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Natural Hazards

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We characterized seafloor sediment conditions near the mouth of the Elwha River from underwater photographs taken every four hours from September 2011 to December 2013. A digital camera was affixed to a tripod that was deployed in approximately 10 meters of water (Tripod location from September 2011 to April 2013: 48.15333, -123.55931; tripod location from April 2013 to December 2013: 48.15407, -123.55444). Each photograph was qualitatively characterized as one of six categories: (1) base, or no sediment; (2) low sediment; (3) medium sediment; (4) high sediment; (5) turbid; or (6) kelp. For base conditions, no sediment was present on the seafloor. Low sediment conditions were characterized by a light dusting of...
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The 2002 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Maps display earthquake ground motions for various probability levels across the United States and are applied in seismic provisions of building codes, insurance rate structures, risk assessments, and other public policy. This update of the maps incorporates new findings on earthquake ground shaking, faults, seismicity, and geodesy. The resulting maps are derived from seismic hazard curves calculated on a grid of sites across the United States that describe the frequency of exceeding a set of ground motions.
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A comparison of the 2017 USGS South America seismic hazard model with the Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP) model and the 2010 USGS preliminary model was made to see how the models differ. The comparisons were made as ratios of PGA at 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years. Ratio maps of each comparison are included as a geo-referenced tiff (GeoTIFF).
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Wildfire can significantly alter the hydrologic response of a watershed to the extent that even modest rainstorms can produce dangerous flash floods and debris flows. The USGS conducts post-fire debris-flow hazard assessments for select fires in the Western U.S. We use geospatial data related to basin morphometry, burn severity, soil properties, and rainfall characteristics to estimate the probability and volume of debris flows that may occur in response to a design storm.
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This dataset consists of point cloud data collected in 2016 and 2017 of the lower and upper Scenic Drive landslide locations in La Honda, California. Point cloud data were collected in 2016 to establish baseline for movement detection of past landslides. Point cloud data were collected in 2017 adjacent and upslope of 2016 data to document a newly formed landslide. The data were collected with a Riegl VZ400 Terrestrial Laser Scanner and georeferenced using a Leica Viva GS15 survey grade GPS. The data are delivered as georeferenced (NAD83 UTM zone 10N ellipsoid) classified point clouds, 5 cm resolution digital elevation models, and a text file of surveyed GPS control points. The included files are: LH2017_Jan.laz...
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