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
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for U.S. Washington, reference year 2020
Exposure of FY2020 Federal Real Property Profile Data to 100-year and 500-year Flood Hazard Zones for the years 2022 and 2052
Threat prioritization framework and input data for a multi-hazard risk analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior
Closed depression density in karst regions of the conterminous United States: features and grid data
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)
California volcano locations, threat rank and hazard zones
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
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
Tsunami Travel Time Maps for Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, CA, reference year 2010
Dynamic flood modeling essential to assess the coastal impacts of climate change
Assessing hazards and risks at the Department of the Interior—A workshop report
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 inevitable.The
Population vulnerability to tsunami hazards informed by previous and projected disasters: A case study of American Samoa
Science for a risky world—A U.S. Geological Survey plan for risk research and applications
Assessing and communicating the impacts of climate change on the Southern California coast
Projected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 2: Tools for assessing climate change-driven coastal hazards and socio-economic impacts
Pedestrian evacuation modeling to reduce vehicle use for distant tsunami evacuations in Hawaiʻi
Clusters of community exposure to coastal flooding hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios—implications for adaptation networks in the San Francisco Bay region
Land cover and land use change
HERA: A dynamic web application for visualizing community exposure to flood hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios
Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 24
Community Exposure to Future Coastal Hazards for U.S. Washington, 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 Washington, 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, NLCD land cover estimates, and infrastructure data on roads, raiExposure of FY2020 Federal Real Property Profile Data to 100-year and 500-year Flood Hazard Zones for the years 2022 and 2052
The dataset contains hazard-exposure estimates of FY2020 Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) data to 100-year and 500-year flood-hazard zones for the years 2022 and 2052. Flow depths for each of the four hazard zones were estimated for every FRPP record using geospatial analysis. Results include raw values for estimated flow depths in centimeters and bin values on a -1 to 5 scale. Flood-hazard zoThreat 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 andClosed depression density in karst regions of the conterminous United States: features and grid data
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 kaCommunity 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, and inundation extents. ProbabilisCalifornia volcano locations, threat rank and hazard zones
The California volcano locations, threat rank and hazard zones data release contains two shapefiles for download or use as a web map service. The California Volcanic Center Locations shapefile was created to provide a generalized location of volcano hazard sources. The California Volcano Hazard Zones shapefile was created from previously published hazard zone reports. Specific details about each fPedestrian 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 Evacuation AnaPedestrian 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://geography.wr.usgs.gov/science/vulnerability/tools.html). The travel timeTsunami Travel Time Maps for Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, CA, reference year 2010
Tsunami travel time maps for Del Norte and Humboldt Counties in California in vector (shapefile) format for both slow and fast walking speeds and for bridges intact and bridges removed. - Multimedia
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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-term SLR with a static tide level, and have not compAuthorsPatrick L. Barnard, Li H. Erikson, Amy C. Foxgrover, Juliette A. Finzi Hart, Patrick W. Limber, Andrea C. O'Neill, Maarten van Ormondt, Sean Vitousek, Nathan J. Wood, Maya K. Hayden, Jeanne M. JonesAssessing 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 anAuthorsNathan Wood, Alice Pennaz, Kristin Ludwig, Jeanne Jones, Kevin Henry, Jason Sherba, Peter Ng, Jason Marineau, John JuskieCalifornia’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 inevitable.The
AuthorsMargaret Mangan, Jessica Ball, Nathan Wood, Jamie L. Jones, Jeff Peters, Nina Abdollahian, Laura Dinitz, Sharon Blankenheim, Johanna Fenton, Cynthia PridmoreByVolcano 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 CratersPopulation 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 utility of post-disaster assessments in pedestrian eAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jeanne M. Jones, Yoshiki Yamazaki, Kwok-Fai Cheung, Jacinta Brown, Jamie Jones, Nina AbdollahianScience 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 to homes and infrastructure as well as lost or comprAuthorsK. A. Ludwig, David W. Ramsey, Nathan J. Wood, A.B. Pennaz, Jonathan W. Godt, Nathaniel G. Plant, Nicolas Luco, Todd A. Koenig, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Donyelle K. Davis, Patricia R. BrightAssessing and communicating the impacts of climate change on the Southern California coast
Over the course of this and the next century, the combination of rising sea levels, severe storms, and coastal erosion will threaten the sustainability of coastal communities, development, and ecosystems as we currently know them. To clearly identify coastal vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation strategies for projected increased levels of coastal flooding and erosion, coastal managerAuthorsLi H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard, Andrea C. O'Neill, Patrick Limber, Sean Vitousek, Juliette Finzi Hart, Maya Hayden, Jeanne M. Jones, Nathan J. Wood, Michael Fitzgibbon, Amy C. Foxgrover, Jessica LoveringProjected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 2: Tools for assessing climate change-driven coastal hazards and socio-economic impacts
This paper is the second of two that describes the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) approach for quantifying physical hazards and socio-economic hazard exposure in coastal zones affected by sea-level rise and changing coastal storms. The modelling approach, presented in Part 1, downscales atmospheric global-scale projections to local scale coastal flood impacts by deterministically computingAuthorsLi H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard, Andrea C. O'Neill, Nathan J. Wood, Jeanne M. Jones, Juliette Finzi Hart, Sean Vitousek, Patrick W. Limber, Maya Hayden, Michael Fitzgibbon, Jessica Lovering, Amy C. FoxgroverPedestrian evacuation modeling to reduce vehicle use for distant tsunami evacuations in Hawaiʻi
Tsunami waves that arrive hours after generation elsewhere pose logistical challenges to emergency managers due to the perceived abundance of time and inclination of evacuees to use vehicles. We use coastal communities on the island of Oʻahu (Hawaiʻi, USA) to demonstrate regional evacuation modeling that can identify where successful pedestrian-based evacuations are plausible and where vehicle useAuthorsNathan J. Wood, Jamie Jones, Jeff Peters, Kevin RichardsClusters of community exposure to coastal flooding hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios—implications for adaptation networks in the San Francisco Bay region
Sea level is projected to rise over the coming decades, further increasing the extent of flooding hazards in coastal communities. Efforts to address potential impacts from climate-driven coastal hazards have called for collaboration among communities to strengthen the application of best practices. However, communities currently lack practical tools for identifying potential partner communities baAuthorsMichelle Hummel, Nathan J. Wood, Amy Schweikert, Mark T. Stacey, Jeanne Jones, Patrick L. Barnard, Li H. EriksonLand 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 covered by open grass areas. Land cover and use are inherently coAuthorsBenjamin M. Sleeter, Thomas Loveland, Grant Domke, Nate Herold, James Wickham, Nathan J. WoodHERA: 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 riAuthorsJeanne M. Jones, Kevin Henry, Nathan J. Wood, Peter Ng, Matthew JamiesonProjecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Tsunamis have the potential to cause considerable damage to communities along the U.S. Pacific Northwest coastline. As coastal communities expand over time, the potential societal impact of tsunami inundation changes. To understand how community exposure to tsunami hazards may change in coming decades, we projected future development (i.e. urban, residential, and rural), households, and residentsAuthorsBenjamin M. Sleeter, Nathan J. Wood, Christopher E. Soulard, Tamara S. Wilson - Web Tools
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