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Liam Toney

Liam Toney is a Research Geologist in the Landslide Hazards Program. He uses seismoacoustics — the combined study of vibrations in the Earth and sound waves in the atmosphere — to characterize non-earthquake geohazards, such as avalanches, landslides, and volcanic eruptions.

Liam is primarily involved with the USGS Landslide Assessments, Situational Awareness, and Event Response Research (LASER) project. Within LASER, he works with the instrumentation and remote observations subteams. 

Professional Experience

  • Research Geologist — USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center, Golden, CO (2025–present)

  • Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow — USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center, Golden, CO (2023–2025)

  • Graduate Research Assistant — University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks, AK (2018–2023)

  • Student Trainee (Physical Science) — USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center, Golden, CO (2020–2022)

  • Ashfall Geovisualization Developer — GNS Science, New Zealand (April–May 2018)

  • Geophysics R&D Intern — Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (summer 2017)

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. Geophysics — University of Alaska Fairbanks (2023)
    Dissertation: Characterization of geohazards via seismic and acoustic waves

  • B.A. Physics; minor Geology — Pomona College (2017)

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • American Geophysical Union

  • European Geosciences Union

  • Seismological Society of America

  • International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior

Honors and Awards

  • Special Thanks for Achieving Results (STAR) award — USGS (2024, 2025)

  • Outstanding Student Presentation Award — AGU (2023)

  • Outstanding Student Performance Award — University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (2021)

  • Brian R. Zelenka Memorial Scholarship — University of Alaska Fairbanks (2021)

  • Secretary of Energy Achievement Award — U.S. Department of Energy (2021)

  • Distinction in the Senior Exercise — Pomona College (2017)

  • Tileston Physics Prize — Pomona College (2015)

Science and Products

2021 Volcanic activity in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory 2021 Volcanic activity in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory

In 2021, the Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 15 volcanic centers in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Eruptive activity in Alaska consisted of repeated small, ash-producing, phreatomagmatic explosions from Mount Young on Semisopochnoi Island; an...
Authors
Tim Orr, Hannah Dietterich, David Fee, Tarsilo Girona, Ronni Grapenthin, Matthew Haney, Matthew Loewen, John Lyons, John Power, Hans Schwaiger, David Schneider, Darren Tan, Liam Toney, Valerie Wasser, Christopher Waythomas
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

2019 Volcanic activity in Alaska—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory 2019 Volcanic activity in Alaska—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory

The Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 17 volcanic centers in Alaska in 2019. The most notable volcanic activity was an eruption of Shishaldin Volcano, featuring eruptive activity that produced lava flows, lahars, and ash. Weak explosive activity also took place at Great Sitkin...
Authors
Tim Orr, Cheryl Cameron, Hannah Dietterich, James Dixon, Max Enders, Ronni Grapenthin, Alexandra Iezzi, Matthew Loewen, John Power, Cheryl Searcy, Gabrielle Tepp, Liam Toney, Christopher Waythomas, Aaron Wech
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga

The 15 January 2022 climactic eruption of Hunga volcano, Tonga, produced an explosion in the atmosphere of a size that has not been documented in the modern geophysical record. The event generated a broad range of atmospheric waves observed globally by various ground-based and spaceborne instrumentation networks. Most prominent was the surface-guided Lamb wave (≲0.01 hertz), which we...
Authors
Robin Matoza, David Fee, Jelle Assink, Alexandra M. Iezzi, David Green, Keehoon Kim, Liam Toney, Thomas Lecocq, Siddharth Krishnamoorthy, Jean-Marie Lalande, Kiwamu Nishida, Kent Gee, Matthew Haney, Hugo Ortiz, Quentin Brissaud, Leo Martire, Lucie Rolland, Panagiotis Vergados, Alexandra Nippress, Junghyun Park, Shahar Shani-Kadmiel, Alex Witsil, Stephen Arrowsmith, Corentin Caudron, Shingo Watada, Anna Perttu, Benoit Taisne, Pierrick Mialle, Alexis Le Pichon, Julien Vergoz, Patrick Hupe, Philip Blom, Roger Waxler, Silvio De Angelis, Jonathan Snively, Adam Ringler, Robert Anthony, A.D. Jolly, Geoff Kilgour, Gil Averbuch, Maurizio Ripepe, Mie Ichihara, Alejandra Arciniega-Ceballos, Elvira Astafyeva, Lars Ceranna, Sandrine Cevuard, Il-Young Che, Rodrigo de Negri Leiva, Carl Ebeling, Laslo Evers, Luis Franco-Marin, Tom Gabrielson, Katrin Hafner, R. Harrison, Attila Komjathy, Giorgio Lacanna, John Lyons, Kenneth Macpherson, Emanuele Marchetti, Kathleen McKee, Rob Mellors, Gerardo Mendo-Perez, T. Mikesell, Edhah Munaibari, Mayra Oyola-Merced, Iseul Park, Christoph Pilger, Cristina Ramos, Mario Ruiz, Roberto Sabatini, Hans Schwaiger, Dorianne Tailpied, Carrick Talmadge, Jerome Vidot, Jeremy Webster, David Wilson
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Volcano Science Center

lsforce: A Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides lsforce: A Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides

We present an open‐source Python package, lsforce, for performing single‐force source inversions of long‐period (tens to hundreds of seconds) seismic signals. Although the software is designed primarily for landslides, it can be used for any single‐force seismic source. The package allows users to produce estimates of the three‐component time series of forces exerted on the Earth by a...
Authors
Liam Toney, Kate Allstadt
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Reconstructing the dynamics of the highly similar May 2016 and June 2019 Iliamna Volcano, Alaska ice–rock avalanches from seismoacoustic data Reconstructing the dynamics of the highly similar May 2016 and June 2019 Iliamna Volcano, Alaska ice–rock avalanches from seismoacoustic data

Surficial mass wasting events are a hazard worldwide. Seismic and acoustic signals from these often remote processes, combined with other geophysical observations, can provide key information for monitoring and rapid response efforts and enhance our understanding of event dynamics. Here, we present seismoacoustic data and analyses for two very large ice–rock avalanches occurring on...
Authors
Liam Toney, David Fee, Kate Allstadt, Matthew Haney, Robin Matoza
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Local explosion detection and infrasound localization by reverse time migration using 3-D finite-difference wave propagation Local explosion detection and infrasound localization by reverse time migration using 3-D finite-difference wave propagation

Infrasound data are routinely used to detect and locate volcanic and other explosions, using both arrays and single sensor networks. However, at local distances (
Authors
David Fee, Liam Toney, Keehoon Kim, Richard Sanderson, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Robin Matoza, Silvio DeAngelis, Art Jolly, John Lyons, Matthew Haney
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Toney, L., Fee, D., Schmandt, B., & Bishop, J. W. (2023). Examining infrasound propagation at high spatial resolution using a nodal seismic array. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 128, e2023JB027314. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JB027314
Toney, L., Fee, D., Witsil, A., & Matoza, R. S. (2022). Waveform features strongly control subcrater classification performance for a large, labeled volcano infrasound dataset. The Seismic Record, 2(3), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.1785/0320220019
Watson, L. M., Iezzi, A. M., Toney, L., Maher, S. P., Fee, D., McKee, K., Ortiz, H. D., Matoza, R. S., Gestrich, J. E., Bishop, J. W., Witsil, A., Anderson, J. F., & Johnson, J. B. (2022). Volcano infrasound: Progress and future directions. Bulletin of Volcanology, 84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-022-01544-w
Dannemann Dugick, F., van der Lee, S., Prieto, G. A., Dybing, S. N., Toney, L., & Cole, H. (2021). ROSES: Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists. Seismological Research Letters, 92(4), 2657–2667. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220200421
Toney, L., Abbott, R. E., Preston, L. A., Tang, D. G., Finlay, T., & Phillips-Alonge, K. (2019). Joint body- and surface-wave tomography of Yucca Flat, Nevada using a novel seismic source. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 109(5), 1922–1934. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120180322

**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.

Preliminary Landslide Inventory for Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Helene (September 2024) Preliminary Landslide Inventory for Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Helene (September 2024)

We present a preliminary point inventory of landslides triggered by Hurricane Helene, which impacted southern Appalachia between September 25 and 27, 2024. This inventory is a result of a rapid response mapping effort led by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landslide Assessments, Situational Awareness, and Event Response Research (LASER) project. LASER collaborated with state surveys and...
By
Geologic Hazards Science Center

Seismogenic Landslides and other Mass Movements (ver. 3.0, May 2025) Seismogenic Landslides and other Mass Movements (ver. 3.0, May 2025)

This data release is a compilation of known landslides and other mass movements that generated seismic signals observable on existing seismic networks. The data release includes basic information about each event such as location, volume, area, and runout distances as well as information about seismic detections and the location of seismic data, photos, maps, GIS files, and links to...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center
No results found.

lsforce lsforce

lsforce is a Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides.
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Landslide Hazards Program
Aerial photo of landslide taken across the fiord

2025 Tracy Arm Landslide-Generated Tsunami

A landslide above the toe of the South Sawyer Glacier failed into the waters of Tracy Arm, south of Juneau, Alaska, producing a tsunami on Sunday, August 10th, 2025, at 05:26 AKDT / 13:26 UTC. No injuries or fatalities have been reported. This page may be updated as more information about the event is obtained. Steep, mountainous landslide areas are inherently unstable and will continue to change...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Alaska Volcano Observatory
2025 Tracy Arm Landslide-Generated Tsunami

2025 Tracy Arm Landslide-Generated Tsunami

A landslide above the toe of the South Sawyer Glacier failed into the waters of Tracy Arm, south of Juneau, Alaska, producing a tsunami on Sunday, August 10th, 2025, at 05:26 AKDT / 13:26 UTC. No injuries or fatalities have been reported. This page may be updated as more information about the event is obtained. Steep, mountainous landslide areas are inherently unstable and will continue to change...
Learn More

Science and Products

2021 Volcanic activity in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory 2021 Volcanic activity in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory

In 2021, the Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 15 volcanic centers in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Eruptive activity in Alaska consisted of repeated small, ash-producing, phreatomagmatic explosions from Mount Young on Semisopochnoi Island; an...
Authors
Tim Orr, Hannah Dietterich, David Fee, Tarsilo Girona, Ronni Grapenthin, Matthew Haney, Matthew Loewen, John Lyons, John Power, Hans Schwaiger, David Schneider, Darren Tan, Liam Toney, Valerie Wasser, Christopher Waythomas
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

2019 Volcanic activity in Alaska—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory 2019 Volcanic activity in Alaska—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory

The Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 17 volcanic centers in Alaska in 2019. The most notable volcanic activity was an eruption of Shishaldin Volcano, featuring eruptive activity that produced lava flows, lahars, and ash. Weak explosive activity also took place at Great Sitkin...
Authors
Tim Orr, Cheryl Cameron, Hannah Dietterich, James Dixon, Max Enders, Ronni Grapenthin, Alexandra Iezzi, Matthew Loewen, John Power, Cheryl Searcy, Gabrielle Tepp, Liam Toney, Christopher Waythomas, Aaron Wech
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga

The 15 January 2022 climactic eruption of Hunga volcano, Tonga, produced an explosion in the atmosphere of a size that has not been documented in the modern geophysical record. The event generated a broad range of atmospheric waves observed globally by various ground-based and spaceborne instrumentation networks. Most prominent was the surface-guided Lamb wave (≲0.01 hertz), which we...
Authors
Robin Matoza, David Fee, Jelle Assink, Alexandra M. Iezzi, David Green, Keehoon Kim, Liam Toney, Thomas Lecocq, Siddharth Krishnamoorthy, Jean-Marie Lalande, Kiwamu Nishida, Kent Gee, Matthew Haney, Hugo Ortiz, Quentin Brissaud, Leo Martire, Lucie Rolland, Panagiotis Vergados, Alexandra Nippress, Junghyun Park, Shahar Shani-Kadmiel, Alex Witsil, Stephen Arrowsmith, Corentin Caudron, Shingo Watada, Anna Perttu, Benoit Taisne, Pierrick Mialle, Alexis Le Pichon, Julien Vergoz, Patrick Hupe, Philip Blom, Roger Waxler, Silvio De Angelis, Jonathan Snively, Adam Ringler, Robert Anthony, A.D. Jolly, Geoff Kilgour, Gil Averbuch, Maurizio Ripepe, Mie Ichihara, Alejandra Arciniega-Ceballos, Elvira Astafyeva, Lars Ceranna, Sandrine Cevuard, Il-Young Che, Rodrigo de Negri Leiva, Carl Ebeling, Laslo Evers, Luis Franco-Marin, Tom Gabrielson, Katrin Hafner, R. Harrison, Attila Komjathy, Giorgio Lacanna, John Lyons, Kenneth Macpherson, Emanuele Marchetti, Kathleen McKee, Rob Mellors, Gerardo Mendo-Perez, T. Mikesell, Edhah Munaibari, Mayra Oyola-Merced, Iseul Park, Christoph Pilger, Cristina Ramos, Mario Ruiz, Roberto Sabatini, Hans Schwaiger, Dorianne Tailpied, Carrick Talmadge, Jerome Vidot, Jeremy Webster, David Wilson
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Volcano Science Center

lsforce: A Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides lsforce: A Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides

We present an open‐source Python package, lsforce, for performing single‐force source inversions of long‐period (tens to hundreds of seconds) seismic signals. Although the software is designed primarily for landslides, it can be used for any single‐force seismic source. The package allows users to produce estimates of the three‐component time series of forces exerted on the Earth by a...
Authors
Liam Toney, Kate Allstadt
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Reconstructing the dynamics of the highly similar May 2016 and June 2019 Iliamna Volcano, Alaska ice–rock avalanches from seismoacoustic data Reconstructing the dynamics of the highly similar May 2016 and June 2019 Iliamna Volcano, Alaska ice–rock avalanches from seismoacoustic data

Surficial mass wasting events are a hazard worldwide. Seismic and acoustic signals from these often remote processes, combined with other geophysical observations, can provide key information for monitoring and rapid response efforts and enhance our understanding of event dynamics. Here, we present seismoacoustic data and analyses for two very large ice–rock avalanches occurring on...
Authors
Liam Toney, David Fee, Kate Allstadt, Matthew Haney, Robin Matoza
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Local explosion detection and infrasound localization by reverse time migration using 3-D finite-difference wave propagation Local explosion detection and infrasound localization by reverse time migration using 3-D finite-difference wave propagation

Infrasound data are routinely used to detect and locate volcanic and other explosions, using both arrays and single sensor networks. However, at local distances (
Authors
David Fee, Liam Toney, Keehoon Kim, Richard Sanderson, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Robin Matoza, Silvio DeAngelis, Art Jolly, John Lyons, Matthew Haney
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Toney, L., Fee, D., Schmandt, B., & Bishop, J. W. (2023). Examining infrasound propagation at high spatial resolution using a nodal seismic array. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 128, e2023JB027314. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JB027314
Toney, L., Fee, D., Witsil, A., & Matoza, R. S. (2022). Waveform features strongly control subcrater classification performance for a large, labeled volcano infrasound dataset. The Seismic Record, 2(3), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.1785/0320220019
Watson, L. M., Iezzi, A. M., Toney, L., Maher, S. P., Fee, D., McKee, K., Ortiz, H. D., Matoza, R. S., Gestrich, J. E., Bishop, J. W., Witsil, A., Anderson, J. F., & Johnson, J. B. (2022). Volcano infrasound: Progress and future directions. Bulletin of Volcanology, 84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-022-01544-w
Dannemann Dugick, F., van der Lee, S., Prieto, G. A., Dybing, S. N., Toney, L., & Cole, H. (2021). ROSES: Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists. Seismological Research Letters, 92(4), 2657–2667. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220200421
Toney, L., Abbott, R. E., Preston, L. A., Tang, D. G., Finlay, T., & Phillips-Alonge, K. (2019). Joint body- and surface-wave tomography of Yucca Flat, Nevada using a novel seismic source. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 109(5), 1922–1934. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120180322

**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.

Preliminary Landslide Inventory for Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Helene (September 2024) Preliminary Landslide Inventory for Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Helene (September 2024)

We present a preliminary point inventory of landslides triggered by Hurricane Helene, which impacted southern Appalachia between September 25 and 27, 2024. This inventory is a result of a rapid response mapping effort led by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landslide Assessments, Situational Awareness, and Event Response Research (LASER) project. LASER collaborated with state surveys and...
By
Geologic Hazards Science Center

Seismogenic Landslides and other Mass Movements (ver. 3.0, May 2025) Seismogenic Landslides and other Mass Movements (ver. 3.0, May 2025)

This data release is a compilation of known landslides and other mass movements that generated seismic signals observable on existing seismic networks. The data release includes basic information about each event such as location, volume, area, and runout distances as well as information about seismic detections and the location of seismic data, photos, maps, GIS files, and links to...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center
No results found.

lsforce lsforce

lsforce is a Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides.
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Landslide Hazards Program
Aerial photo of landslide taken across the fiord

2025 Tracy Arm Landslide-Generated Tsunami

A landslide above the toe of the South Sawyer Glacier failed into the waters of Tracy Arm, south of Juneau, Alaska, producing a tsunami on Sunday, August 10th, 2025, at 05:26 AKDT / 13:26 UTC. No injuries or fatalities have been reported. This page may be updated as more information about the event is obtained. Steep, mountainous landslide areas are inherently unstable and will continue to change...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Alaska Volcano Observatory
2025 Tracy Arm Landslide-Generated Tsunami

2025 Tracy Arm Landslide-Generated Tsunami

A landslide above the toe of the South Sawyer Glacier failed into the waters of Tracy Arm, south of Juneau, Alaska, producing a tsunami on Sunday, August 10th, 2025, at 05:26 AKDT / 13:26 UTC. No injuries or fatalities have been reported. This page may be updated as more information about the event is obtained. Steep, mountainous landslide areas are inherently unstable and will continue to change...
Learn More

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government

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