Nathan J Wood, Ph.D.
Biography
Nate Wood is a supervisory research geographer with the USGS Western Geographic Science Center and is co-located at the USGS Oregon Water Science Center in Portland, Oregon. He has conducted research and written extensively on community vulnerability to natural hazards, such as tsunami threats in Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Alaska, and American Samoa; volcanic hazards in Washington and California; and coastal hazards in California, Florida and the Pacific Northwest. He is currently working on a multi-hazard risk assessment for the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Emergency Management.
Science and Products
Subsidence Susceptibility Map for the Conterminous U.S.
Sinkholes present hazards to humans due to subsidence and by focusing contaminated surface water runoff into groundwater. Sinkholes create instability in the foundations of buildings, roads and other infrastructure, resulting in damage and in some cases loss of life, but may also play an important role as vernal pools in some ecosystems. This project created a prototype nationwide subsidence...
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...
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...
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...
Earthquakes
The U.S. Pacific Northwest is an active seismic zone, as evidenced by the 2001 Nisqually earthquake near Olympia (WA) and several other earthquakes in the 1990's. The Hazards Vulnerability Team worked with emergency managers and USGS earthquake researchers to better understand how communities are vulnerable to earthquake hazards.
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...
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...
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...
Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) along the East Coast of the United States protect habitat for a host of wildlife species, while also offering storm surge protection, improving water quality, supporting nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish, and providing recreation opportunities for coastal communities. Yet in the last century, coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have...
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...
Informing Conservation Management Decision-Making at Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
Coastal National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) provide a myriad of beneficial services, including buffering storm surge, improving water quality, supporting commercial fisheries, and providing habitat for imperiled wildlife and plants. Yet in the last century, coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by human development activities as well as sea-level rise and more frequent...
Pedestrian evacuation times for businesses on the islands of American Samoa, for 2009 and predicted maximum tsunami (PMT) inundation zones by village, modeled at four travel speeds (slow walk, fast walk, slow run, and fast run)
This dataset contains American Samoa nonresidence count estimates as a function of travel time out of the 2009 and probable maximum tsunami (PMT) inundation zones for four different travel speeds (slow walk, fast walk, slow run, and fast run). The data are organized in a manner which permits summarizing or visualizing the data by business classification (church, community center
Pedestrian evacuation times for residents on the islands of American Samoa, for 2009 and predicted maximum tsunami (PMT) inundation zones by village, modeled at four travel speeds (slow walk, fast walk, slow run, and fast run)
This dataset contains American Samoa resident count estimates as a function of travel time out of the 2009 and probable maximum tsunami (PMT) inundation zones for four different travel speeds (slow walk, fast walk, slow run, and fast run). The data are organized in a manner which permits summarizing or visualizing the data by village, tsunami-evacuation zone, and/or travel tim
Pedestrian tsunami evacuation results for two tsunami-inundation zones (2009 and probable maximum tsunami (PMT)) and four travel speeds (slow walk, fast walk, slow run, and fast run) for American Samoa
This data release is comprised of a set of eight time travel map shapefiles (two tsunami inundation zones and four travel times) for use in GIS software applications and two population exposure by travel time tables (residents and nonresidences) for use in GIS software applications and other standalone spreadsheet applications. The travel time map was generated using the Pedestrian Evacu
Pedestrian evacuation times for employees on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i, for standard and extreme tsunami evacuation zones by community, modeled at three travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk)
This dataset contains O'ahu employee count estimates as a function of travel time out of the standard and extreme tsunami-evacuation zones for three different travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk). The data are organized in a manner which permits summarizing or visualizing the data by business classification (community support, dependent-care, emergency service, infrastr
Pedestrian evacuation times for hotel visitors on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i, for standard and extreme tsunami evacuation zones by community, modeled at three travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk)
This dataset contains O'ahu hotel visitor estimates as a funtion of travel time out of the standard and extreme tsunami-evacuation zones for three different travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk). The data are organized in a manner which permits summarizing or visualizing the data by tsunami-evacuation zone and/or travel time, with communities listed across the top as columns
Pedestrian evacuation times for residents on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i, for standard and extreme tsunami evacuation zones by community, modeled at three travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk)
This dataset contains O'ahu resident count estimates as a function of travel time out of the standard and extreme tsunami-evacuation zones for three different travel speeds (impaired, slow, and fast walk). The data are organized in a manner which permits summarizing or visualizing the data by tsunami-evacuation zone and/or travel time, with communities listed across the top as colum
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://...
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 a hazard. Interactive maps and graphics allow users to examine hazard exposure for individual communities and multiple communities and changes in hazard exposure.
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Multiple climate change-driven tipping points for coastal systems
As the climate evolves over the next century, the interaction of accelerating sea level rise (SLR) and storms, combined with confining development and infrastructure, will place greater stresses on physical, ecological, and human systems along the ocean-land margin. Many of these valued coastal systems could reach “tipping points,” at which hazard...
Barnard, Patrick L.; Dugan, Jenifer; Page, Henry M. ; Wood, Nathan J.; Finzi Hart, Juliette A.; Cayan, Daniel; Erikson, Li H.; Hubbard, David A.; Myers, Monique; Melack, John M.; Iacobellis, Samuel F. 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...
Wood, Nathan J.; Peters, Jeff; Wilson, Rick I.; Sherba, Jason T.; Henry, Kevin 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...
Wood, Nathan J.; Henry, Kevin; Peters, Jeff
Community for data integration 2018 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 10 projects funded in fiscal year 2018, outlining their goals, activities, and accomplishments.
Hsu, Leslie; Andrews, Caitlin M.; Bradford, John B.; Buscombe, Daniel D.; Chase, Katherine J.; Daniel, Wesley M.; Jones, Jeanne M.; Fuller, Pam; Mirus, Benjamin B.; Neilson, Matthew E.; Vraga, Hans W.; Walker, Jessica J.; Walworth, Dennis H.; Warrick, Jonathan; Weltzin, Jake; Wieferich, Daniel J.; Wood, Nathan J. Progress toward a preliminary karst depression density map for the conterminous United States
Most methods for the assessment of sinkhole hazard susceptibility are predicated upon knowledge of pre-existing closed depressions in karst areas. In the United States (U.S.), inventories of existing karst depressions are piecemeal, and are often obtained through inconsistent methodologies applied at the state or county level and at various scales...
Doctor, Daniel H.; Jones, Jeanne M.; Wood, Nathan J.; Falgout, Jeff T.; Rapstine, Natalya Igorevna Evaluating social vulnerability indicators: Criteria and their application to the Social Vulnerability Index
As a concept, social vulnerability describes combinations of social, cultural, economic, political, and institutional processes that shape socioeconomic differentials in the experience of and recovery from hazards. Quantitative measures of social vulnerability are widely used in research and practice. In this paper, we establish criteria for the...
Spielman, Seth; Tuccillo, Joseph; Folch, David; Schweikert, Amy; Davies, Rebecca; Wood, Nathan J.; Tate, Eric Dynamic flood modeling essential to assess the coastal impacts of climate change
Coastal inundation due to sea level rise (SLR) is projected to displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide over the next century, creating significant economic, humanitarian, and national-security challenges. However, the majority of previous efforts to characterize potential coastal impacts of climate change have focused primarily on long-...
Barnard, Patrick L.; Erikson, Li H.; Foxgrover, Amy C.; Finzi Hart, Juliette A.; Limber, Patrick W.; O'Neill, Andrea C.; van Ormondt, Maarten; Vitousek, Sean; Wood, Nathan J.; Hayden, Maya K.; Jones, Jeanne M.
Assessing 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...
Wood, Nathan; Pennaz, Alice; Ludwig, Kristin; Jones, Jeanne; Henry, Kevin; Sherba, Jason; Ng, Peter; Marineau, Jason; Juskie, John
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...
Mangan, Margaret; Ball, Jessica; Wood, Nathan; Jones, Jamie L.; Peters, Jeff; Abdollahian, Nina; Dinitz, Laura; Blankenheim, Sharon; Fenton, Johanna; Pridmore, Cynthia Population vulnerability to tsunami hazards informed by previous and projected disasters: A case study of American Samoa
Population vulnerability from tsunamis is a function of the number and location of individuals in hazard zones and their ability to reach safety before wave arrival. Previous tsunami disasters can provide insight on likely evacuation behavior, but post-disaster assessments have not been used extensively in evacuation modeling. We demonstrate the...
Wood, Nathan J.; Jones, Jeanne M.; Yamazaki, Yoshiki; Cheung, Kwok-Fai; Brown, Jacinta; Jones, Jamie; Abdollahian, Nina Land cover and land use change
Climate can affect and be affected by changes in land cover (the physical features that cover the land such as trees or pavement) and land use (human management and activities on land, such as mining or recreation). A forest, for instance, would likely include tree cover but could also include areas of recent tree removals currently...
Reidmiller, David; Avery, C. W.; Easterling, D. R.; Kunkel, K. E.; Lewis, K. L. M.; Maycock, T. K.; Stewart, B. C.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Loveland, Thomas; Domke, Grant; Herold, Nate; Wickham, James; Wood, Nathan J.
Science for a risky world—A U.S. Geological Survey plan for risk research and applications
Executive SummaryNatural hazards—including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, hurricanes, droughts, floods, wildfires, geomagnetic storms, and pandemics—can wreak havoc on human communities, the economy, and natural resources for years following an initial event. Hazards can claim lives and cause billions of dollars in damage...
Ludwig, K.A.; Ramsey, David W.; Wood, Nathan J.; Pennaz, A.B.; Godt, Jonathan W.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Luco, Nicolas; Koenig, Todd A.; Hudnut, Kenneth W.; Davis, Donyelle K.; Bright, Patricia R.
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.
Rooftop Refuge
Pedestrian evacuation modeling by USGS geographers Nathan Wood and Jeanne Jones and Sacramento State University is featured in a story about vertical evacuation refuges in southwest Washington for the February 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine.
California's tsunami threat
The images of destruction coming from Japan have caused those who dwell on America's West Coast to wonder: Could a devastating tsunami hit here? The answer is a resounding yes. Our coast is under threat from two types of tsunamis.