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Coastal Hazards and Dynamics (Spero Lab) Group research interests lie at the nexus of geohazards and society.
Dr. Spero's research aims to advance our understanding and prediction of coastal hazards, particularly tsunami and storm impacts, through numerical modeling, remote sensing, and field-based studies. Her work spans from developing sophisticated numerical models to conducting comprehensive multi-year field campaigns, providing a robust framework for assessing and mitigating risks to coastal communities. This integrated approach enhances the accuracy and reliability of hazard predictions, ultimately contributing to community resilience and safety. Please see below for examples of the SPERO Lab research program.
Coastal-Related Field Campaigns and Field Methods
The core of the Coastal Hazards and Dynamics Group is based on high-resolution field data collection - longitudinal surveying and rapid pre-/post-event surveys. This work in the past has encapsulated using sensors (IMUs, pressure sensors, etc.), remote-sensing (GPS, RTK GNSS, and UAS surveys), and lidar (terrestrial, aerial). Part of our lab interest also include developing custom workflows for low-cost, replicable methods for coastal assessments.
Why Coastal Boulder Deposits (CBDs)?
Since CBDs are often the only remaining evidence from events otherwise lost to history, they can form a long-term record of extreme inundation, helping us to learn about storm and seismic climatology. Our lab is also interested in
(1) finding new CBDs, (2) improving methods to discriminate storm vs. tsunami CBDs which may involve reevaluating past deposits, and (3) continuing to build the ISROC database (as a contributing member) with standardized datasets - global scale. We use coastal change detection datasets generate from remote-sensing applications for this work.
Coastal Boulder Deposits (CBDs) as Inundation Signatures on Rocky Coastlines
Laboratory Wave Flume and Basin Experiments
We have unparalleled access to the Coastal Hydrualics Laboratory Wave Flume and Wave Basin. The wave-current flume will be used in our group to investigate questions related to coastal boulder transport (sediment transport), wave-structure interactions, and nature-based solution-related questions.
Emerging Technologies: VR, AR, XR, and others
With all of our projects, we are also interested in taking the scientific discovery and communicating it with the general public, creating virtual labs, and stakeholder engagement. For example, a recent project combined modeling and field datasets to create a 3D environment in Virtual Reality as a virtual field trip (right).
VFT Video from: Spero et al., (2026d) Journal of Data and Societal Endeavors
Numerical Modeling Approaches
Our lab group uses HPC and shallow water equation-based approaches to model the flow conditions associated with large-scale fluid flow hazards (e.g., various types of tsunamis). We also work with storm modeling outputs to link wave hydrodynamics to sediment transport (e.g., wave climatological conditions during boulder transport). For example, using GeoClaw or D-Claw software.
Example below of the 2011 Japan (Tohoku) tsunami simulated using GeoClaw software (benchmark problem) with a time series zoom-in on Hawaii.
Animation Courtesy of Dr. Dave George (USGS)
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