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John W. Jones

Through my research, I pursue two over-riding goals: (1) increased understanding of relationships among land surface dynamics, hydrologic, and biologic processes; and (2) the provision of resource management relevant information to decision-makers. To meet these goals, research is focused on developing new methods to measure and monitor biophysical characteristics of various land covers.

John has been developing and applying geospatial technologies to improve process understanding and resource management for nearly four decades.  His current emphasis is on the development and application of methods and products to monitor inland surface water dynamics from local through global scales. He is particularly interested in the fusion of data collected by various sensors to provide the highest quality time-series data possible. Collaboration across disciplines and institutions improves the quality of his work. Before joining the USGS, John worked as a geospatial technology applications specialist in state government and private industry. Since joining the USGS, John has engaged in research, strategic planning, training, mentoring, and outreach.  Specific research endeavors have included: snow cover mapping; incorporating remote sensing and landscape ecology in Everglades restoration science; wetland bathymetry modeling; evaluating the role of vegetation in hydrology (e.g., spatial and temporal variations in evapotranspiration; precipitation interception and resistance to surface water flow); land surface phenology; impervious surface data accuracy assessment; mapping irrigated lands and estimating agricultural water use; land surface inundation/depth dynamics - especially in wetlands; remote sensing of river discharge; and hazard mitigation.   

 

Science and Products

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Image Collage of Landsat, pollinator, and volcanologist

Development of a Surface Water Index of Permanence (SWIPe) Database to Assess Surface Water Availability for Ecohydrological Refugia

Surface-water availability has been identified as one of the biggest issues facing society in the 21st century. Where and when water is on the landscape can have profound impacts on the economy, wildlife behavior, recreational use, industrial practices, energy development, and many other aspects of life, society, and the environment. Projections indicate that surface-water availability will be gen
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Development of a Surface Water Index of Permanence (SWIPe) Database to Assess Surface Water Availability for Ecohydrological Refugia

Surface-water availability has been identified as one of the biggest issues facing society in the 21st century. Where and when water is on the landscape can have profound impacts on the economy, wildlife behavior, recreational use, industrial practices, energy development, and many other aspects of life, society, and the environment. Projections indicate that surface-water availability will be gen
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Wide-spread urban flooding in Georgia, Sept. 2009

SERAP: Modeling of Global and Land Use Change Impacts

The Southeastern United States spans a broad range of physiographic settings and maintains exceptionally high levels of faunal diversity. Unfortunately, many of these ecosystems are increasingly under threat due to rapid human development, and management agencies are increasingly aware of the potential effects that climate change will have on these ecosystems. Natural resource managers and conserv
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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SERAP: Modeling of Global and Land Use Change Impacts

The Southeastern United States spans a broad range of physiographic settings and maintains exceptionally high levels of faunal diversity. Unfortunately, many of these ecosystems are increasingly under threat due to rapid human development, and management agencies are increasingly aware of the potential effects that climate change will have on these ecosystems. Natural resource managers and conserv
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Image: Apalachicola River Near Bristol, FL

SERAP: Modeling of Hydrologic Systems

A hydrologic model was developed as part of the Southeast Regional Assessment Project using the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS), a deterministic, distributed-parameter, process-based system that simulates the effects of precipitation, temperature, and land use on basin hydrology. Streamflow and other components of the hydrologic cycle simulated by PRMS were used to inform other types o
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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SERAP: Modeling of Hydrologic Systems

A hydrologic model was developed as part of the Southeast Regional Assessment Project using the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS), a deterministic, distributed-parameter, process-based system that simulates the effects of precipitation, temperature, and land use on basin hydrology. Streamflow and other components of the hydrologic cycle simulated by PRMS were used to inform other types o
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Satellite-Derived Training Data for Automated Flood Detection in the Continental U.S.

Remotely sensed imagery is increasingly used by emergency managers to monitor and map the impact of flood events to support preparedness, response, and critical decision making throughout the flood event lifecycle. To reduce latency in delivery of imagery-derived information, ensure consistent and reliably derived map products, and facilitate processing of an increasing volume of remote sensing da
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Water Resources Mission Area, National Innovation Center

Tracking disturbance and inundation to identify wetland loss

Global trends in wetland degradation and loss have created an urgency to monitor wetland extent, as well as track the distribution and causes of wetland loss. Satellite imagery can be used to monitor wetlands over time, but few efforts have attempted to distinguish anthropogenic wetland loss from climate-driven variability in wetland extent. We present an approach to concurrently track land cover
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Modified Land Cover Raster for the Upper Oconee Watershed

This dataset shows land cover in the Upper Oconee watershed. The data layer primarily uses the 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD) but was manually edited to include 2,219 additional reservoirs. The reservoirs were identified and digitized using 2010 National Aerial Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery.

Big Cypress-Pine Island, Florida

No abstract available.

Northern Everglades, Florida, satellite image map

These satellite image maps are one product of the USGS Land Characteristics from Remote Sensing project, funded through the USGS Place-Based Studies Program with support from the Everglades National Park. The objective of this project is to develop and apply innovative remote sensing and geographic information system techniques to map the distribution of vegetation, vegetation characteristics, and

South Florida Everglades: satellite image map

These satellite image maps are one product of the USGS Land Characteristics from Remote Sensing project, funded through the USGS Place-Based Studies Program (http://access.usgs.gov/) with support from the Everglades National Park (http://www.nps.gov/ever/). The objective of this project is to develop and apply innovative remote sensing and geographic information system techniques to map the distri
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Development of a Surface-Water Index of Permanence to assess surface-water availability for ecohydrological refugia

Surface-water availability has major implications for the environment and society in the 21st century. With climate change, increased drought severity, and altered water and land use, future water availability is predicted to continue to decline in many areas, including much of the western United States. An understanding of where and when water will be available at multiple scales is crucial for t
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Alynn Martin, Roy Sando, Lindsey Thurman, Kyle McLean, Patrick Wurster, John Jones, Anteneh Sarbanes
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Satellite remote sensing of river discharge: A framework for assessing the accuracy of discharge estimates made from satellite remote sensing observations

This research presents an evaluation of the accuracy and uncertainty of estimates of river discharge made using satellite observed data sources as input to a modified form of Manning’s equation. Conventional U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamflow gaging station data and in-situ measurements of width, depth, height, slope, discharge, and velocity from 30 USGS gage sites were used as ground-truth
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David M. Bjerklie, Michael Durand, James M. LeNoir, Robert W. Dudley, Charon Birkett, John Jones, Merritt Elizabeth Harlan
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Water Resources Mission Area, New England Water Science Center

Large increases in methane emissions expected from North America’s largest wetland complex

Natural methane (CH4) emissions from aquatic ecosystems may rise because of human-induced climate warming, although the magnitude of increase is highly uncertain. Using an exceptionally large CH4 flux dataset (~19,000 chamber measurements) and remotely sensed information, we modeled plot- and landscape-scale wetland CH4 emissions from the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), North America’s largest wetla
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Sheel Bansal, Max Post van der Burg, Rachel Fern, John Jones, Rachel Lo, Owen P. McKenna, Brian Tangen, Zhen Zhang, Robert A. Gleason
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Research and Development Program, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

OPERA Product Description Document

No abstract available.
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Grace Bato, David Bekaert, Virginiia Brancato, Heresh Fattahi, Matt Hansen, John Jones, Thomas Logan, Zhong Lu, Charles Marshak, Franz Meyer, Amy Pikens, Gustavo Shiroma
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Water Resources Mission Area

Demography of the Oregon spotted frog along a hydrologically modified river

Altered flow regimes can contribute to dissociation between life history strategies and environmental conditions, leading to reduced persistence reported for many wildlife populations inhabiting regulated rivers. The Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) is a threatened species occurring in floodplains, ponds, and wetlands in the Pacific Northwest with a core range in Oregon, USA. All life stages of
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Jennifer Rowe, Adam Duarte, Christopher Pearl, Brome McCreary, Patricia Haggerty, John Jones, Michael J. Adams
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Isolating anthropogenic wetland loss by concurrently tracking inundation and land cover disturbance across the Mid-Atlantic Region, U.S.

Global trends in wetland degradation and loss have created an urgency to monitor wetland extent, as well as track the distribution and causes of wetland loss. Satellite imagery can be used to monitor wetlands over time, but few efforts have attempted to distinguish anthropogenic wetland loss from climate-driven variability in wetland extent. We present an approach to concurrently track land cover
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Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Jay Christensen, Yen-Ju G. Beal, Ben DeVries, Megan W. Lang, Nora Hwang, Christine Mazzarella, John Jones
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Remote sensing of river flow in Alaska—New technology to improve safety and expand coverage of USGS streamgaging

The U.S. Geological Survey monitors water level (water surface elevation relative to an arbitrary datum) and measures streamflow in Alaska rivers to compute and compile river flow records for use by water resource planners, engineers, and land managers to design infrastructure, manage floodplains, and protect life, property, and aquatic resources. Alaska has over 800,000 miles of rivers including
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Jeff Conaway, John R. Eggleston, Carl J. Legleiter, John Jones, Paul J. Kinzel, John W. Fulton
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Water Resources Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center

Improved automated detection of subpixel-scale inundation – Revised Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) partial surface water tests

In order to produce useful hydrologic and aquatic habitat data from the Landsat system, the U.S. Geological Survey has developed the “Dynamic Surface Water Extent” (DSWE) Landsat Science Product. DSWE will provide long-term, high-temporal resolution data on variations in inundation extent. The model used to generate DSWE is composed of five decision-rule based tests that do not require scene-based
Authors
John Jones
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Water Resources Mission Area

Satellite remote sensing estimation of river discharge: Application to the Yukon River Alaska

A methodology based on general hydraulic relations for rivers has been developed to estimate the discharge (flow rate) of rivers using satellite remote sensing observations. The estimates of discharge, flow depth, and flow velocity are derived from remotely observed water surface area, water surface slope, and water surface height, and demonstrated for two reaches of the Yukon River in Alaska, at
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David M. Bjerklie, Charon M. Birkett, John Jones, Claudia C. Carabajal, Jennifer Rover, John Fulton, Pierre-Andre Garambois
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Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , New England Water Science Center

Automated extraction of surface water extent from Sentinel-1 data

Accurately quantifying surface water extent in wetlands is critical to understanding their role in ecosystem processes. However, current regional- to global-scale surface water products lack the spatial or temporal resolution necessary to characterize heterogeneous or variable wetlands. Here, we proposed a fully automatic classification tree approach to classify surface water extent using Sentinel
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Wenli Huang, Ben DeVries, Chengquan Huang, Megan W. Lang, John Jones, Irena F. Creed, Mark L. Carroll

High resolution water body mapping for SWAT evaporative modelling in the Upper Oconee watershed of Georgia, USA

Technological improvements in remote sensing and geographic information systems have demonstrated the abundance of artificially constructed water bodies across the landscape. Although research has shown the ubiquity of small ponds globally, and in the southeastern United States in particular, their cumulative impact in terms of evaporative alteration is less well quantified. The objectives of this
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Amber R. Ignatius, John Jones

Automated quantification of surface water inundation in wetlands using optical satellite imagery

We present a fully automated and scalable algorithm for quantifying surface water inundation in wetlands. Requiring no external training data, our algorithm estimates sub-pixel water fraction (SWF) over large areas and long time periods using Landsat data. We tested our SWF algorithm over three wetland sites across North America, including the Prairie Pothole Region, the Delmarva Peninsula and the
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Ben DeVries, Chengquan Huang, Megan W. Lang, John Jones, Wenli Huang, Irena F. Creed, Mark L. Carroll
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Demography of the Oregon Spotted Frog Along a Hydrologically Modified River

Aquatic species associated with regulated rivers are can be affected by human-altered flow regimes.

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