Benjamin Jones, Ph.D. (Former Employee)
Science and Products
The footprint of Alaskan tundra fires during the past half-century: implications for surface properties and radiative forcing
Recent large and frequent fires above the Alaskan arctic circle have forced a reassessment of the ecological and climatological importance of fire in arctic tundra ecosystems. Here we provide a general overview of the occurrence, distribution, and ecological and climate implications of Alaskan tundra fires over the past half-century using...
Rocha, Adrian V.; Loranty, Michael M.; Higuera, Phil E.; Mack, Michelle C.; Hu, Feng Sheng; Jones, Benjamin M.; Breen, Amy L.; Rastetter, Edward B.; Goetz, Scott J.; Shaver, Gus R. Expansion rate and geometry of floating vegetation mats on the margins of thermokarst lakes, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA
Investigations on the northern Seward Peninsula in Alaska identified zones of recent (<50 years) permafrost collapse that led to the formation of floating vegetation mats along thermokarst lake margins. The occurrence of floating vegetation mat features indicates rapid degradation of near‐surface permafrost and lake expansion. This paper...
Parsekian, A.D.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Jones, M.; Grosse, G.; Walter, Anthony K.M.; Slater, L. Hydrogeomorphic processes of thermokarst lakes with grounded-ice and floating-ice regimes on the Arctic coastal plain, Alaska
Thermokarst lakes cover > 20% of the landscape throughout much of the Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) with shallow lakes freezing solid (grounded ice) and deeper lakes maintaining perennial liquid water (floating ice). Thus, lake depth relative to maximum ice thickness (1·5–2·0 m) represents an important threshold that impacts permafrost,...
Arp, C.D.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Urban, F.E.; Grosse, G. Modern thermokarst lake dynamics in the continuous permafrost zone, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska
Quantifying changes in thermokarst lake extent is of importance for understanding the permafrost-related carbon budget, including the potential release of carbon via lake expansion or sequestration as peat in drained lake basins. We used high spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery from 1950/51, 1978, and 2006/07 to quantify changes in...
Jones, Benjamin M.; Grosse, G.; Arp, C.D.; Jones, M.C.; Walter, Anthony K.M.; Romanovsky, V.E. Two mechanisms of aquatic and terrestrial habitat change along an Alaskan Arctic coastline
Arctic habitats at the interface between land and sea are particularly vulnerable to climate change. The northern Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (N-TLSA), a coastal plain ecosystem along the Beaufort Sea in northern Alaska, provides habitat for migratory waterbirds, caribou, and potentially, denning polar bears. The 60-km coastline of N-TLSA is...
Arp, Christopher D.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Schmutz, Joel A.; Urban, Frank E.; Jorgenson, M. Torre Lake temperature and ice cover regimes in the Alaskan Subarctic and Arctic: Integrated monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling
Lake surface regimes are fundamental attributes of lake ecosystems and their interaction with the land and atmosphere. High latitudes may be particularly sensitive to climate change, however, adequate baselines for these lakes are often lacking. In this study, we couple monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling techniques to generate baseline...
Arp, C.D.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Whitman, Matthew; Larsen, A.; Urban, F.E. Sikuliqiruq: Ice dynamics of the Meade river - Arctic Alaska, from freezeup to breakup from time-series ground imagery
Ice formation and breakup on Arctic rivers strongly influence river flow, sedimentation, river ecology, winter travel, and subsistence fishing and hunting by Alaskan Natives. We use time-series ground imagery ofthe Meade River to examine the process at high temporal and spatial resolution. Freezeup from complete liquid cover to complete ice cover...
Beck, R.A.; Rettig, A.J.; Ivenso, C.; Eisner, Wendy R.; Hinkel, Kenneth M.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Arp, C.D.; Grosse, G.; Whiteman, D. Spatial distribution of pingos in Northern Asia
Pingos are prominent periglacial landforms in vast regions of the Arctic and Subarctic. They are indicators of modern and past conditions of permafrost, surface geology, hydrology and climate. A first version of a detailed spatial geodatabase of more than 6000 pingo locations in a 3.5 ?? 106 km2 region of Northern Asia was assembled from...
Grosse, G.; Jones, Benjamin M.
Geography of Alaska Lake Districts: Identification, Description, and Analysis of Lake-Rich Regions of a Diverse and Dynamic State
Lakes are abundant landforms and important ecosystems in Alaska, but are unevenly distributed on the landscape with expansive lake-poor regions and several lake-rich regions. Such lake-rich areas are termed lake districts and have landscape characteristics that can be considered distinctive in similar respects to mountain ranges. In this report,...
Arp, Christopher D.; Jones, Benjamin M. Advancing landscape change research through the incorporation of Inupiaq knowledge
Indigenous knowledge is a valuable but under-used source of information relevant to landscape change research. We interviewed Iñupiat elders, hunters, and other knowledge-holders in the villages of Barrow and Atqasuk on the western Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska to gain further insight into the processes governing the...
Eisner, Wendy R.; Cuomo, Chris J.; Hinkel, Kenneth M.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Brower, Ronald H. Arctic lake physical processes and regimes with implications for winter water availability and management in the national petroleum reserve alaska
Lakes are dominant landforms in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) as well as important social and ecological resources. Of recent importance is the management of these freshwater ecosystems because lakes deeper than maximum ice thickness provide an important and often sole source of liquid water for aquatic biota, villages, and industry...
Jones, Benjamin M.; Arp, C.D.; Hinkel, Kenneth M.; Beck, R.A.; Schmutz, Joel A.; Winston, B. Erosional history of Cape Halkett and contemporary monitoring of bluff retreat, Beaufort Sea coast, Alaska
Cape Halkett is located along the Beaufort Sea at the end of a low-lying tundra landscape. The area has been subject to major modifications over the last century as a result of erosion and migration of the coastline inland. Long-term mean annual erosion rates (1955-2009) for the entire cape are 7.6 m/yr, with a gradual increase in rates over the...
Jones, Benjamin M.; Arp, Christopher D.; Beck, Richard A.; Grosse, Guido; Webster, James M.; Urban, Frank E.