Welcome to the Oregon Hazards Lab

Using Science, Technology, and Community Engagement to Understand, Detect, and Mitigate Multi-Hazards within the Pacific Northwest

The sun sets behind a mountaintop seismic monitoring station.

The Oregon Hazards Lab is a research lab within the University of Oregon's Department of Earth Sciences. We currently partner in these efforts:

Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

Along with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington, we monitoring ground motion to better understand earthquake and volcano hazards and their impacts on communities in Oregon and Washington.

ShakeAlert® Earthquake Early Warning System

Since 2014, the Oregon Hazards Lab has been an instrumental partner in building and promoting the U.S. Geological Survey’s earthquake early warning system.

Wildfire Detection Cameras

With hundreds of mountaintop cameras installed throughout the western United States, this high-speed wildfire detection network provides firefighters and first responders a new way to spot and track wildfires.

A young man and a young woman attach a sensor to a piece of seismic monitoring equipment.

Wildfire Smoke Sensors

As part of our partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, we are deploying 30 smoke sensors across Western Oregon and testing their effectiveness at detecting emerging wildfires.

Sage Continuum

We are building a continent-spanning network of smart sensors to improve the flow of information between scientists and the natural world.

Willamette Watershed Project

The Oregon Hazards Lab is developing resilient communications infrastructure for the Santiam, Sisters, and McKenzie River corridors that will support a natural disaster monitoring and alerting network.

illustrated mural depicts natural disaster monitoring equipment on a mountainous coast

219

ShakeAlert Seismic Stations

45

Wildfire Detection Cameras

30

Wildfire Smoke Sensors

2018

Year OHAZ Was Founded

27

Full-Time Staff

7

Student Researchers

News from the Oregon Hazards Lab

Western Wildfire Camera Network is Now the Largest of its Kind

Western Wildfire Camera Network is Now the Largest of its Kind

Wildland firefighters in the western United States will now have the world’s largest public-facing network of wildfire detection cameras at their disposal. The Oregon Hazards Lab has unified its camera network with those operated by the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Nevada, Reno under a new platform called ALERTWest.

New Wildfire Detection Camera Installed in Lake County

New Wildfire Detection Camera Installed in Lake County

The new camera on Green Mountain was made possible by the partnership between the Lakeview District of the BLM and the Oregon Hazards Lab at the University of Oregon. The Green Mountain camera is hosted on the ALERTWest platform and is part of a 1,000 plus camera network.