion by mobile volatile ices, but not in every case. Large craters offer relatively deep probes of...
Authors
W. B. McKinnon, Michael T. Bland, K. Singer, P. M. Schenk, S. Robbins
Mapping planetary bodies Mapping planetary bodies
As the United States and its space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), looks to send humans back to the Moon, many other countries and their space agencies are also sending orbiters, rovers, and sample return missions across the Solar System. We are living in an extraordinary age of planetary exploration, where every mission builds on the decades of...
Authors
Trent M. Hare
A methodology to combine shaking and ground failure models for forecasting seismic damage to buried pipeline networks A methodology to combine shaking and ground failure models for forecasting seismic damage to buried pipeline networks
How does an earthquake affect buried pipeline networks? It is well known that the seismic performance of buried pipelines depends on ground failures (GFs) as well as strong ground shaking (SGS), but it is unclear how the various types of earthquake hazards should be collectively combined, as existing methodologies tend to examine each of the earthquake hazards separately. In this article...
Authors
N. Simon Kwong, Kishor S. Jaiswal
Comparison of earthquake early warning systems and the national volcano early warning system at the U.S. Geological Survey Comparison of earthquake early warning systems and the national volcano early warning system at the U.S. Geological Survey
Introduction Every year in the United States, natural hazards threaten lives and livelihoods, resulting in thousands of casualties and billions of dollars in damage. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Natural Hazards Mission Area works with many partners to monitor, assess, and research a wide range of natural hazards, including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. These efforts aim to...
Authors
Aleeza Wilkins, Charlie Mandeville, John Power, Douglas D. Given