Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Nathan J Wood, Ph.D.
Nathan Wood is a supervisory research geographer with the USGS Western Geographic Science Center.
He supervises the WGSC Hazard Vulnerability Team that specializes in societal-vulnerability science, geospatial modeling, and web mapping applications. He has conducted research and written extensively on community vulnerability to natural hazards, such as asset exposure, demographic sensitivity, and pedestrian evacuation modeling. He has done work related to tsunami threats in Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Alaska, American Samoa, and Guam; volcanic hazards in Washington and California; and coastal hazards in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. He also works with natural scientists to model and create national-scale hazard maps, including landslide, sinkhole, and Valley Fever susceptibility. He is a co-leader of a project characterizing multi-hazard risk for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He is a USGS representative for the Coordinating Committee of the U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program.
Professional Experience
2014 – Current: Supervisory Research Geographer, USGS Western Geographic Science Center (WGSC)
2001 – 2014: Research Geographer, USGS WGSC
1999-2001: Project Manager, Extension Sea Grant, Oregon State University
1998-1999: Instructor, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Geography, Oregon State University, 2002
M.S. Marine Science, University of South Florida, 1996
B.S. Geology, Duke University, 1993
Science and Products
Connecting with our stakeholders - developing a better understanding of use and usability for science products
Subsidence Susceptibility Map for the Conterminous U.S.
CDI Risk Map
Tsunamis
Coastal Change
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Hazards Vulnerability Team
A data management and visualization framework for community vulnerability to hazards
Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
SAFRR Tsunami Scenario
Informing Conservation Management Decision-Making at Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
Community Exposure in U.S. American Samoa to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Hawaiian Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Northern Mariana Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. Guam to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Community Exposure in U.S. California to Future Shoreline Change Hazards, reference year 2020
Geospatial files and tabular exposure estimates of sinkhole susceptibility for counties in the conterminous United States for current conditions and projections for the years 2070-2079 - Overview
Pedestrian evacuation time maps, flow depth time series, and population estimates for the island of Guam tsunami evacuation zone
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Virginia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Georgia, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Florida, USA
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. South Carolina, reference year 2020
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. North Carolina, reference year 2020
Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Slope Unit Maker (SUMak): An efficient and parameter-free algorithm for delineating slope units to improve landslide modeling
Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States
Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam
Mapping landslide susceptibility over large regions with limited data
Multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior: An integration of expert elicitation, planning priorities, and geospatial analysis
National strategy for landslide loss reduction
Multiple climate change-driven tipping points for coastal systems
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
Community for data integration 2018 funded project report
Progress toward a preliminary karst depression density map for the conterminous United States
Evaluating social vulnerability indicators: Criteria and their application to the Social Vulnerability Index
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)
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
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
- Science
Connecting with our stakeholders - developing a better understanding of use and usability for science products
The value of USGS tools and products can be assessed by collecting use metrics, user feedback, and examples of practical application. We will pilot an approach to assess the utility of two Coastal Change Hazards product releases and establish a guide for tracking the use and user experience of USGS 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 suscCDI 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...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 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...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 communityClimate 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 been seSAFRR 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 ext - Data
Filter Total Items: 24
Community Exposure in U.S. American Samoa to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the territory of American Samoa, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census Bureau data on the number of residents, land cover estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and infrastructure data on roads anCommunity Exposure in U.S. Hawaiian Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Socioeconomic impact estimates of community exposure to coastal flooding hazards are presented for communities along the coast of the U.S. Hawaiian Islands. The provided data were generated using the Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web application (www.usgs.gov/apps/hera/). HERA uses geospatial analysis of socioeconomic indicators (population, economic, land cover, and infrastructuCommunity Exposure in U.S. Northern Mariana Islands to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Socioeconomic impact estimates of community exposure to coastal flooding hazards are presented for communities along the coast of the U.S. Northern Mariana Islands. The provided data were generated using the Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web application (www.usgs.gov/apps/hera/). HERA uses geospatial analysis of socioeconomic indicators (population, economic, land cover, and infrCommunity Exposure in U.S. Guam to Future Coastal Flooding Hazards, reference year 2020
Socioeconomic impact estimates of community exposure to coastal flooding hazards are presented for communities along the coast of U.S. Guam. The provided data were generated using the Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web application (www.usgs.gov/apps/hera/). HERA uses geospatial analysis of socioeconomic indicators (population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure) in combinatiCommunity Exposure in U.S. California to Future Shoreline Change Hazards, reference year 2020
Socioeconomic impact estimates of community exposure to shoreline change hazards are presented for communities along the coast of California, U.S. The provided data were generated using the Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web application (www.usgs.gov/apps/hera/). HERA uses geospatial analysis of socioeconomic indicators (population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure) in coGeospatial files and tabular exposure estimates of sinkhole susceptibility for counties in the conterminous United States for current conditions and projections for the years 2070-2079 - Overview
These datasets support the conclusions in the journal article entitled "Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States" as described in the abstract below: Sinkholes in karst and pseudokarst regions threaten infrastructure, property, and lives. We mapped closed depressions in karst and pseudokarst regions of the conterminous United StatePedestrian evacuation time maps, flow depth time series, and population estimates for the island of Guam tsunami evacuation zone
These datasets support the conclusions in the journal article entitled "Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam" as described in the abstract below: Reducing the potential for loss of life from local tsunamis is challenging for emergency managers given the need for self-protective behavior within brief windows of time foCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Virginia, USA
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the state of Virginia, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Georgia, USA
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the state of Georgia, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roaCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for Florida, USA
Socioeconomic impact estimates of community exposure to future coastal hazards are presented for communities along the coast of U.S. Florida. The provided data were generated using the Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web application (www.usgs.gov/apps/hera/). HERA uses geospatial analysis of socioeconomic indicators (population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure) in combinatCommunity Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. South Carolina, reference year 2020
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure flooding exposure for coastal communities of the state of South Carolina, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roads,Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards in U.S. North Carolina, reference year 2020
The data set contains information on potential population, economic, land cover, and infrastructure exposure to coastal hazards for coastal communities of the state of North Carolina, USA. The type of information includes U.S. Census data on the number and types of residents, InfoGroup data on numbers and types of employees, county parcel values, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data - Multimedia
Tsunami Evacuation Sign
Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
Tsunami evacuation route sign at an intersection in Nehalem, Oregon.
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 78
Slope Unit Maker (SUMak): An efficient and parameter-free algorithm for delineating slope units to improve landslide modeling
Slope units are terrain partitions bounded by drainage and divide lines. In landslide modeling, including susceptibility modeling and event-specific modeling of landslide occurrence, slope units provide several advantages over gridded units, such as better capturing terrain geometry, improved incorporation of geospatial landslide-occurrence data in different formats (e.g., point and polygon), andAuthorsJacob Bryson Woodard, Benjamin B. Mirus, Nathan J. Wood, Kate E. Allstadt, Ben Leshchinsky, Matthew CrawfordCurrent and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States
Sinkholes in karst and pseudokarst regions threaten infrastructure, property, and lives. We mapped closed depressions in karst and pseudokarst regions of the conterminous United States (U.S.) from 10-m-resolution elevation data using high-performance computing, and then created a heuristic additive model of sinkhole susceptibility that also included nationally consistent data for factors related tAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Daniel H. Doctor, Jay R. Alder, Jeanne M. JonesModeling 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 may not be fAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Kwok Fai Cheung, Yoshiki Yamazaki, Denille Calvo, Charles GuardMapping landslide susceptibility over large regions with limited data
Landslide susceptibility maps indicate the spatial distribution of landslide likelihood. Modeling susceptibility over large or diverse terrains remains a challenge due to the sparsity of landslide data (mapped extent of known landslides) and the variability in triggering conditions. Several different data sampling strategies of landslide locations used to train a susceptibility model are used to mAuthorsJacob Bryson Woodard, Benjamin B. Mirus, Matthew Crawford, Dani Or, Ben Leshchinsky, Kate E. Allstadt, Nathan J. WoodMulti-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 forAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Alice Pennaz, Jason Marineau, Jeanne M. Jones, Jamie Jones, Peter Ng, Kevin HenryNational strategy for landslide loss reduction
Executive SummaryLandslide hazards are present in all 50 States and most U.S. territories, and they affect lives, property, infrastructure, and the environment. Landslides are the downslope movement of earth materials under the force of gravity. They can occur without any obvious trigger. Widespread or severe landslide events are often driven by such hazards as hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanicAuthorsJonathan W. Godt, Nathan J. Wood, Alice Pennaz, Connor M. Dacey, Benjamin B. Mirus, Lauren N. Schaefer, Stephen L. SlaughterMultiple 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 exposure substantially increases and threatens theAuthorsPatrick L. Barnard, Jenifer Dugan, Henry M. Page, Nathan J. Wood, Juliette A. Finzi Hart, Daniel Cayan, Li H. Erikson, David A. Hubbard, Monique Myers, John M. Melack, Samuel F. IacobellisVariations 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 averageAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Rick I. Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Kevin HenryInfluence 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 becauseAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Kevin Henry, Jeff PetersCommunity 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.AuthorsLeslie Hsu, Caitlin M. Andrews, John B. Bradford, Daniel D. Buscombe, Katherine J. Chase, Wesley M. Daniel, Jeanne M. Jones, Pam Fuller, Benjamin B. Mirus, Matthew E. Neilson, Hans W. Vraga, Jessica J. Walker, Dennis H. Walworth, Jonathan Warrick, Jake Weltzin, Daniel J. Wieferich, Nathan J. WoodProgress 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. Here, we present a first attempt at defining a kaAuthorsDaniel H. Doctor, Jeanne M. Jones, Nathan J. Wood, Jeff T. Falgout, Natalya Igorevna RapstineEvaluating 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 evaluation of social vulnerability indicators and apAuthorsSeth Spielman, Joseph Tuccillo, David Folch, Amy Schweikert, Rebecca Davies, Nathan J. Wood, Eric Tate - Web Tools
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)
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.
- Software
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.
- News