David J Wald
Dr. Wald is a Seismologist with the USGS in Golden. He is involved in research, development & operations of several real-time earthquake information systems at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center. He developed and manages “ShakeMap”, “Did You Feel it?”, & is responsible for developing other systems for post-earthquake response & pre-earthquake mitigation, including ShakeCas
Wald's scientific interests include the characterization of rupture processes from complex recent and historic earthquakes using combined geodetic, teleseismic, and strong motion data; waveform modelling and inversion; analysis of ground motion hazards and site effects; earthquake source physics; and modelling earthquake-induced landslides, liquefaction, and losses, macroseismic intensity, building damage, financial and human impact, rapid damage and impact assessment, earthquake scenario development and mitigation planning and drills, and communication with the media, public, and emergency managers.
Previously at Caltech, and now at the Colorado School of Mines, Wald has advised dozens of post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate student research projects. Wald directly supervises 10 PhD level scientists and 5 five BS and MS level support staff, and supervises several students. Wald serves on several PhD committees at this time. This research has resulted in more than 450 professional publications that David has authored or co-authored, including journal papers, USGS publication series, conference papers, and published abstracts.
Education:
Post-doctoral Fellow, Geophysics, National Research Council, USGS, Pasadena, 1995
Ph.D., Geophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 1993
M.S., Geophysics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1986
B.S., Geology & Physics, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, 1984
Science and Products
Use of expert judgment elicitation to estimate seismic vulnerability of selected building types
A global earthquake discrimination scheme to optimize ground-motion prediction equation selection
ShakeMap Atlas 2.0: an improved suite of recent historical earthquake ShakeMaps for global hazard analyses and loss model calibration
Developing Vs30 site-condition maps by combining observations with geologic and topographic constraints
Developing ShakeCast statistical fragility analysis framework for rapid post-earthquake assessment
Improving PAGER's real-time earthquake casualty and loss estimation toolkit: a challenge
Impact-based earthquake alerts with the U.S. Geological Survey's PAGER system: what's next?
Probabilistic Relationships between Ground‐Motion Parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity in California
Slab1.0: A three-dimensional model of global subduction zone geometries
Rapid estimation of the economic consequences of global earthquakes
Earthquake impact scale
Earthquake casualty models within the USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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Filter Total Items: 157
Use of expert judgment elicitation to estimate seismic vulnerability of selected building types
Pooling engineering input on earthquake building vulnerability through an expert judgment elicitation process requires careful deliberation. This article provides an overview of expert judgment procedures including the Delphi approach and the Cooke performance-based method to estimate the seismic vulnerability of a building category.AuthorsK. S. Jaiswal, W. Aspinall, D. Perkins, D. Wald, K.A. PorterA global earthquake discrimination scheme to optimize ground-motion prediction equation selection
We present a new automatic earthquake discrimination procedure to determine in near-real time the tectonic regime and seismotectonic domain of an earthquake, its most likely source type, and the corresponding ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) class to be used in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Global ShakeMap system. This method makes use of the Flinn–Engdahl regionalization scheme, seismAuthorsDaniel Garcia, David J. Wald, Michael HearneShakeMap Atlas 2.0: an improved suite of recent historical earthquake ShakeMaps for global hazard analyses and loss model calibration
We introduce the second version of the U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMap Atlas, which is an openly-available compilation of nearly 8,000 ShakeMaps of the most significant global earthquakes between 1973 and 2011. This revision of the Atlas includes: (1) a new version of the ShakeMap software that improves data usage and uncertainty estimations; (2) an updated earthquake source catalogue that includeAuthorsD. Garcia, R.T. Mah, K. L. Johnson, M.G. Hearne, K. D. Marano, K.-W. Lin, D. J. WaldDeveloping Vs30 site-condition maps by combining observations with geologic and topographic constraints
Despite obvious limitations as a proxy for site amplification, the use of time-averaged shear-wave velocity over the top 30 m (VS30) remains widely practiced, most notably through its use as an explanatory variable in ground motion prediction equations (and thus hazard maps and ShakeMaps, among other applications). As such, we are developing an improved strategy for producing VS30 maps given the cAuthorsE.M. Thompson, D. J. WaldDeveloping ShakeCast statistical fragility analysis framework for rapid post-earthquake assessment
When an earthquake occurs, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeMap estimates the extent of potentially damaging shaking and provides overall information regarding the affected areas. The USGS ShakeCast system is a freely-available, post-earthquake situational awareness application that automatically retrieves earthquake shaking data from ShakeMap, compares intensity measures against users’ facAuthorsK.-W. Lin, D. J. WaldImproving PAGER's real-time earthquake casualty and loss estimation toolkit: a challenge
We describe the on-going developments of PAGER’s loss estimation models, and discuss value-added web content that can be generated related to exposure, damage and loss outputs for a variety of PAGER users. These developments include identifying vulnerable building types in any given area, estimating earthquake-induced damage and loss statistics by building type, and developing visualization aids tAuthorsK. S. Jaiswal, D. J. WaldImpact-based earthquake alerts with the U.S. Geological Survey's PAGER system: what's next?
In September 2010, the USGS began publicly releasing earthquake alerts for significant earthquakes around the globe based on estimates of potential casualties and economic losses with its Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system. These estimates significantly enhanced the utility of the USGS PAGER system which had been, since 2006, providing estimated population exposureAuthorsD. J. Wald, K. S. Jaiswal, K. D. Marano, D. Garcia, E. So, M. HearneProbabilistic Relationships between Ground‐Motion Parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity in California
We use a database of approximately 200,000 modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) observations of California earthquakes collected from USGS "Did You Feel It?" (DYFI) reports, along with a comparable number of peak ground-motion amplitudes from California seismic networks, to develop probabilistic relationships between MMI and peak ground velocity (PGV), peak ground acceleration (PGA), and 0.3-s, 1-s,AuthorsC.B. Worden, David J. Wald, D.A. RhoadesSlab1.0: A three-dimensional model of global subduction zone geometries
We describe and present a new model of global subduction zone geometries, called Slab1.0. An extension of previous efforts to constrain the two-dimensional non-planar geometry of subduction zones around the focus of large earthquakes, Slab1.0 describes the detailed, non-planar, three-dimensional geometry of approximately 85% of subduction zones worldwide. While the model focuses on the detailed foAuthorsGavin P. Hayes, David J. Wald, Rebecca L. JohnsonRapid estimation of the economic consequences of global earthquakes
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system, operational since mid 2007, rapidly estimates the most affected locations and the population exposure at different levels of shaking intensities. The PAGER system has significantly improved the way aid agencies determine the scale of response needed in the aftermath of an earthquake. For examplAuthorsKishor Jaiswal, David J. WaldEarthquake impact scale
With the advent of the USGS prompt assessment of global earthquakes for response (PAGER) system, which rapidly assesses earthquake impacts, U.S. and international earthquake responders are reconsidering their automatic alert and activation levels and response procedures. To help facilitate rapid and appropriate earthquake response, an Earthquake Impact Scale (EIS) is proposed on the basis of two cAuthorsDavid J. Wald, K. S. Jaiswal, K. D. Marano, D. BauschEarthquake casualty models within the USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system
Since the launch of the USGS’s Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system in fall of 2007, the time needed for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to determine and comprehend the scope of any major earthquake disaster anywhere in the world has been dramatically reduced to less than 30 min. PAGER alerts consist of estimated shaking hazard from the ShakeMap system, estimates oAuthorsKishor Jaiswal, David J. Wald, Paul S. Earle, Keith A. Porter, Mike HearneNon-USGS Publications**
References in Google Scholar**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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