Research

In the past decade, as the climate-change-driven hazards of heat, smoke and wildfire have gained increased attention in Metro Portland, so too has the fact that the entire Pacific Northwest is prone to catastrophic (and possibly overdue) subduction zone earthquakes. Superimposed on the region’s history of relatively frequent landslides, floods and volcanic eruptions, as well as more recent social stresses associated with housing affordability and drug addiction, these twin rapidly-emerging threats are on the minds of nearly all the region’s residents. Taking advantage of this growing awareness, we have planned student research studies at three Metro Portland sites with contrasting combinations of climate change hazards and geohazards: (1) PSU’s downtown Portland campus, whose older buildings face high earthquake and fire risks; (2) the Linnton neighborhood in Northwest Portland, threatened by several major geologic, climate-related and anthropogenic hazards; and (3) a semi-rural area in Clackamas County recently subject to life-threatening heat and wildfires (see Table 1 below).