Skip to main content

Natural Hazards News

Articles, resources, and announcements from Natural Hazards.
View all News and Announcements
A man stands in the middle of the Karakoram Highway while rocks tumble down into the Hunza River in Pakistan’s Gojal region.

Waiting for Gojal

Scientists and satellites hold vigil on a newborn lake in Pakistan.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
Periodic flooding in the Mississippi Valley can affect residents as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Louisiana. In May 2001, the Mississippi River flooded this house south of Red Wing, Minnesota.

The Flood Hunters

A new long-term archive of satellite data will help hydrologists monitor floods, allow aid agencies to pinpoint flood-prone regions, and provide information for modeling Earth's complex hydrologic cycles.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
Damage from a category 5 typhoon completely wiped out a coconut and breadfruit plantation in the Caroline Islands, located east of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.

Stirring up Life

Using data from three satellite instruments, researchers find that a tropical cyclone had a significant effect on phytoplankton production in the South China Sea.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
These cracks in the ground surface north of Chobari, India were caused by liquefaction induced during the Bhuj earthquake.

Squeezing Water from Rock

Studying modern earthquakes that produce liquefaction can help better interpret the geologic record of liquefaction during past events.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
In 1990, slow-moving pahoehoe lava from Kilauea Volcano gradually spread through the community of Kalapana, burning homes and covering parks, roads, and gardens. (Image courtesy of USGS)

Sensing Remote Volcanoes

In October 2001, a volcano in the remote South Sandwich Islands began spewing ash and lava. Less than 24 hours after the eruption began, a research team nearly 9,000 miles away was estimating how much energy the volcano was producing.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
The Yangtze Delta is home to more than eighty million people in an area only a little larger than the state of Indiana.

Repatterning the World

As wildlands shrink, scientists study the ecologies that people have tamed.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
The NSCAT image above shows Typhoon Violet near Japan in 1996.

Reckoning with Winds

NSCAT wind vectors and SSM/I precipitable water color images reveal the physics in action for typhoons.
Feature Article
July 28, 2020
In Mankerni, Sri Lanka, four eyewitnesses to the December 26, 2004 tsunami stand on the remains of the house where they were when they first realized a tsunami was about to strike.

Making Waves in Tsunami Research

Data from Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon give scientists the first detailed profile of a major tsunami event.
Feature Article
July 22, 2020
SHOWING 8 OF 534