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Joan Gomberg
Research Geophysicist, US Geological Survey

Office :  US Geological Survey, University of Washington, Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences, Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195
Phone :
  206-616-5581
Cell :  206-941-7498
Fax : 206-553-8350
email :  gomberg@usgs.gov


Research Interests
Earthquake hazard assessment, earthquake interactions, source scaling, coupled aseismic and seismic deformation, turbidites.
Related links
Pacific Northwest Seismic Network
Practical Guide to Pacific Northwest Earthquakes
3d_def Boundary Element Software
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology        Geophysics             B.Sc., 1979
University of California, San Diego               Geophysics             Ph.D., 1986

Positions Held
Post-doc, University of California, San Diego                                   1986-87
Post-doc, University of Nevada, Reno                                             1987-88
Visiting Scholar, Inst, Geol. & Nuclear Sci., New Zealand                 Winter, 2002
Visiting Scholar, Ist. Naz. di Geofisica e Vulc., Italy                         Spring, 2002
Research Geophysicist, US Geological Survey, Golden, CO             1988-1994
Research Geophysicist, US Geological Survey, Memphis,TN            1994-2006
Adjunct Assoc. Prof., Univ. of Memphis,, Memphis,TN                     1994-2006
Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey, Seattle, WA           2006-present
Affiliate Assoc. Prof., Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA                   2006-present

Recent/Current Research
Fault Slip Modes: from Slow Seismic and Aseismic Slip to Earthquakes.
Earthquake Triggering.

Seismicity
. 
Submarine and Terrestrial Landslides and Volcanoes.
Earthquake Early Warning.
Earthquake Scaling.


Editorial Service
2002 - 2014: Assoc. Editor - Journal of Geophysical Research.
2004-2005: Co-Editor - Journal of Geophysical Research Special Vol., Stress Transfer, Earthquake Triggering, and Time-dependent Seismic Hazard
2008 - 2010: Co-Editor - Journal of Geophysical Research Special Vol., Aseismic Slip, Non-volcanic Tremor, and Earthquakes
 
Professional Organization Activities
American Geophysical Union Member, Fellow 1979 - present
Seismological Society of America    
Member                                                 1986 - present
SSA/IRIS Distinguished Lecturer
Selection Standing Comm. Member      2004
- 2010
Board of Directors Member                   2003 - 2006
Vice President                                       2004 - 2006
Board of Dir. Nominating Comm.Chair  2006
Earthquake Engineering Research Institutions 2012 - present
Assoc. of Women in Geoscience  Member      1987 - 2005
IRIS PASSCAL Standing Comm. Member        2001
- 2004
Council of Natl. Seismic Sys. Board Member   1997
- 2001
Cascadia Regional Earthquake Working Group 2006 - present
CPARM                                                            
2006 - present
City of Seattle Unreinforced Masonry Building 2008 - 2013
Retrofit project Technical  and Policy Committees

Panel & Workshop Activities
USGS Performance Panels

2005 - Central Region Geologic Hazards Team
2006 - Panel Chair, Central Region Geologic Hazards Team
2007 - Earthquake Hazards Team
2008, 2014-2016 - Panel Chair, Earthquake Hazards Team

Scientific Workshops
(Invited Participant)
April, 2002 - Inst. of Geol. and Nuclear Sci. "Microzoning" - Ground-classing Wkshp, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
October, - 2002  IRIS AllComm Wkshp, College Park, Maryland.
January, 2006 - Fourth Internatl. Wkshp on Statistical Seismol., Inst. of Statistical Math. of Japan, Zushi, Japan
March, 2007- S. Calif. Earthquake Ctr. Working Group on Calif. Earthquake Probabilities Wkshp, Lake Arrowhead, California
February, 2008 - USGS, Earthscope, UNAVCO, Geol. Surv. of Canada, Workshop on "Aseismic Slip, Nonvolcanic Tremor, and Earthquakes", Sidney, British Columbia
March, 2008 - UNAVCO Science Workshop, Boulder, Colorado
September 2008
- Writing Team, NSF Long Range Science Plan for Seismology Workshop, Lakewood, Colorado
October, 2008
- European Science Foundation Conf. on New Challenges in Earthquake Dynamics, Obergurgl, Austria
October, 2008
- 7th U.S. Japan Natural Resources meeting, Seattle, Washington
July, 2009 - NSF Cascadia Margins/Earthscope Workshop, Palisades, New York
October, 2009 - NSF Earthscope Science Workshop, Snowbird, Utah

October, 2010 - Earthscope Institute: The Spectrum Of Fault Slip Behaviors, Portland, Oregon
October, 2010
- NSF-Cascadia Offshore Experiment Planning Workshop, Portland Oregon
September, 2011 - European Science Foundation Conf. on New Challenges in Earthquake Dynamics, Obergurgl, Austria
August 17-22, 2014 - Gordon Conference on Evolving Rock Structure: From Grain-Scale to Planet-Scale, Andover, New Hampshire
November 2014- International School on Earthquakes: Nucleation, triggering, and the relationship with aseismic processes, Cargèse, Corsica, France.
April 2015 - International Ocean Drilling Project Workshop on Investigating Cascadia Subduction Zone Geodynamics through Scientific Ocean Drilling, Seattle, Washington
October 2015 - GeoPRISMS Theoretical and Experimental Institute on Subduction Cycles, Redondo Beach, California
October 2016 - NSF Subduction Zone Observatory Workshop, Boise, Idaho
November 2016 - National Academies of Sciences meeting "The Cascadia Subduction Zone: Science, Impacts, and Response, Washington, D.C.

April, 2017
- Moore Foundation Offshore Geophysical Monitoring of Cascadia for Early Warning and Hazards Research workshop, Seattle, Washington.


Review Panels  
January, 2004 - National Res. Council Comm. meeting to evaluate the economic benefits of improved seismic monitoring, St. Louis, MO.
February, 2005 - USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, Reston, Virginia
July, 2006 - USGS NEHRP Ext. Grants Program, CEUS Panel Leader, San Antonio, Texas
July, 2006 - USGS NEHRP External Grants Program, Pacific Northwest Panel Member, San Antonio, Texas
July, 2009 - USGS NEHRP External Grants Program, Central and Eastern US Panel Member, Reston, Virginia
October, 2012 - USGS Presidential Early Career Awards in Science and Engineering, Panel Member
August, 2013 - USGS NEHRP External Grants Program, Pacific Northwest Panel Chair, Seattle, Washington
September, 2013 - Tectonics Journal Senior Editor Selection Committee Member
June, 2014 - American Geophysical Union Keiti Aki Young Scientist Award, Selection Panel Member
May, 2015 - American Geophysical Union Keiti Aki Young Scientist Award, Selection Panel Member
June, 2016 - Seismological Society of America Board of Directors, Selection Panel Member
April, 2017American Geophysical Union Honors Canvassing Committee, Committee Member

 


Conference, Workshop Planning
2007-2008 - April 2008 National Earthquake Conference Planning & Steering Committee Member
2007-2008 - Feb. 2008 USGS/Earthscope/GSC/UNAVCO Workshop on Aseismic Slip, NonVolcanic Tremor and Earthquakes, Planning Committe Chair
2008-2009 - March, 2009 Workshop on Cascadia 2007 and Beyond Slow Slip and Tremor
2010 - October, 2010 Earthscope Institute: The Spectrum of Fault Slip Behaviors, Scientific Planning Committee Member
2011-2012 - January, 2012 ShakeCast for Pacific Northwest
Public and Private Sectors Workshop, Planning Committee Chair
2012-2013 - Februrary, 2013 Earthquake Research Institutions Annual Meeting, Planning Committee Member
2012-2013 - Februrary, 2013 Christchurch Earthquakes Workshop, Planning Committee Member
2013-2014 - November, 2014 International School on Earthquakes: Nucleation, triggering, and the relationship with aseismic processes (Corsica, France),
Planning Committee Member
2015 - May, Advancing USGS Integrated Subduction Zone Science,
Planning Committee Chair
2015-2016, October, 2016 NSF Subduction Zone Observatory Workshop, Planning Committee Member
2016- present  2017 International School on Earthquakes: Nucleation, triggering, and the relationship with aseismic processes (Corsica, France), Planning Committee Member

Honors
2013 American Geophysical Union Fellow
2015 Association for Women Geoscientists Excellence Award


USGS Awards

1991 Branch of Geologic Risk Assess. Best Pub. Award
1993  Gilbert Fellowship (Dynamic Strains and Earthquake Triggering)
1997 On the Spot award for organizing workshop on U.S. seismic networks and the national seismic system
1998  Star award for leadership in responding to the M4.9, southern Alabama earthquake.
1999  Star award for liaison activities with the Mid-America Earthquake Center.
2000 Star award for leadership in the Central and Eastern U.S. Hazards program
2001 Star award for leadership in the Central and Eastern U.S. Hazards program
2003 Central Region Geologic Hazards Team Senior Scientist in Residence Award
2004 Star award for leadership in the Central and Eastern U.S. Hazards program
        Star award for service to the Earthquake Hazards Program
        Venture Capital Fund Award,  A Multi-facility Approach to Solving Problems in Earthquake Hazards
        Venture Capital Fund Award,  A GIS Based Decision Support System for Earthquake Risk Mitigation
2007 Star award for leadership in activities related to episodic tremor and slip.
2008 Star award for leadership in activities related to episodic tremor and slip.
2009 Mendenhall Fellowship Award (mentor) Crustal structure, faulting, and earthquake effects in the Cascadia region
2012 Mendenhall Fellowship Award (mentor) Building New Holistic Earthquake Monitoring
2013 Mendenhall Fellowship Award (mentor) Exploring Fault Slip Modes in Alaska and the Aleutian Arc
2016 Star award for leadership in subduction zone science coordination.
2016 Star award for participation in Society of Environmental Journalists conference.

Publications

2017

Gomberg, J.S., and Ludwig, K.A., 2017, Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3024, 4 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173024.
 
Gomberg, J.S., Ludwig, K.A., Bekins, B.A., Brocher, T.M., Brock, J.C., Brothers, Daniel, Chaytor, J.D., Frankel, A.D., Geist, E.L., Haney, Matthew, Hickman, S.H., Leith, W.S., Roeloffs, E.A., Schulz, W.H., Sisson, T.W., Wallace, Kristi, Watt, J.T., Wein, Anne, 2017, Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide—U.S. Geological Survey subduction zone science plan: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1428, 45 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1428.

Gomberg, J. (2017), Cascadia Onshore-Offshore Site-Response, Submarine Sediment Mobilization, and Earthquake Recurrence: Journal of Geophysical Research, in preparation.

 

Johnson, H. P., J. S. Gomberg, S. L. Hautala, and M. S. Salmi (2017), Sediment gravity flows triggered by remotely generated earthquake waves, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 122, doi:10.1002/2016JB013689 Download

McBrearty, I., J. Gomberg, A. Delorey, and P. Johnson (2017),  Northern Chile seismicity rate changes and ripe-fault triggering: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, in preparation.


2016

Crowell, B.W., D.A. Schmidt, P. Bodin, J.E. Vidale, J. Gomberg, J. R. Hartog, V.C. Kress, T.I. Melbourne, M. Santillan, S.E. Minson, and D.G. Jamison (2016). Demonstration of the Cascadia G-FAST Geodetic Earthquake Early Warning System for the Nisqually, Washington Earthquake: Seismological Research Letters, v. 87, no. 4., July-August, doi: 10.1785/0220150255.
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Gomberg, J., P. Bodin, J. Bourgeois, S. Cashman, D. Cowan, K. Creager, B. Crowell, A. Duvall, A. Frankel, F. Gonzalez, H. Houston, P. Johnson, H. Kelsey, U. Miller, E. Roland, D. Schmidt, L. Staisch, J. Vidale, W. Wilcock, E. Wirth (2016), Planning for a Subduction Zone Observatory, EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, v. 97, 11 p., doi: 10.1029/2016EO052635. 
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Gomberg, J., A. Wech, K. Creager, K. Obara, D. Agnew, (2016), Reconsidering earthquake scaling: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 43, 9 p., doi: 10.1002/2016GL069967.
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Gomberg, J., D. Agnew, and S. Schwartz (2016), Alternative models of very low frequency earthquakes, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 121, p. 6722–6740, doi:10.1002/2016JB013001.
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2015

Gomberg, J., Atwater, N. Beeler, P. Bodin, E. Davis, A. Frankel, G. Hayes, V. McConnell, T. Melbourne, D. Oppenheimer, J. Parrish, E. Roeloffs, G. Rogers, B. Sherrod, J. Vidale, T. Walsh, C. Weaver, and P. Whitmore (2015), Earthquake forewarning in the Cascadia region, US Geological Survey Open-File Report, US Geological Survey Open-File Report, 2015–1151, 8 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20151151. Download

Hotovec-Ellis, A. J., J. E. Vidale, J. Gomberg, W. Thelen and S. C. Moran (2015), Changes in seismic velocity during the 2004-2008 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, Journal of Geophysical Research,  Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 120, doi:10.1002/2013JB01074.
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Marsan, D., J. Gomberg,  and M. Bouchon (2015), Exploring earthquakes, slow slip and triggering: EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, v. 96, doi:10.1029/2015EO025955.
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Wu C., R. Guyer, D. Shelly, D. Trugman, W. Frank, J. Gomberg and P. Johnson (2015), Spatial-temporal variation of low-frequency earthquake bursts near Parkfield, California:
Geophysical Journal International, v. 202, p. 914-919, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggv194. Download


2014


Gomberg, J., and B. Sherrod (2014), Crustal earthquake triggering by modern great earthquakes on subduction zone thrusts, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 119, 1235 - 1250, doi:10.1002/2012JB009826. Download

Hotovec-Ellis, A. J., J. Gomberg, J. E. Vidale, and K. C. Creager (2014), A continuous record of inter-eruption velocity change at Mount St. Helens from coda wave interferometry, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 119,doi:10.1002/2013JB010742. Download
 
Minson, S.E., J.R. Murray, J.O. Langbein and J.S. Gomberg (2014), Real-time inversions for finite fault slip models and rupture geometry based on high-rate GPS data: Journal of Geophysical Research, 119, 3201-3231, doi:10.1002/2013JB010622.  Download
 
Sherrod, B., and J. Gomberg (2014), Crustal earthquake triggering by prehistoric great earthquakes on subduction zone thrusts, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 119, 1273-1294, doi:10.1002/2013JB010635.  Download
 
Wu, C., J. Gomberg, E. Ben-Naim, and P. Johnson (2014), Triggering of repeating earthquakes in central California, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, doi:10.1002/2013GL059051.  Download

2013

Brown, J. R., S. G. Prejean, G. C. Beroza, J. S. Gomberg, and P. J. Haeussler, Deep low-frequency earthquakes in tectonic tremor along the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone: Journal of Geophysical Research, 118, 1079-1090, doi:10.1029/2012JB009459. Download

Gomberg, J., Permanently Enhanced Dynamic Triggering Probabilities as Evidenced by Two M>7.5 Earthquakes: Geophysical Research Letters, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, doi:10.1002/grl.50933.

Gomberg, J. and A. Jakobitz, A collaborative, user-produced, assessment of earthquake response products: USGS Open File Report 2013-1103, 17 p. Download

Gomberg, J. and S. Prejean, Tremor sweet spots in Alaska: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 118, p. 6,203-6,218, doi:10.1002/2013JB010273, v. 343, p. 119. Download

Hotovec, A.J., S. G. Prejean, J. E. Vidale, J. Gomberg, 2011, Strongly Gliding Harmonic Tremor During the 2009 Eruption of Redoubt Volcano: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 259, 89-99. Download

 Wu, C., D. Shelly, J. Gomberg, Z. Peng, and P. Johnson (2013), Long-term changes of earthquake inter-event times and low-frequency earthquake recurrence in central California,Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 144-150, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.03.007.

Gomberg, J., A practical guide to Pacific Northwest earthquakes, USGS Technology Enabled Learning course, online.
 
2012

Gomberg, J.  K. Creager, J. Sweet, J. Vidale, A Ghosh, and A. Hotovec, Earthquake spectra and near-source attenuation in the Cascadia subduction zone, Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, B5, doi:10.1029/2011JB009055. Download

Gomberg, J., S. Prejean, and N. Ruppert, 
Afterslip, tremor and the Denali Fault earthquake: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 102, p. 892-899. Download

Gomberg, J., B. Sherrod, M. Trautman, E. Burns and D. Snyder, Contemporary seismicity in and around the Yakima Fold and Thrust Belt in eastern Washington: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 201, p. 309-320 . Download

Wicks, C., W. Thelen, J. Gomberg, C. Weaver and A. Rohay, InSAR observations of aseismic slip associated with an earthquake swarm in the Columbia River Basalt:  Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, B12304, 8 p., doi:10.1029/2011JB008433 . Download

2011

Gomberg, J. and K. Felzer, Reply to Comment on A model of earthquake triggering probabilities and application to dynamic deformations constrained by ground motion observations by Ross Stein: Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, B03313, doi:10.1029/2010JB008094. Download

Gomberg, J., W. Schulz, P. Bodin, and J. Kean, Seismic and geodetic signatures of fault slip at the Slumgullion landslide natural laboratory: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 116, B09404, doi:10.1029/2011JB008304. Download

Vidale, J. E., A. J. Hotovec, A. Ghosh, K. C. Creager, and J. Gomberg, Tiny intraplate earthquakes triggered by nearby episodic tremor and slip in Cascadia: Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., v. 12, Q06005, doi:10.1029/2011GC003559. Download

2010

Gomberg, J.,  Lessons from (Triggered) Tremor: Journal of Geophysical Research, 47 p., v. 115, B10302, doi:10.1029/2009JB007011. Download

Gomberg, J., 2010, Introduction to special section on Phenomenology, Underlying Processes, and Hazard Implications of Aseismic Slip and Nonvolcanic Tremor: Journal of Geophysical Research, v.115, doi:10.1029/2010JB008052. Gomberg, J. and The Cascadia 2007 and Beyond Working Group, Slow Slip Phenomena in Cascadia from 2007 and Beyond: A Review: Geological Society of America Bulletin, online March 29, 2010, p. 963-978, doi:10.1130/B30287.1. Download