Kevin Henry is a geographer with the USGS Western Geographic Science Center and is located at the USGS California Water Science Center in Sacramento, California.
Kevin Henry researches risk and vulnerability to natural hazards, using geographic information systems, agent-based modeling, and advanced data visualization techniques. His recent work involves visualizing hazard exposure and vulnerability analyses through emerging interactive web mapping frameworks. He also researches community vulnerability through modeling vehicular evacuation from tsunamis using agent-based simulation. The work aims to identify strategies to improve a community's capacity to evacuate, to inform emergency management practices.
Science and Products
CDI Risk Map
Tsunamis
Coastal Change
Hazards Vulnerability Team
Visualizing community exposure and evacuation potential to tsunami hazards using an interactive Tableau dashboard
A data management and visualization framework for community vulnerability to hazards
Simulation and visualization of coastal tsunami impacts from the SAFRR tsunami source
Threat prioritization framework and input data for a multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior
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)
Multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior: An integration of expert elicitation, planning priorities, and geospatial analysis
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
Assessing hazards and risks at the Department of the Interior—A workshop report
HERA: A dynamic web application for visualizing community exposure to flood hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios
Influence of road network and population demand assumptions in evacuation modeling for distant tsunamis
Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA)
The Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) application was developed to provide users with insight on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure vulnerability resulting from a given hazard. Interactive maps and graphics allow users to examine hazard exposure for individual communities, to compare exposure for multiple communities and changes in hazard exposure.
Science and Products
- Science
CDI Risk Map
The Community for Data Integration (CDI) Risk Map Project is developing modular tools and services to benefit a wide group of scientists and managers that deal with various aspects of risk research and planning. Risk is the potential that exposure to a hazard will lead to a negative consequence to an asset such as human or natural resources. This project builds upon a Department of the Interior prTsunamis
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...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...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 - Data
Simulation and visualization of coastal tsunami impacts from the SAFRR tsunami source
To further extend the scope of the Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR) project, detailed hydrodynamic simulations were run at three harbor locations in California. For the locations of 1) Oakland/Alameda, 2) Half Moon Bay, and 3) Santa Cruz, simulations at approximately 5-m resolution were performed using the high-order Boussinesq-type model COULWAVE. The Oakland/Richmond simulation areThreat prioritization framework and input data for a multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior
An integral part of disaster risk management is identifying and prioritizing hazards and their potential impacts in a meaningful way to support risk-reduction planning. There has been considerable use and subsequent criticism of threat prioritization efforts that simply compare likelihoods and consequences of plausible threats. This data supports an article that summarizes a new mixed-methods andCommunity 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, - Publications
Multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior: An integration of expert elicitation, planning priorities, and geospatial analysis
An integral part of disaster risk management is identifying and prioritizing hazards and their potential impacts in a meaningful way to support risk-reduction planning. There has been considerable use and subsequent criticism of threat prioritization efforts that simply compare likelihoods and consequences of plausible threats. This article summarizes a new mixed-methods and scalable approach forVariations 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 averageInfluence 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 becauseAssessing hazards and risks at the Department of the Interior—A workshop report
On February 27–28, 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey and Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Emergency Management (OEM) hosted a workshop to gather input from DOI subject matter experts (SMEs), resource managers, facility managers, emergency managers, and law enforcement personnel. Workshop goals were to (1) determine how DOI Bureaus and Offices use risk information for strategic planning anHERA: A dynamic web application for visualizing community exposure to flood hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios
The Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) dynamic web application was created to provide a platform that makes research on community exposure to coastal-flooding hazards influenced by sea level rise accessible to planners, decision makers, and the public in a manner that is both easy to use and easily accessible. HERA allows users to (a) choose flood-hazard scenarios based on sea level riInfluence of road network and population demand assumptions in evacuation modeling for distant tsunamis
Tsunami evacuation planning in coastal communities is typically focused on local events where at-risk individuals must move on foot in a matter of minutes to safety. Less attention has been placed on distant tsunamis, where evacuations unfold over several hours, are often dominated by vehicle use and are managed by public safety officials. Traditional traffic simulation models focus on estimating - Web Tools
Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA)
The Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) application was developed to provide users with insight on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure vulnerability resulting from a given hazard. Interactive maps and graphics allow users to examine hazard exposure for individual communities, to compare exposure for multiple communities and changes in hazard exposure.