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Jeff Peters

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

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Haywired logo

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...
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Western Geographic Science Center
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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...
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Maps of the California maximum tsunami-inundation zone and land-cover data from the 2006 National Land Cover Database

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...
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Western Geographic Science Center
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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...
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2050 Comprehensive land-use plan for Sarasota County, Florida.

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...
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Western Geographic Science Center
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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...
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Volcano Evacuation Route Sign

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...
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Western Geographic Science Center
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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...
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Volcano Evacuation Route Sign

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...
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Land Change Science Program, Western Geographic Science Center
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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...
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USGS science for a changing world logo

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...
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Community for Data Integration (CDI)
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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...
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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...
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Western Geographic Science Center
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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...
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USGS science for a changing world logo

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 community
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Community for Data Integration (CDI)
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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 community
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Tsunami Scenario Wave Height

SAFRR 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...
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Western Geographic Science Center
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SAFRR 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...
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Community 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 va
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Western Geographic Science Center

Community 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, NLC
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Western Geographic Science Center

Influence 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 because
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Western Geographic Science Center

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)

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,
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Western Geographic Science Center

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

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
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Earthquake Hazards

Geospatial database of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

The 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kilauea Volcano began in the late afternoon of 3 May, with fissure 1 opening and erupting lava onto Mohala Street in the Leilani Estates subdivision, part of the lower Puna District of the Island of Hawaii. For the first week of the eruption, relatively viscous lava flowed only within a kilometer (0.6 miles) of the fissures within Leilani Estates, before a
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Volcano Hazards, Volcano Science Center

California volcano locations, threat rank and hazard zones

The California volcano locations, threat rank and hazard zones data release contains two shapefiles for download or use as a web map service. The California Volcanic Center Locations shapefile was created to provide a generalized location of volcano hazard sources. The California Volcano Hazard Zones shapefile was created from previously published hazard zone reports. Specific details about each f
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Volcano Hazards

Database for the Geologic Map of the Lassen Peak, Chaos Crags, and Upper Hat Creek Area, California

This is a database of the geologic map of the Lassen Peak, Chaos Crags, and Upper Hat Creek volcanic area as described in the original abstract: The Lassen Peak, Chaos Crags, and Upper Hat Creek map area lies near the southern end of the Cascade Range in northern California. The map area includes parts of the three elements that together form the Lassen volcanic center: the Lassen dacitic do
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Volcano Hazards

Pedestrian tsunami evacuation results for two tsunami-evacuation zones (standard and extreme) and three travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk) for O'ahu, HI

This data release is comprised of a set of six time travel map shapefiles (two tsunami evacuation zones and three travel times) and three population exposure by travel time tables (residents, employees, and hotel visitors). The travel time map was generated using the Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst model from the USGS (https://geography.wr.usgs.gov/science/vulnerability/tools.html). The travel time
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Western Geographic Science Center
Filter Total Items: 13

Variations 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 average
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Western Geographic Science Center

Influence 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 because
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Western Geographic Science Center

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
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Volcano Hazards, Volcano Science Center

Community 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.
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Core Science Systems, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS), Community for Data Integration (CDI)

Pedestrian 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 use
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Western Geographic Science Center

Community 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 comm
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Western Geographic Science Center

Intra-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 exten
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Western Geographic Science Center

GOES-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, August
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Western Geographic Science Center

Agricultural 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, perenn
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Natural Hazards, Science Application for Risk Reduction, Western Geographic Science Center

Variations 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 communities
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Natural Hazards, Landslide Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center

Changes 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 disaster
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Western Geographic Science Center

Population vulnerability and evacuation challenges in California for the SAFRR tsunami scenario: Chapter I in <i>The SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) Tsunami Scenario</i>

The SAFRR tsunami scenario models the impacts of a hypothetical yet plausible tsunami associated with a magnitude 9.1 megathrust earthquake east of the Alaska Peninsula. This report summarizes community variations in population vulnerability and potential evacuation challenges to the tsunami. The most significant public-health concern for California coastal communities during a distant-source tsun
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Natural Hazards, Science Application for Risk Reduction

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.

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Western Geographic 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, Ubehebe Craters

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. 

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Western Geographic Science Center

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.

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Western Geographic Science Center
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New Geo-Narrative explores California’s exposure to volcanic hazards

The first step in mitigating volcanic risk and building community resilience to volcanic hazards is identifying what and who is in harm’s way.

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Tsunami Evacuation Plans – One Size Does Not Fit All: A Case Study in Alameda, California

Tsunami evacuation planning in coastal communities is typically based on maximum evacuation zones that reflect a combination of all potential extreme...

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