Jeff Peters is a geographer at the Western Geographic Science Center (WGSC) who focuses on GIS research and websites.
Peters researches risk and vulnerability for natural hazards using geographic information science/systems (GIS). Peters works closely with state and community agencies and emergency managers to conduct GIS analyses that produce results that help them plan for future hazard events. These results include estimates of population exposure within and modeling evacuation out of hazard zones. Peters also builds interactive dashboards and websites to display these results in an accessible format.
Education and Certifications
M.A., Geography, San Jose State University, 2015
B.A., Geography, San Jose State University, 2010
A.A., Psychology, Cabrillo College, 2008
Science and Products
HayWired
Tsunamis
Coastal Change
Volcanoes
Hazards Vulnerability Team
Visualizing community exposure and evacuation potential to tsunami hazards using an interactive Tableau dashboard
Hazards Societal Consequences and Risk Communication
A data management and visualization framework for community vulnerability to hazards
SAFRR Tsunami Scenario
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 Georgia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Virginia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Florida, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. North Carolina, reference year 2020
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. South Carolina, reference year 2020
Database for the Geologic Map of Three Sisters Volcanic Cluster, Cascade Range, Oregon
Community Exposure in California to Coastal Groundwater Hazards Enhanced by Climate Change, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in California to Coastal Flooding Hazards Enhanced by Climate Change, reference year 2010
Influence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations
Pedestrian tsunami evacuation results for three California probabilistic tsunami hazard zones and four travel speeds (shapefiles) and impaired walk travel times for all zones by parcel land-use and flow depth class (tables)
Estimated geospatial and tabular damages and vulnerable population distributions resulting from exposure to multiple hazards by the M7.0 HayWired scenario on April 18, 2018, for 17 counties in the San Francisco Bay region, California
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam
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
California’s exposure to volcanic hazards
The potential for damaging earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, and wildfires is widely recognized in California. The same cannot be said for volcanic eruptions, despite the fact that they occur in the state about as frequently as the largest earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault. At least ten eruptions have taken place in the past 1,000 years, and future volcanic eruptions are inevitable.The
Community for Data Integration fiscal year 2017 funded project report
Pedestrian evacuation modeling to reduce vehicle use for distant tsunami evacuations in Hawaiʻi
Community disruptions and business costs for distant tsunami evacuations using maximum versus scenario-based zones
Intra-community implications of implementing multiple tsunami-evacuation zones in Alameda, California
Agricultural damages and losses from ARkStorm scenario flooding in California
GOES-derived fog and low cloud indices for coastal north and central California ecological analyses
Variations in population vulnerability to tectonic and landslide-related tsunami hazards in Alaska
Changes in population evacuation potential for tsunami hazards in Seward, Alaska, since the 1964 Good Friday earthquake
California's Exposure to Volcanic Hazards
A geonarrative summary of the USGS report that provides a broad perspective on California’s exposure to volcanic hazards. By integrating volcanic hazard information with geospatial data on populations, infrastructure, and resources, the results provide estimates of impacts to people and our environment if an eruption were to occur.
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
- Science
HayWired
The HayWired scenario examines a hypothetical earthquake (mainshock) with a moment magnitude of 7.0 occurring on April 18, 2018, at 4:18 p.m. on the Hayward Fault in the east bay part of California’s San Francisco Bay area. Most economic, cultural, and personal elements of society have grown entwined with the Internet since the last time California experienced a large urban earthquake. What will...Tsunamis
The 2004 Indian Ocean, 2010 Chilean, and 2011 Tohoku disasters have shown how tsunamis are significant threats to coastal communities. To help U.S. coastal communities prepare for future tsunamis, the Hazards Vulnerability Team completed projects related to population exposure and sensitivity, pedestrian evacuation modeling, and vertical-evacuation decision support. A recent article of ours in the...Coastal Change
The continued devastation from recent hurricanes and tropical storms demonstrates the vulnerability of coastal communities to coastal-change hazards. Changes in sea level and storm-wave intensity are changing the areas that are prone to erosion and storm-related flooding. The Hazards Vulnerability Team has worked with USGS coastal researchers and partners to improve our understanding of community...Volcanoes
As the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption showed, volcanoes pose significant threats to U.S. communities. Potential hazards posed by U.S. volcanoes include tephra falls, pyroclastic flows and surges, VOG, ballistic projectiles, lahar and lava flows. In collaboration with researchers from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program, the Hazards Vulnerability Team worked on better understanding and communicating...Hazards Vulnerability Team
Our country faces a wide array of natural hazards that threaten its safety, security, economic well-being, and natural resources. To minimize future losses, communities need a clear understanding of how they are vulnerable to natural hazards and of strategies for increasing their resilience. Vulnerability and resilience are influenced by (1) how communities choose to use hazard-prone land, (2) pre...Visualizing community exposure and evacuation potential to tsunami hazards using an interactive Tableau dashboard
USGS research for the Risk and Vulnerability to Natural Hazards project at the Western Geographic Science Center has produced several geospatial datasets estimating the time required to evacuate on foot from two tsunami evacuation zones (standard and extreme) traveling at three travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walking speeds) for the Island of O’ahu, HI. Tabulation of O’ahu resident and emp...Hazards Societal Consequences and Risk Communication
The Hazards Societal Consequences and Risk Communication project is led by Anne Wein at the Western Geographic Science Center (WGSC).The umbrella project is Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR), which estimates consequences of natural hazard disaster scenarios as a strategy to engage decision-makers in increasing a community’s ability to cope with the effects of a disaster. Scenarios for...A data management and visualization framework for community vulnerability to hazards
USGS research in the Western Geographic Science Center has produced several geospatial datasets estimating the time required to evacuate on foot from a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake-generated tsunami in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. These data, created as a result of research performed under the Risk and Vulnerability to Natural Hazards project, are useful for emergency managers and communitySAFRR Tsunami Scenario
The third SAFRR scenario is initiated by a magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake in the eastern Aleutian Islands, an event presenting a hypothetical but plausible distant-tsunami threat to southern and central California. USGS and other federal and state agencies entities developed the SAFRR Tsunami Scenario. The scenario describes wave heights, current velocities and inundation for the coast of... - Data
Filter Total Items: 16
Pedestrian evacuation time maps, flow depth time series, and population estimates for the island of Guam tsunami evacuation zone
These datasets support the conclusions in the journal article entitled "Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam" as described in the abstract below: Reducing the potential for loss of life from local tsunamis is challenging for emergency managers given the need for self-protective behavior within brief windows of time foCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Georgia, USA
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the state of Georgia, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roaCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Virginia, USA
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the state of Virginia, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Florida, USA
Socioeconomic impact estimates of community exposure to future coastal hazards are presented for communities along the coast of U.S. Florida. The provided data were generated using the Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web application (www.usgs.gov/apps/hera/). HERA uses geospatial analysis of socioeconomic indicators (population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure) in combinatCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. North Carolina, reference year 2020
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the state of North Carolina, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure dataCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. South Carolina, reference year 2020
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure flooding exposure for coastal communities of the state of South Carolina, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roads,Database for the Geologic Map of Three Sisters Volcanic Cluster, Cascade Range, Oregon
A database of geologic map of Three Sisters Volcanic Cluster as described in the original abstract: The geologic map represents part of a late Quaternary volcanic field within which scores of eruptions have taken place over the last 50,000 years, some as recently as ~1,500 years ago. No rocks of early Pleistocene (or greater) age crop out within the map area, although volcanic and derivative sediCommunity Exposure in California to Coastal Groundwater Hazards Enhanced by Climate Change, reference year 2020
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure groundwater inundation exposure for San Francisco Bay and coastal communities of the state of California, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, Data Axle data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, HAZUS building replacement vaCommunity Exposure in California to Coastal Flooding Hazards Enhanced by Climate Change, reference year 2010
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure flooding exposure for San Francisco Bay and coastal communities of the state of California, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup USA data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, HAZUS building replacement values, NLCInfluence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations
Distant tsunamis require short-notice evacuations in coastal communities to minimize threats to life safety. Given the available time to evacuate and potential distances out of hazard zones, coastal transportation planners and emergency managers can expect large proportions of populations to evacuate using vehicles. A community-wide, short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuation is challenging becausePedestrian tsunami evacuation results for three California probabilistic tsunami hazard zones and four travel speeds (shapefiles) and impaired walk travel times for all zones by parcel land-use and flow depth class (tables)
These datasets supports the conclusions in the journal article entitled "Variations in community evacuation potential related to average return periods in probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis" as described in the abstract below: Tsunami risk management requires strategies that can address multiple sources with different recurrence intervals, wave-arrival times, and inundation extents. ProbabilisEstimated geospatial and tabular damages and vulnerable population distributions resulting from exposure to multiple hazards by the M7.0 HayWired scenario on April 18, 2018, for 17 counties in the San Francisco Bay region, California
This data release is comprised of geospatial and tabular data developed for the HayWired communities at risk analysis. The HayWired earthquake scenario is a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hypothesized to occur on the Hayward Fault on April 18, 2018, with an epicenter in the city of Oakland, CA. The following 17 counties are included in this analysis unless otherwise specified: Alameda, Contra Costa, Ma - Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 14
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam
Reducing the potential for loss of life from local tsunamis is challenging for emergency managers given the need for self-protective behavior of at-risk individuals within brief windows of time to evacuate. There has been considerable attention paid to discussing the use of tsunami vertical-evacuation structures for areas where there may be insufficient time to evacuate. This strategy may not be fAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Kwok Fai Cheung, Yoshiki Yamazaki, Denille Calvo, Charles GuardVariations in community evacuation potential related to average return periods in probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis
Tsunami risk management requires strategies that can address multiple sources with different recurrence intervals, wave-arrival times, and inundation extents. Probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA) provides a structured way to integrate multiple sources, including the uncertainties due to the natural variability and limited knowledge of sources. PTHA-based products relate to specific averageAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Rick I. Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Kevin HenryInfluence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations
Distant tsunamis require short-notice evacuations in coastal communities to minimize threats to life safety. Given the available time to evacuate and potential distances out of hazard zones, coastal transportation planners and emergency managers can expect large proportions of populations to evacuate using vehicles. A community-wide, short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuation is challenging becauseAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Kevin Henry, Jeff PetersCalifornia’s exposure to volcanic hazards
The potential for damaging earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, and wildfires is widely recognized in California. The same cannot be said for volcanic eruptions, despite the fact that they occur in the state about as frequently as the largest earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault. At least ten eruptions have taken place in the past 1,000 years, and future volcanic eruptions are inevitable.The
AuthorsMargaret Mangan, Jessica Ball, Nathan Wood, Jamie L. Jones, Jeff Peters, Nina Abdollahian, Laura Dinitz, Sharon Blankenheim, Johanna Fenton, Cynthia PridmoreByVolcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, California Volcano Observatory, Clear Lake Volcanic Field, Coso Volcanic Field, Lassen Volcanic Center, Long Valley Caldera, Mammoth Mountain, Medicine Lake, Mono Lake Volcanic Field, Mono-Inyo Craters, Mount Shasta, Salton Buttes, Soda Lakes, Ubehebe CratersCommunity for Data Integration fiscal year 2017 funded project report
The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually funds small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 11 projects funded in fiscal year 2017, outlining their goals, activities, and outputs.AuthorsLeslie Hsu, Kate E. Allstadt, Tara M. Bell, Erin E. Boydston, Richard A. Erickson, A. Lance Everette, Erika Lentz, Jeff Peters, Brian Reichert, Sarah Nagorsen, Jason T. Sherba, Richard P. Signell, Mark T. Wiltermuth, John A. YoungPedestrian evacuation modeling to reduce vehicle use for distant tsunami evacuations in Hawaiʻi
Tsunami waves that arrive hours after generation elsewhere pose logistical challenges to emergency managers due to the perceived abundance of time and inclination of evacuees to use vehicles. We use coastal communities on the island of Oʻahu (Hawaiʻi, USA) to demonstrate regional evacuation modeling that can identify where successful pedestrian-based evacuations are plausible and where vehicle useAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jamie Jones, Jeff Peters, Kevin RichardsCommunity disruptions and business costs for distant tsunami evacuations using maximum versus scenario-based zones
Well-executed evacuations are key to minimizing loss of life from tsunamis, yet they also disrupt communities and business productivity in the process. Most coastal communities implement evacuations based on a previously delineated maximum-inundation zone that integrates zones from multiple tsunami sources. To support consistent evacuation planning that protects lives but attempts to minimize commAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Rick I. Wilson, Jamie L. Ratliff, Jeff Peters, Ed MacMullan, Tessa Krebs, Kimberley Shoaf, Kevin MillerIntra-community implications of implementing multiple tsunami-evacuation zones in Alameda, California
Tsunami-evacuation planning in coastal communities is typically based on maximum evacuation zones for a single scenario or a composite of sources; however, this approach may over-evacuate a community and overly disrupt the local economy and strain emergency-service resources. To minimize the potential for future over-evacuations, multiple evacuation zones based on arrival time and inundation extenAuthorsJeff Peters, Nathan J. Wood, Rick Wilson, Kevin MillerAgricultural damages and losses from ARkStorm scenario flooding in California
Scientists designed the ARkStorm scenario to challenge the preparedness of California communities for widespread flooding with a historical precedence and increased likelihood under climate change. California is an important provider of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other agricultural products to the nation. This study analyzes the agricultural damages and losses pertaining to annual crops, perennAuthorsAnne Wein, David Mitchell, Jeff Peters, John Rowden, Johnny Tran, Alessandra Corsi, Laura B. DinitzGOES-derived fog and low cloud indices for coastal north and central California ecological analyses
Fog and low cloud cover (FLCC) changes the water, energy, and nutrient flux of coastal ecosystems. Easy-to-use FLCC data are needed to quantify the impacts of FLC on ecosystem dynamics during hot, dry Mediterranean climate summers. FLCC indices were generated from 26,000 hourly night and day FLCC maps derived from Geostationary Environmental Operational Satellite (GOES) data for June, July, AugustAuthorsAlicia Torregrosa, Cindy Combs, Jeff PetersVariations in population vulnerability to tectonic and landslide-related tsunami hazards in Alaska
Effective tsunami risk reduction requires an understanding of how at-risk populations are specifically vulnerable to tsunami threats. Vulnerability assessments primarily have been based on single hazard zones, even though a coastal community may be threatened by multiple tsunami sources that vary locally in terms of inundation extents and wave arrival times. We use the Alaskan coastal communitiesAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jeff PetersChanges in population evacuation potential for tsunami hazards in Seward, Alaska, since the 1964 Good Friday earthquake
Pedestrian evacuation modeling for tsunami hazards typically focuses on current land-cover conditions and population distributions. To examine how post-disaster redevelopment may influence the evacuation potential of at-risk populations to future threats, we modeled pedestrian travel times to safety in Seward, Alaska, based on conditions before the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and tsunami disasterAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Mathew C. Schmidtlein, Jeff Peters - Web Tools
California's Exposure to Volcanic Hazards
A geonarrative summary of the USGS report that provides a broad perspective on California’s exposure to volcanic hazards. By integrating volcanic hazard information with geospatial data on populations, infrastructure, and resources, the results provide estimates of impacts to people and our environment if an eruption were to occur.
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.
- Software
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.
- News