About me
Dr. Carrie Garrison-Laney spends an unusual amount of time digging in mud and getting excited about sand in places it definitely shouldn’t be. She reads layers of sediment the way others read novels—except the plot involves catastrophic waves, coastal chaos, and the occasional centuries-old diatom. Her work involves squinting thoughtfully at stratigraphy while saying things like, “This one might be Cascadia.” She can be found explaining to inquisitive passersby why a perfectly normal-looking tidal marsh is actually a “high-resolution archive of extreme marine inundation events.” She also has a remarkable ability to turn phrases like “event bed,” “inundation limits,” and “source characterization” into casual small talk.
Carrie is committed to understanding past tsunamis to better prepare for future ones. A Coastal Hazards Specialist at Washington Sea Grant and liaison to the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Carrie researches the “how, where, and when” of paleotsunamis and earthquakes in Washington State and beyond. When she’s not digging in the mud, Carrie enjoys spectator sports, puttering in the yard, and walks with her Golden Retrievers.
