From January until March 2024, multiple atmospheric river (AR) events impacted California, resulting in significant water year-to-date precipitation accumulations more than 100% above average across a wide swath of the state. Similar to observed impacts sustained during the 2022-2023 water year, historic flooding and multi-modal landslide activity occurred statewide, damaging transportation infrastructure, homes, property, and threatening life-safety and economic welfare. As a result, the California Geological Survey leveraged its Reported Landslides Database (RLD) mapping tools for desktop and field surveying to rapidly identify areas of observed landslide impacts, which included activation of the Landslides Triage Team (LTT). Across the State, The LTT identified hundreds of AR-induced landslide events which were incorporated into a GIS dashboard for efficient data organization and communication, which ultimately assisted Statewide response efforts in partnership with the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES).

W. Paul Burgess is an Engineering Geologist licensed as a P.G. in the California Geological Survey's Regional Geologic and Landslide Mapping Program, where he has been working since October 2018. Prior to joining the CGS, Burgess worked in the geotechnical engineering world in Los Angeles where he received training and gained broad experience at Feffer Geological Consulting. He earned a MS in Geology from the University of California, Los Angeles, focused on studying active faulting and tectonic geomorphology in the northeastern Indian Himalayan foothills. Before his time at UCLA, he earned a BS in Geology at the University of Houston in Texas, where he first became fascinated in geology after participating in geologic expeditions traversing the far northwestern Nepal Himalaya. Since coming aboard the CGS, Burgess has been especially grateful to steadily grow his knowledge of landslide mapping and geomorphologic/post-fire hazard mapping across California, and additionally share geoscience knowledge with the community through outreach efforts locally in the Los Angeles area. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking with his wife, surfing, and riding his bicycle and can often be found telling his friends and colleagues to send him photos of landslides with location and timing data whenever they spot them!