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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.

I have been developing and applying geospatial technologies to improve process understanding and resource management for more than three decades.  Throughout my career I have collaborated across disciplines and institutions to develop new methods to measure biophysical characteristics of the land surface and land cover dynamics for hydrologic modeling and aquatic habitat characterization. Following Geographic Information System (GIS) analyst positions in state government and private industry, I joined the USGS GIS Research Laboratory in 1990 to extend the use of GIS in the Federal Government through applied research, special assignments, training and outreach.  I received the Department of Interior Superior Service Award in recognition of my contributions to the use of GIS in the USGS. I then joined the Geography Senior Program Group to coordinate interdisciplinary research initiatives and co-author USGS strategic science plans. In 1997, I moved to the USGS Eastern Geographic Science Center to incorporate remote sensing and landscape ecology in Everglades restoration science. I was awarded the Department of Interior Meritorious Service Award for that work. I am particularly interested in and adept at collaborating across scientific disciplines and communicating complex science to non-scientists. Research interests include topographic modeling; the role of vegetation in hydrology (e.g., spatial and temporal variations in evapotranspiration; precipitation interception and resistance to surface water flow); mapping irrigated lands; land surface inundation/depth dynamics - especially in wetlands; and remote sensing of river discharge.  

Education

Ph.D. in Geography

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Dissertation: The importance of vegetation fluctuations for streamflow from watersheds of macro scale.

M.A. in Water Resources Planning and Management

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

Thesis: Geospatial processing techniques for snow cover mapping in heterogeneous terrain.

B.A. in Geography

University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

 

Science and Products

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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, 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

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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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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Ecosystems, 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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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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Water Resources, 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
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Water Resources

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

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

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

Estimating evaporative fraction from readily obtainable variables in mangrove forests of the Everglades, U.S.A.

A remote-sensing-based model to estimate evaporative fraction (EF) – the ratio of latent heat (LE; energy equivalent of evapotranspiration –ET–) to total available energy – from easily obtainable remotely-sensed and meteorological parameters is presented. This research specifically addresses the shortcomings of existing ET retrieval methods such as calibration requirements of extensive accurate in

Engaging the user community for advancing societal applications of the Surface Water Ocean Topography mission

Scheduled for launch in 2021, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will be a truly unique mission that will provide high-temporal-frequency maps of surface water extents and elevation variations of global water bodies (lakes/reservoirs, rivers, estuaries, oceans, and sea ice) at higher spatial resolution than is available with current technologies (Biancamaria et al. 2016; Alsdorf
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Water Resources

Efficient wetland surface water detection and monitoring via Landsat: Comparison with in situ data from the Everglades Depth Estimation Network

The U.S. Geological Survey is developing new Landsat science products. One, named Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE), is focused on the representation of ground surface inundation as detected in cloud-/shadow-/snow-free pixels for scenes collected over the U.S. and its territories. Characterization of DSWE uncertainty to facilitate its appropriate use in science and resource management is a prima

Evaluation and comparison of methods to estimate irrigation withdrawal for the National Water Census Focus Area Study of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin in southwestern Georgia

Methods to estimate irrigation withdrawal using nationally available datasets and techniques that are transferable to other agricultural regions were evaluated by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin focus area study of the National Water Census (ACF–FAS). These methods investigated the spatial, temporal, and quantitative distributions of wat
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Fire history of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, southern Florida

Fire occurs naturally in the environment on most continents, including Africa (Ryan and Williams, 2011), Asia (Kauhanen, 2008), Australia (Kutt and Woinarski, 2007), Europe (Eshel and others, 2000), South America (Fidelis and others, 2010), and North America (Van Auken, 2000). Antarctica appears to be the only continent that has no reported natural fires, although fire is common in grasslands of P
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Ecosystems, Environments Program, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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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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Science and Products