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|  | | | Nathan Wood | | Research Geographer | | Portland, OR | | nwood@usgs.gov | | 503-251-3291 | | Project Skills: | Hazards - Community vulnerability assessments to tsunamis, volcanic lahars, hurricane storm surge, coastal storms, and sea level rise | | Climate Change - Assessing future community vulnerability to climate-change-enhanced natural hazards (e.g., storm surge, erosion) | | Land Use/Land Cover Studies - Use of landcover data for approximating community vulnerabilityto natural hazards | | Tools and Techniques - Statistical approaches for summarizing data | | GIS - Spatial analysis for vulnerability research | | | Geographic Regions: | Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Florida. | | | Current/Recent Projects: | Detailed project information can be found at [http://geography.wr.usgs.gov/science/vulnerability/index.htm].
1) Community vulnerability to tsunamis: Past research has included USGS reports summarizing variations in community exposure to tsunamis in Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington and journal articles describing various geospatial techniques to assess societal vulnerability to tsunamis. Wood was also a committee member for a National Research Council review of the nation's tsunami warning system and national preparedness for tsunamis. Current research focuses on developing geospatial approaches to characterize pedestrian evacuations from tsunamis and to develop societal-risk metrics for tsunamis.
2) Community vulnerability to climate change and coastal storms: Research focuses on assessing current and future community vulnerability to coastal storms, sea level rise due to climate change, and increasing urbanization of hazard-prone areas. Past research has focused on Sarasota County (Florida) and Kauai Island (Hawaii). Current research focuses on community vulnerability on the Oregon and Washington coast to climate-change-enhanced coastal erosion in collaboration with Oregon State University, via a grant from the NOAA Climate Change Program.
3) Community vulnerability to volcano hazards: Research focuses on assessing community vulnerability to volcanic hazards, such as lahars, in the Cascade Range. Research efforts also include development of societal-exposure metrics for national volcano monitoring and preparation of a textbook on volcano-hydrologic processes with USGS colleagues in the Volcano Hazards Program | | | Collaborations: | Community vulnerability to tsunamis: Hawaii State Civil Defense, Hawaii Office of Planning, Pacific Disaster Center, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Oregon, and the University of South Carolina, Washington State Emergency Management Division, Washington State/Local Tsunami Working Group, Hawaii Tsunami Technical Review Committee, National Research Council, Oregon Sea Grant, Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup, Pacific Risk Management 'Ohana
Community vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal storms: The Pennsylvania State University, Oregon State University, Oregon Sea Grant, NOAA Climate Change Program
Community vulnerability to volcano hazards: Washington State Emergency Management | | | Recent Publications: | Coletti, A., Howe, P., Yarnal, B., and Wood, N., 2013, A support system for assessing local vulnerability
to weather and climate, Natural Hazards, 65 (1): 999-1008
Wood, N., and Schmidtlein, M., 2013, Community variations in population exposure to near-field
tsunami hazards as a function of pedestrian travel time to safety, Natural Hazards, 65 (3): 1603-1628
Howe, P., Yarnal, B., Coletti, A., and Wood, N., 2013, The participatory vulnerability scoping diagram
- deliberative risk ranking for community water systems, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, 103 (2), 343-352.
Fraser, S., Wood, N., Johnston, D., and Leonard, G., 2013, Simulation of local tsunami and evacuation
of urban areas, informed by population exposure analysis and studies of tsunami evacuation behavior,
Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 15, EGU2013-3635-1, European General Assembly, Vienna,
Austria, 1p.
Mathie, A., and Wood, N., 2013, Residential and service-population exposure to multiple natural hazards
in the Mount Hood region of Clackamas County, Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report
20131073, 48 p.
Wood, N., and Schmidtlein, M., 2012, Anisotropic path modeling to assess pedestrian-evacuation
potential from Cascadia-related tsunamis in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Natural Hazards, 62 (2), 275-300
Wood, N., Ratliff, J., and Peters, J., 2012, Community exposure to tsunami hazards in California: U.S.
Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 20125222, 49 p. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5222/
]
Wood, N., and Gregg, C., 2012, Societal vulnerability to tsunamis overview and relationship to a
national risk analysis, Proceedings of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program Workshop on
Tsunami Hazard, Risk, and Vulnerability, July 25-25, Seattle, Washington, 3 p.
Wood, N. and Ratliff, J., 2011, Population and business exposure to twenty scenario earthquakes in the
State of Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011-1016, 13 p.[http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1016/].
Wood, N., 2011, Understanding risk and resilience to natural hazards: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
2011-3008, 2 p. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3008/].
Wood, N., 2011, California's tsunami threat--Japan's disaster serves as a reminder to the West Coast to be
prepared, Los Angeles Times, Opinion-Editorial section, March 17, 2011, A17.
Frazier, T. G., Wood, N., Yarnal, B., Stakeholder perspectives on land-use strategies for adapting to climate-change-enhanced coastal hazards: Sarasota, Florida, Applied Geography (2010), doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.05.007
Frazier, T., Wood, N., Yarnal, B., Bauer, D., Influence of potential sea level rise on societal vulnerability to hurricane storm-surge hazards, Sarasota County, Florida, Applied Geography (2010), doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.05.005
Baron, H., Wood, N., Ruggiero, P., Allan, J., and Corcoran, P., 2010, Assessing societal vulnerability of U.S. Pacific Northwest communities to storm-induced coastal change, Proceedings of The Coastal Society Annual Meeting, June 7-11, 2010, Wilmington, NC, 5 p.
Wood, N., Burton, C., and Cutter, S., 2010, Community variations in social vulnerability to Cascadia-related tsunamis in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Natural Hazards, 52(2), 369-389
Frazier, T., Wood, N., and Yarnal, B., 2009, A framework for using GIS and stakeholder input to assess vulnerability to coastal-inundation hazards: a case study from Sarasota County, Florida, In U. Paleo (ed.), Building safer communitiesrisk governance, spatial planning and responses to natural hazards, NATO Science for Peace and Security Series, 58, Amsterdam: IOS Press, pp. 226-245.
Wood, N., and Soulard, C., 2009, Community exposure to lahar hazards from Mount Rainier, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5211, 26 p. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5211/].
Wood, N., and Soulard, C., 2009, Variations in population exposure and sensitivity to lahar hazards from Mount Rainier, Washington, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 188, 367378.
Wood, N., 2009, Tsunami exposure estimation with land-cover data: Oregon and the Cascadia subduction zone, Applied Geography 29, 158-170.
Wood, N., and Soulard, C., 2008, Variations in community exposure and sensitivity to tsunami hazards on the open-ocean and Strait of Juan de Fuca coasts of Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5004, 34 p. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/5004/].
Wood, N., 2007, Variations in community exposure and sensitivity to tsunami hazards in Oregon: Reston, Va., USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5283, 43 p. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5283/].
Wood, N., Church, A., Frazier, T., and B. Yarnal, 2007, Variations in community exposure and sensitivity to tsunami hazards in the State of Hawai`i: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigation Report 2007-5208, 42 p. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5208/] [http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5208/].
Wood, N., and Hine, A., 2007, Spatial trends in marsh sediment deposition within a microtidal creek system, Waccasassa Bay, Florida, Journal of Coastal Research, 23 (4): p. 823 ? 833.
Bernknopf, R., Rabinovici, S., Wood, N. and Dinitz, L., 2006, The influence of hazard models on GIS-based regional risk assessments and mitigation policies, International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 6 (4/5/6), 369 ? 387.
Wood, N., and Good, J., 2005, Perceptions of earthquake and tsunami issues in U.S. Pacific Northwest port and harbor communities, International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 23 (3), 103?138.
Wood, N., and Good, J., 2004, Vulnerability of a port and harbor community to earthquake and tsunami hazards: the use of GIS incommunity hazard planning, Coastal Management, 32 (3), 243-269.
Wood, N., and Hine, A., 2003, Sediment dynamics of a sediment-starved, open-marine marsh embayment: Waccasassa Bay, Florida, Journal of Coastal Research, 19 (3), 574?583.
Wood, N., Good, J., and Goodwin, B., 2002, Vulnerability assessment of a port and harbor community to earthquake and tsunami hazards: integrating technical expert and stakeholder input,, Natural Hazards Review, 3 (4), 148-157.
| | | Academic Background: | Oregon State University, Geography, Ph.D., 2002
University of South Florida, Marine Science, M.S., 1996
Duke University, Geology, B.S., 1992 | | | |
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey