Brian Atwater

Scientist Emeritus, U.S. Geological Survey
Affiliate Professor, University of Washington

Brian Atwater has used coastal geology to clarify earthquake and tsunami hazards in the Cascadia region of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. The work was done in collaboration with micropaleontologists, tree-ring scientists, civil engineers, Chilean geographers, and Japanese earthquake and tsunami historians. Many of the findings were brought together in “The orphan tsunami of 1700—Japanese clues to a parent earthquake in North America,” prepared with coworkers in Japan and the United States. The Cascadia work led to mentoring of scientists in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the northeast Caribbean. Dr. Atwater’s early research dealt with sea levels and glaciation in California and ice-age floods from Montana. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, and a scientist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey.