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
Integrate urban‐scale seismic hazard analyses with the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
Spatial and spectral interpolation of ground-motion intensity measure observations
An open repository of earthquake-triggered ground-failure inventories
Grand challenges for integrated USGS science — A workshop report
Development and utilization of USGS ShakeCast for rapid post-earthquake assessment of critical facilities and infrastructure
Integrating landslide and liquefaction hazard and loss estimates with existing USGS real-time earthquake information products
Using structural damage statistics to derive macroseismic intensity within the Kathmandu valley for the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake
Computing spatial correlation of ground motion intensities for ShakeMap
Money matters: Rapid post-earthquake financial decision-making
USGS approach to real-time estimation of earthquake-triggered ground failure - Results of 2015 workshop
Uncertainty in Vs30-based site response
Get your science used—Six guidelines to improve your products
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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Integrate urban‐scale seismic hazard analyses with the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
For more than 20 yrs, damage patterns and instrumental recordings have highlighted the influence of the local 3D geologic structure on earthquake ground motions (e.g., MM 6.7 Northridge, California, Gao et al., 1996; MM 6.9 Kobe, Japan, Kawase, 1996; MM 6.8 Nisqually, Washington, Frankel, Carver, and Williams, 2002). Although this and other local‐scale features are critical to improving seismic haAuthorsMorgan P. Moschetti, Nicolas Luco, Arthur Frankel, Mark D. Petersen, Brad T. Aagaard, Annemarie S. Baltay, Michael Blanpied, Oliver S. Boyd, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Robert Graves, Stephen H. Hartzell, Sanaz Rezaeian, William J. Stephenson, David J. Wald, Robert A. Williams, Kyle WithersSpatial and spectral interpolation of ground-motion intensity measure observations
Following a significant earthquake, ground‐motion observations are available for a limited set of locations and intensity measures (IMs). Typically, however, it is desirable to know the ground motions for additional IMs and at locations where observations are unavailable. Various interpolation methods are available, but because IMs or their logarithms are normally distributed, spatially correlatedAuthorsCharles Worden, Eric M. Thompson, Jack W. Baker, Brendon A. Bradley, Nicolas Luco, David J. WaldAn open repository of earthquake-triggered ground-failure inventories
Earthquake-triggered ground failure, such as landsliding and liquefaction, can contribute significantly to losses, but our current ability to accurately include them in earthquake-hazard analyses is limited. The development of robust and widely applicable models requires access to numerous inventories of ground failures triggered by earthquakes that span a broad range of terrains, shaking characteAuthorsRobert G. Schmitt, Hakan Tanyas, M. Anna Nowicki Jessee, Jing Zhu, Katherine M. Biegel, Kate E. Allstadt, Randall W. Jibson, Eric M. Thompson, Cees J. van Westen, Hiroshi P. Sato, David J. Wald, Jonathan W. Godt, Tolga Gorum, Chong Xu, Ellen M. Rathje, Keith L. KnudsenGrand challenges for integrated USGS science — A workshop report
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of advancing the traditional Earth science disciplines and identifying opportunities to integrate USGS science across disciplines to address complex societal problems. The USGS science strategy for 2007–2017 laid out key challenges in disciplinary and interdisciplinary arenas, culminating in a call for increased focus on a numbeAuthorsKaren E. Jenni, Martin B. Goldhaber, Julio L. Betancourt, Jill S. Baron, Sky Bristol, Mary Cantrill, Paul E. Exter, Michael J. Focazio, John W. Haines, Lauren E. Hay, Leslie Hsu, Victor F. Labson, Kevin D. Lafferty, K. A. Ludwig, Paul C. D. Milly, Toni L. Morelli, Suzette A. Morman, Nedal T. Nassar, Timothy R. Newman, Andrea C. Ostroff, Jordan S. Read, Sasha C. Reed, Carl D. Shapiro, Richard A. Smith, Ward E. Sanford, Terry L. Sohl, Edward G. Stets, Adam J. Terando, Donald E. Tillitt, Michael A. Tischler, Patricia L. Toccalino, David J. Wald, Mark P. Waldrop, Anne Wein, Jake F. Weltzin, Christian E. ZimmermanDevelopment and utilization of USGS ShakeCast for rapid post-earthquake assessment of critical facilities and infrastructure
The ShakeCast system is an openly available, near real-time post-earthquake information management system. ShakeCast is widely used by public and private emergency planners and responders, lifeline utility operators and transportation engineers to automatically receive and process ShakeMap products for situational awareness, inspection priority, or damage assessment of their own infrastructure orAuthorsDavid J. Wald, Kuo-wan Lin, C. A. Kircher, Kishor Jaiswal, Nicolas Luco, L. Turner, Daniel SloskyIntegrating landslide and liquefaction hazard and loss estimates with existing USGS real-time earthquake information products
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has made significant progress toward the rapid estimation of shaking and shakingrelated losses through their Did You Feel It? (DYFI), ShakeMap, ShakeCast, and PAGER products. However, quantitative estimates of the extent and severity of secondary hazards (e.g., landsliding, liquefaction) are not currently included in scenarios and real-time post-earthquake productAuthorsKate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Mike Hearne, M. Anna Nowicki Jessee, J. Zhu, David J. Wald, Hakan TanyasUsing structural damage statistics to derive macroseismic intensity within the Kathmandu valley for the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake
We make and analyze structural damage observations from within the Kathmandu valley following the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake to derive macroseismic intensities at several locations including some located near ground motion recording sites. The macroseismic intensity estimates supplement the limited strong ground motion data in order to characterize the damage statistics. This augmentationAuthorsSean McGowan, Kishor Jaiswal, David J. WaldComputing spatial correlation of ground motion intensities for ShakeMap
Modeling the spatial correlation of ground motion residuals, caused by coherent contributions from source, path, and site, can provide valuable loss and hazard information, as well as a more realistic depiction of ground motion intensities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) software package, ShakeMap, utilizes a deterministic empirical approach to estimate median ground shaking in conjunctionAuthorsSarah Verros, David J. Wald, Charles Worden, Mike Hearne, Mahadevan GaneshMoney matters: Rapid post-earthquake financial decision-making
Post-earthquake financial decision-making is a realm beyond that of many people. In the immediate aftermath of a damaging earthquake, billions of dollars of relief, recovery, and insurance funds are in the balance through new financial instruments that allow those with resources to hedge against disasters and those at risk to limit their earthquake losses and receive funds for response and recoverAuthorsDavid J. Wald, Guillermo FrancoUSGS approach to real-time estimation of earthquake-triggered ground failure - Results of 2015 workshop
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards and Landslide Hazards Programs are developing plans to add quantitative hazard assessments of earthquake-triggered landsliding and liquefaction to existing real-time earthquake products (ShakeMap, ShakeCast, PAGER) using open and readily available methodologies and products. To date, prototype global statistical models have been developed and arAuthorsKate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, David J. Wald, Michael W. Hamburger, Jonathan W. Godt, Keith L. Knudsen, Randall W. Jibson, M. Anna Jessee, Jing Zhu, Michael Hearne, Laurie G. Baise, Hakan Tanyas, Kristin D. MaranoUncertainty in Vs30-based site response
Methods that account for site response range in complexity from simple linear categorical adjustment factors to sophisticated nonlinear constitutive models. Seismic‐hazard analysis usually relies on ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs); within this framework site response is modeled statistically with simplified site parameters that include the time‐averaged shear‐wave velocity to 30 m (VS30AuthorsEric M. Thompson, David J. WaldGet your science used—Six guidelines to improve your products
Introduction Natural scientists, like many other experts, face challenges when communicating to people outside their fields of expertise. This is especially true when they try to communicate to those whose background, knowledge, and experience are far distant from that field of expertise. At a recent workshop, experts in risk communication offered insights into the communication challenges of probAuthorsSuzanne C. Perry, Michael L. Blanpied, Erin R. Burkett, Nnenia M. Campbell, Anders Carlson, Dale A. Cox, Carolyn L. Driedger, David P. Eisenman, Katherine T. Fox-Glassman, Sherry Hoffman, Susanna M. Hoffman, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Lucile M. Jones, Nicolas Luco, Sabine M. Marx, Sean M. McGowan, Dennis S. Mileti, Morgan P. Moschetti, David Ozman, Elizabeth Pastor, Mark D. Petersen, Keith A. Porter, David W. Ramsey, Liesel A. Ritchie, Jessica K. Fitzpatrick, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Timothy L. Sellnow, Wendy L. Vaughon, David J. Wald, Lisa A. Wald, Anne Wein, Christina ZarcadoolasNon-USGS Publications**
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