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
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...
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...
Filter Total Items: 29
Data associated with the national assessment of potential average annualized losses from tsunamis in the United States Data associated with the national assessment of potential average annualized losses from tsunamis in the United States
Data tables and data references supporting the journal article titled: "Estimated average annualized losses from potential building damage and fatalities due to earthquake-generated tsunamis in the United States." Earthquake-generated tsunamis represent substantial economic threats to states and territories in the United States (U.S.), but we are unaware of any effort to quantify...
Data associated with characterizing earthquake-hazard exposure of populations with access and functional needs in the United States Data associated with characterizing earthquake-hazard exposure of populations with access and functional needs in the United States
Data that support the journal article titled “Earthquake-hazard exposure of populations with potential access and functional needs in the United States” as described here: Earthquake response plans and earthquake early warning (EEW) systems designed for general populations may not consider potential access and functional needs (AFN) of individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or...
Data associated with characterizing the exposure of the U.S. road network to areas susceptible to landslides, 2023 Data associated with characterizing the exposure of the U.S. road network to areas susceptible to landslides, 2023
Data supporting the journal article titled “Variations in road exposure and traffic volumes in the United States in areas susceptible to landslides.” There have been many efforts in the United States (U.S.) to identify landslide threats for specific roads, but no efforts to examine the entire national road system. We use geospatial tools to estimate the length and percentage of total...
Estimates of population exposure and evacuation potential for earthquake-related tsunami hazard zones in the United States Estimates of population exposure and evacuation potential for earthquake-related tsunami hazard zones in the United States
These datasets support the conclusions in the journal article entitled "National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats " as described in the abstract below: Previous efforts to characterize tsunami threats to people have focused primarily on individual scenarios in specific areas but have not recognized multiple...
Pedestrian evacuation time maps for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tsunami-hazard zones Pedestrian evacuation time maps for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tsunami-hazard zones
The communities of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are threatened by tsunamis. Experts conducted earthquake and tsunami modeling to estimate the extent of tsunami inundation resulting from a Mariana Subduction Zone (MSZ) earthquake. The USGS Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst Tool (PEAT) was run to estimate pedestrian evacuation travel times out of the MSZ tsunami-hazard zone...
Pedestrian evacuation time maps for Alaska tsunami-hazard zones Pedestrian evacuation time maps for Alaska tsunami-hazard zones
Many coastal communities in Alaska are threatened by tsunamis that could be generated by earthquakes associated with the Aleutian-Alaskan subduction zone (AASZ). Potential tsunami inundation from various AASZ earthquake scenarios has been modeled by others and related tsunami-hazard zones have been published (see supplemental information). We used the USGS Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst...
Filter Total Items: 16
National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats
Previous efforts to characterize tsunami threats to people have focused primarily on individual scenarios in specific areas but have not recognized multiple scenarios across an entire country. This study addresses this gap by quantifying population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to 102 earthquake-related, tsunami-hazard zones, including 92 local scenarios, 8...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Anne Sheehan, Doug Bausch
Population vulnerability of residents, employees, and cruise-ship passengers to tsunami hazards of islands in complex seismic regions: A case study of the U.S. Virgin Islands Population vulnerability of residents, employees, and cruise-ship passengers to tsunami hazards of islands in complex seismic regions: A case study of the U.S. Virgin Islands
Reducing the potential for loss of life from tsunamis is challenging on islands located in complex seismic regions given the multiple sources that surround islands, differences among islands in the amount of time needed to evacuate before wave arrival, and the high number of residents, employees, and tourists in tsunami-hazard zones. We examine variations in population vulnerability in...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Christopher Moore
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam 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...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Kwok Fai Cheung, Yoshiki Yamazaki, Denille Calvo, Charles Guard
Variations in community evacuation potential related to average return periods in probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis 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...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Rick I. Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Kevin Henry
Influence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations 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...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Kevin Henry, Jeff Peters
California’s exposure to volcanic hazards 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...
Authors
Margaret Mangan, Jessica Ball, Nathan Wood, Jamie L. Jones, Jeff Peters, Nina Abdollahian, Laura Dinitz, Sharon Blankenheim, Johanna Fenton, Cynthia Pridmore
By
Volcano 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 Craters
California's Exposure to Volcanic Hazards 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 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) 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 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
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...
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...
Filter Total Items: 29
Data associated with the national assessment of potential average annualized losses from tsunamis in the United States Data associated with the national assessment of potential average annualized losses from tsunamis in the United States
Data tables and data references supporting the journal article titled: "Estimated average annualized losses from potential building damage and fatalities due to earthquake-generated tsunamis in the United States." Earthquake-generated tsunamis represent substantial economic threats to states and territories in the United States (U.S.), but we are unaware of any effort to quantify...
Data associated with characterizing earthquake-hazard exposure of populations with access and functional needs in the United States Data associated with characterizing earthquake-hazard exposure of populations with access and functional needs in the United States
Data that support the journal article titled “Earthquake-hazard exposure of populations with potential access and functional needs in the United States” as described here: Earthquake response plans and earthquake early warning (EEW) systems designed for general populations may not consider potential access and functional needs (AFN) of individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or...
Data associated with characterizing the exposure of the U.S. road network to areas susceptible to landslides, 2023 Data associated with characterizing the exposure of the U.S. road network to areas susceptible to landslides, 2023
Data supporting the journal article titled “Variations in road exposure and traffic volumes in the United States in areas susceptible to landslides.” There have been many efforts in the United States (U.S.) to identify landslide threats for specific roads, but no efforts to examine the entire national road system. We use geospatial tools to estimate the length and percentage of total...
Estimates of population exposure and evacuation potential for earthquake-related tsunami hazard zones in the United States Estimates of population exposure and evacuation potential for earthquake-related tsunami hazard zones in the United States
These datasets support the conclusions in the journal article entitled "National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats " as described in the abstract below: Previous efforts to characterize tsunami threats to people have focused primarily on individual scenarios in specific areas but have not recognized multiple...
Pedestrian evacuation time maps for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tsunami-hazard zones Pedestrian evacuation time maps for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tsunami-hazard zones
The communities of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are threatened by tsunamis. Experts conducted earthquake and tsunami modeling to estimate the extent of tsunami inundation resulting from a Mariana Subduction Zone (MSZ) earthquake. The USGS Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst Tool (PEAT) was run to estimate pedestrian evacuation travel times out of the MSZ tsunami-hazard zone...
Pedestrian evacuation time maps for Alaska tsunami-hazard zones Pedestrian evacuation time maps for Alaska tsunami-hazard zones
Many coastal communities in Alaska are threatened by tsunamis that could be generated by earthquakes associated with the Aleutian-Alaskan subduction zone (AASZ). Potential tsunami inundation from various AASZ earthquake scenarios has been modeled by others and related tsunami-hazard zones have been published (see supplemental information). We used the USGS Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst...
Filter Total Items: 16
National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats
Previous efforts to characterize tsunami threats to people have focused primarily on individual scenarios in specific areas but have not recognized multiple scenarios across an entire country. This study addresses this gap by quantifying population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to 102 earthquake-related, tsunami-hazard zones, including 92 local scenarios, 8...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Anne Sheehan, Doug Bausch
Population vulnerability of residents, employees, and cruise-ship passengers to tsunami hazards of islands in complex seismic regions: A case study of the U.S. Virgin Islands Population vulnerability of residents, employees, and cruise-ship passengers to tsunami hazards of islands in complex seismic regions: A case study of the U.S. Virgin Islands
Reducing the potential for loss of life from tsunamis is challenging on islands located in complex seismic regions given the multiple sources that surround islands, differences among islands in the amount of time needed to evacuate before wave arrival, and the high number of residents, employees, and tourists in tsunami-hazard zones. We examine variations in population vulnerability in...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Christopher Moore
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam 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...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Kwok Fai Cheung, Yoshiki Yamazaki, Denille Calvo, Charles Guard
Variations in community evacuation potential related to average return periods in probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis 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...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Rick I. Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Kevin Henry
Influence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations 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...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Kevin Henry, Jeff Peters
California’s exposure to volcanic hazards 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...
Authors
Margaret Mangan, Jessica Ball, Nathan Wood, Jamie L. Jones, Jeff Peters, Nina Abdollahian, Laura Dinitz, Sharon Blankenheim, Johanna Fenton, Cynthia Pridmore
By
Volcano 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 Craters
California's Exposure to Volcanic Hazards 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 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) 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 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.