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The Geologic Hazards Science Center is located in Golden, Colorado, on the Colorado School of Mines campus. The Science Center works in the following four programs: - Earthquake Hazards Program - Landslide Hazards Program - Geomagnetism Program - Global Seismographic Network
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It is well know that every earthquake can spawn others (e.g., as aftershocks), and that such triggered events can be large and damaging, as recently demonstrated by L’Aquila, Italy and Christchurch, New Zealand earthquakes. In spite of being an explicit USGS strategic-action priority (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1088; page 32), the USGS currently lacks an automated system with which to forecast such events and official protocols for disseminating the potential implications. This capability, known as Operational Earthquake Forecasting (OEF), could provide valuable situational awareness to emergency managers, the public, and other entities interested in preparing for potentially damaging earthquakes. With the various...
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The past decade has seen improvements in computational efficiency, seismic data coverage, and communication technology - driven by societal expectation for timely, accurate information. While aspects of earthquake research have taken advantage of this evolution, the adoption of improvements in earthquake monitoring has not been fully leveraged. In real-time monitoring, earthquakes are characterized in a vacuum, without building upon our knowledge of past events. New data types may help characterize earthquakes more quickly and accurately. New opportunities exist for rapidly communicating information. With these advances, global seismic monitoring can improve the quality and timeliness of information shared with...
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Sea-level rise and storms cause major changes on coastal landscapes, including shifts in elevation, ecosystem type (for example, dunes and tidal wetlands), soils, and plant communities. Because these changes can have impacts on human communities, the local economy, and ecosystems, understanding how, when, and why these changes occur can be important for informing policy and natural resource management decisions. However, much is still unknown in our understanding of and ability to forecast coastal landscape change, and many current modeling approaches do not include important feedbacks between the physical landscape and the species inhabiting it. Examples of these types of feedbacks include the rapid development...
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Despite the proven efficacy of geothermal energy as a city-scale heating and cooling resource, the relative newness of most city-scale applications using diverse technologies has resulted in limited widespread adoption. We aim to develop authoritative information suitable for city-managers and other decision-makers. Geothermal resources are ubiquitous and diverse, with technologies available both for harvesting ambient heat or for storing thermal energy. These local low-carbon, baseload energy sources provide resilience, security, and jobs. The project team proposes to accelerate understanding and possibly energy-solution adoption by developing an international systematic nomenclature to describe the range of...
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The St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center is one of three science centers that conduct research within the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards Research Program. The USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center has a primary focus of investigating processes related to coastal and marine environments and their societal implications related to natural hazards, resource sustainability, and environmental change.
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The USGS “Did You Feel It” (DYFI) is an extremely popular way for members of the public to contribute to earthquake science and earthquake response. DYFI has been in operation for nearly two decades (1999-2019) in the U.S., and for nearly 15 years globally. During that period the amount of data collected is astounding: Over 5 million individual DYFI intensity reports—spanning all magnitude and distance ranges—have been amassed and archived. Several of these types of surveys have been developed by international seismological institutions as well and many of these institutions have implemented algorithms to interpret intensity evaluations automatically, as a rapid and easy way to obtain a geographical distribution...
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This polygon feature class shows the spatial extent and boundaries of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern that have become officially designated by the BLM. These polygon features were previously in a pre-designated status (i.e. being considered as areas to be eventually designated as official ACEC designated polygonst). Once these polygon feature left the Pre-Designated phase (transitioned from a Considered to Designated status), they were removed from the ACEC Pre-designated polygon feature class and placed in this ACEC Designated polygon feature class. This dataset is a subset of the official national dataset, containing features and attributes intended for public release and has been optimized for online...
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Presented is a list of voltages (electric potential differences) measured during magnetic storms on grounded long lines in the United States and Canada between 1891 and 1940. The sources for the list are published papers, technical documents, and newspapers. Each entry consists of the maximum voltage measured for each storm on a specified line connecting two ground points, nominally, between A "and" B. However, if a specific polarity is available, for example, the positive voltage from point A to point B, then the maximum voltage for the indicated polarity is listed, that is, positive A "to" B; conversely, for the opposite polarity, that is, from point B to point A, then the maximum voltage for the indicated polarity...
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Household survey data about participation in wildfire risk mitigation cost-share programs and related questions, including stated barriers to conducting wildfire risk mitigation, basic demographics, and willingness to pay toward that cost-share program. Data (n=1,689) were collected in 95 communities exposed to wildfire risk in six counties in western Colorado, 2013-2017, with an overall survey response rate of 41.9%. The household surveys providing data were organized and implemented by two regional wildfire risk mitigation organizations, West Region Wildfire Council and Wildfire Adapted Partnership (formerly Firewise of Southwest Colorado).
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This data release presents structure-from-motion (SfM) products derived from aerial imagery collected along the North Carolina coast in response to storm events and the recovery process. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers use the aerial imagery and products to assess future coastal vulnerability, nesting habitats for wildlife, and provide data for hurricane impact models. This research is part of the Remote Sensing Coastal Change Project. Products include digital elevation models and orthorectified imagery (RGB-averaged products) created from aerial imagery surveys with precise Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) navigation data flown in a piloted fixed-wing aircraft. The products span the coast over...
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One of the grand challenges of Earth Surface Science and Natural Resource Management lies in the prediction of mass and energy transfer for large watersheds and landscapes. High resolution topography (lidar) datasets show potential to significantly advance our understanding of hydrologic and geomorphic processes controlling mass and energy transfer because they represent features at the appropriate fine scale on which surface processes operate. While lidar datasets have become readily available across the United States, challenges remain in extracting accurate and objective information relevant for hydrologic and geomorphic research, modeling, and prediction, as well as watershed management. We primarily focus our...
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The goal of this Powell Center Working Group is to produce a collection of vetted and standardized earthquake and landslide tsunami sources that can be used to produce the meaningful hazard assessment products required for effective tsunami hazard mitigation and risk reduction. The need for a set of realistic and consistent tsunami sources was identified as a high priority at a 2016 workshop between USGS scientists and the National Tsunami Hazards Mitigation Program (NTHMP). The Powell Center Working Group will include scientists from the USGS, NOAA, the NTHMP, academia, and consulting companies. Tsunamis are extreme events that have caused devastation worldwide over the past several decades. The tsunami from...
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The USGS Hurricane Sandy Science Plan, completed in December 2012, describes continuing USGS activities with other agencies and guides continued data collection and analysis to ensure support for recovery and restoration efforts. The activities outlined in the plan are organized in five themes based on impact types and information needs. The data, information, and tools that are produced will further characterize impacts and changes, guide mitigation and restoration of impacted communities and ecosystems, inform a redevelopment strategy aimed at developing resilient coastal communities and ecosystems, improve preparedness and responsiveness to the next hurricane or similar coastal disaster, and enable improved hazard...
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The Cascadia Subduction Zone, located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and southwestern British Columbia, has hosted magnitude ≥8.0 megathrust earthquakes in the geologic past, a future earthquake is imminent, and the potential impacts could cripple the region. Subduction zone earthquakes represent some of the most devastating natural hazards on Earth. Despite substantial knowledge gained from decades of geoscience research, the size and frequency of Cascadian earthquakes remain controversial, as do the physics of earthquake rupture, the effects of earthquake shaking, and the effect of resultant tsunamis. This translates into major uncertainties in earthquake hazard assessments that can lead to ineffective preparedness...
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Mercury (Hg) is a serious environmental problem that is impacting ecological and human health on a global scale. However, local and regional processes are largely responsible for producing methylmercury, which drives ecological risk. This is particularly true in western North America where the combination of diverse landscapes, habitat types, climates, and Hg sources may disproportionally impact the region relative to other areas in North America. Even with decades of regional Hg research and monitoring, there is still no holistic synthesis of the spatiotemporal patterns of Hg in abiotic and biotic resources across the region, nor has there been a formal, simultaneous analysis of the landscape, ecological and climatological...
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The three-dimensional (3D) form of the Earth’s surface results from both abiotic and biotic forces. Major abiotic forces, such as tectonic uplift, erosion, and climate, exert strong influence over land surface morphology. Biotic forces, including, significantly, humans, also shape the landscape, but often at different temporal and spatial scales and magnitudes than geologic forces. Because the processes shaping the land surface, as expressed in its topography, are ongoing, topographic change is ever present and is a factor that must be broadly considered in studies of natural and built environments. Remote sensing data, especially in the form of derived high-resolution measurements of the topography, have been widely...
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A vast number of the world’s volcanoes are unmonitored by ground-based sensors, yet constitute an important hazard to nearby residents and infrastructure, as well as air travel and the global economy. Satellite data provide a cost-effective means of tracking activity at such volcanoes. Unfortunately, satellite acquisitions are not optimized for application to volcano hazards, in part because clear relations between satellite-monitored unrest and eruptive activity are lacking. We aim to bridge this gap by developing linked global databases of satellite observations of volcanic activity, with the goal of relating surface change and volcanic emissions to eruption style and impact. This database (or databases) will...
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Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET), the second-largest component of the terrestrial water cycle, links water, energy, and carbon cycles and influences the productivity and health of our ecosystems. Despite the importance of ET, the dynamics of ET across a spectrum of spatiotemporal scale and their controls are uncertain. During an international ET workshop held in November 2021 by AmeriFlux, the scientific community identified key challenges to improve our understanding of ET dynamics. Participants underscored the need for an integrated understanding of ET across the different research disciplines: in-situ measurements, remote sensing, and modeling. Here, we propose the synthesis of the three research areas to...
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Despite the critical services freshwater systems provide, freshwater biodiversity has been vastly under-studied compared to terrestrial and marine biomes. In fact, systematic compilations of freshwater zooplankton are surprisingly rare despite the critical roles zooplankton play in regulating and supporting ecosystem services, serving as key indicator species, and consequently, influencing emergent system properties such as water quality and food web structure. We have compiled and harmonized the most temporally and spatially extensive freshwater zooplankton dataset available to date, designed to seamlessly integrate with a suite of in-lake and remote sensing data and modeling products. Our international team will...
map background search result map search result map USGS Hurricane Sandy Science Team BLM National Designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern Polygons USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center Household survey data about participation in wildfire risk mitigation cost-share in western Colorado 2013-2017 Household survey data about participation in wildfire risk mitigation cost-share in western Colorado 2013-2017 USGS Hurricane Sandy Science Team BLM National Designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern Polygons