June 5, 2025 - Cascadia CoPes Hub / RCN Monthly Seminar Series

Research highlights from the Cascadia CoPes Hub 

Speakers:

Peter Ruggiero (OSU) and Ann Bostrom (UW)

Clara Riggio (Cal Poly Humboldt)

Alexander Horner-Devine (UW)

Harold Tobin (UW)

Abstract:  Before turning the mic over to our key speakers for this seminar, we will spark your curiosity with quick snapshots of a few of the other research highlights from this 4th year of the Cascadia CoPes Hub.

 

Abstract:  King Salmon and Fields Landing, two unincorporated, low-lying communities in Northern California, already experience regular coastal flooding which is projected to substantially worsen with future sea-level rise (SLR). Many residents express distrust in local governments, experience political, social, and technological barriers to participating in planning, and face other socio-economic injustices. Our project will design a context-specific flood and SLR adaptation planning process that includes residents and their knowledge as central in determining strategies for the future. By hiring liaisons, facilitating workshops, and co-creating a community display, our design ensures residents are at the forefront of adaptation planning.

Speaker Bio: Clara Riggio is an Interdisciplinary Social Scientist and Graduate Research Assistant in Environmental Science & Management at Cal Poly Humboldt, where she studies the impacts of sea level rise on frontline communities in Humboldt County.  With a background in social psychology and environmental science, she is pursuing a Master’s in Science in Natural Resources with a focus in Environmental Science & Management at Cal Poly Humboldt under the direction of Cascadia CoPes Hub Team 3 (Community Adaptive Capacity) investigator Dr. Laurie Richmond.  Clara was one of the members of Team 3 who presented at the Annual Society for Applied Anthropology Conference in Portland, OR, March 28th this year on “Building Inclusive Adaptive Capacity to Coastal Hazards in Cascadia.”  

Abstract:  Many of the largest flood events on the Pacific Northwest coast and worldwide are the result of multiple drivers such as storm surge, heavy rain, peaking river discharge and high tides, which co-occur and generate water levels that are much higher than any one driver alone. This is referred to as compound flooding. Our group is using high resolution hydrodynamic models to improve the understanding and prediction of compound flooding in Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay on the Washington Coast.

Speaker Bio: Alexander Horner-Devine is Professor and Associate Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington, where he is also an adjunct professor in the School of Oceanography.   Alex grew up canoeing on the rivers and lakes of Ontario, Canada before starting his career in fluid mechanics as a whitewater kayaking instructor on the Ottawa River. He then studied fluid mechanics in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. After completing his MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Fluid Mechanics at Stanford University, he joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty at the University of Washington in Fall 2004.  Dr. Horner-Devine’s research interests cover environmental fluid mechanics, coastal oceanography and geophysical fluid dynamics, river plumes, and sediment transport.  Much of his research focuses on the dynamics of the river-ocean interface, including studies of river plumes in North America, South America and Europe.   Alex co-leads Cascadia CoPes Hub Team 2: Exposure to inundation and coastal change hazards, with Peter Ruggiero.

Abstract:  Our group has been using new offshore geophysical imaging data to map out the subsurface distribution of splay faults -- geologic faults that branch off of the main subduction fault toward the surface. Splay faults play an outsized role in the specifics of the tsunami hazard to coastal regions. This work has shown that a major, Cascadia-spanning splay fault used in many of the current tsunami scenarios is not realistic, but slip of other splay faults farther offshore is more likely. This Hub work is already in use for next-generation tsunami hazard modeling efforts. 

Speaker Bio: Harold Tobin holds the Paros Endowed Chair in Seismology and Geohazards in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, where he is the Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. He is also the designated Washington State Seismologist. Professor Tobin’s research involves the study of tectonic plate boundaries with a focus on how faults work and the conditions inside them that lead to earthquakes. He is especially interested in subduction zones, where the planet’s largest earthquakes and tsunamis take place. Tobin’s research has taken him to Japan, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Alaska, and Barbados, as well as the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Oregon, and he is an international leader in scientific applications of deep drilling.  Among his other honors is NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Group Achievement Award for contributions to the astronaut training program.