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Jonathan (JP) Traylor

JP Traylor is a Hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey Nebraska Water Science Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geoscience from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY in 2010. He received a Master of Science degree in Earth and Atmospheric Science with a concentration in Hydrogeology from the University Nebraska in 2012. JP has been working for the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center since 2012. JP’s focus as a Hydrologist in the USGS is groundwater-flow modeling and he specializes in the development, construction, and calibration of groundwater-flow models using the latest software and techniques developed by the USGS for use by water managers and stakeholders. He has developed or assisted in the development of groundwater-flow models in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas for multiple parts of the High Plains aquifer, the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer System, and the Coastal Lowlands Aquifer Systems.

Science and Products

link
Groundwater Quality Monitoring Well near Ashland, NE

Groundwater-Quality Monitoring near Ashland, Nebraska

Since 1991, the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has collected water samples from six monitoring wells in the Platte River alluvial aquifer near Ashland. Analytes include major and trace metals, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pesticides and their degradates, and arsenic species. The samples are analyzed by the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory. The USGS also collects additional...
By
Nebraska Water Science Center
link

Groundwater-Quality Monitoring near Ashland, Nebraska

Since 1991, the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has collected water samples from six monitoring wells in the Platte River alluvial aquifer near Ashland. Analytes include major and trace metals, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pesticides and their degradates, and arsenic species. The samples are analyzed by the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory. The USGS also collects additional...
Learn More

Simulations of the groundwater-flow system in the Cache and Grand Prairie Critical Groundwater Areas, northeastern Arkansas

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) is one of the most important agricultural regions in the United States and underlies about 32,000 square miles of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The MAP region supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry. The MAP is part of the Mississippi Embayment with several water-bearing units that make up the Mississippi Emba
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW models for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge.

There is a growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including new processes such as three- dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler r
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW-One-Water model used to support the Central Platte Natural Resources District Groundwater Management Plan

An integrated hydrologic-flow model, called the Central Platte Integrated Hydrologic Model, was constructed using the MODFLOW-One-Water Hydrologic Model code with the Newton solver. This code integrates climate, landscape, surface water, and groundwater-flow processes in a fully coupled approach. This study provided the Central Platte Natural Resources District (CPNRD) with an advanced numerical m
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW 6 model and ensemble used in the simulation of groundwater flow and land subsidence in the northern part of the Gulf Coast aquifer, 1897-2018 (ver. 2.0, September 2023)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District and Fort Bend Subsidence District, constructed a finite-difference numerical groundwater-flow model of the northern Gulf Coast aquifer region for 1897 through 2018 using MODFLOW 6 with the Newton formulation solver to simulate groundwater flow and land-surface subsidence. Model parameter estimation and
By
Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center

MODFLOW-One Water Hydrologic Model integrated hydrologic-flow model used to evaluate water availability in the Osage Nation

The integrated hydrologic-flow model, called the Osage Nation Integrated Hydrologic Model (ONIHM) was developed to assess water availability in the Osage Nation. This model was developed using the MODFLOW-One Water Hydrologic Model (MF-OWHM) code. The ONIHM was discretized into an orthogonal grid of 276 rows and 289 columns, and each grid cell measured 1,312.34 feet (ft) per side, with eight varia
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW-NWT groundwater flow model used to evaluate groundwater availability with five forecast scenarios in the Northern High Plains Aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

This groundwater flow model used a previously developed three-dimensional groundwater flow model (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20165153) was used to assess future groundwater availability in the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. In this groundwater flow model, a modified version of a previously published soil-water-balance (SWB) model (https://doi
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

Inset groundwater-flow models for the Cache and Grand Prairie Critical Groundwater Areas, northeastern Arkansas

The water resources in the Mississippi alluvial plain, located in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry that relies heavily on pumping of groundwater for irrigation of crops and aquaculture. The primary source of groundwater for agricultural-related pumping is the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer,
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Leslie L. Duncan, Andrew T. Leaf, Alec Rolland Weisser, Benjamin J. Dietsch, Moussa Guira
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Nebraska Water Science Center

Simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge

There is growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including processes such as three-dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler represen
Authors
Farshid Felfelani, Joseph D. Hughes, Fei Chen, Aubrey L Dugger, Timothy Schneider, David Gochis, Jonathan P. Traylor, Hedeff I. Essaid
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Effects of auto-adaptive localization on a model calibration using ensemble methods

Simulations of the natural systems for environmental decision-making typically benefit from a highly parameterized approach (Hunt et al. 2007; Doherty and Hunt 2010), which enhances the flow of information contained in state observations to the parameters and improves application to decision support. However, parameter estimation (PE) with highly parameterized environmental models using traditiona
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Randall J. Hunt, Jeremy White, Michael N. Fienen
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

An integrated hydrologic model to support the Central Platte Natural Resources District Groundwater Management Plan, central Nebraska

The groundwater and surface-water supply of the Central Platte Natural Resources District supports a large agricultural economy from the High Plains aquifer and Platte River, respectively. This study provided the Central Platte Natural Resources District with an advanced numerical modeling tool to assist with the update of their Groundwater Management Plan.An integrated hydrologic model, called th
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Moussa Guira, Steven M. Peterson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Assessment of water availability in the Osage Nation using an integrated hydrologic-flow model

The Osage Nation of northeastern Oklahoma, conterminous with Osage County, covers about 2,900 square miles. The area is primarily rural with 62 percent of the land being native prairie grass, and much of the area is used for cattle ranching and extraction of petroleum and natural gas. Protection of water rights are important to the Osage Nation because of its reliance on cattle ranching and the po
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Shana L. Mashburn, Randall T. Hanson, Steven M. Peterson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Groundwater availability of the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

Executive SummaryThe Northern High Plains aquifer underlies about 93,000 square miles of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming and is the largest subregion of the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Irrigation, primarily using groundwater, has supported agricultural production since before 1940, resulting in nearly $50 billion in sales in 2012. In 2010, the High Plains aquife
Authors
Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor, Moussa Guira
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Groundwater-flow model of the northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

The High Plains aquifer is a nationally important water resource underlying about 175,000 square miles in parts of eight states: Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Droughts across much of the Northern High Plains from 2001 to 2007 have combined with recent (2004) legislative mandates to elevate concerns regarding future availability of groundwater a
Authors
Steven M. Peterson, Amanda T. Flynn, Jonathan P. Traylor
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Numerical simulation of groundwater flow, resource optimization, and potential effects of prolonged drought for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma

A hydrogeological study including two numerical groundwater-flow models was completed for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area of central Oklahoma. One numerical groundwater-flow model, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation model, encompassed the jurisdictional area and was based on the results of a regional-scale hydrogeological study and numerical groundwater flow model of the Centra
Authors
Derek W. Ryter, Christopher D. Kunkel, Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Traylor, Jonathan P. and Zlotnik, Vitaly A., 2016, Analytical modeling of irrigation and land use effects on streamflow in semi-arid conditions, Journal of Hydrology, vol. 533, pages 591-602
Traylor, J.P., Hunt, R.J., White, J.T., Fienen, M.N., 2023, Effects of Auto-Adaptive Localization on a Model Calibration Using Ensemble Methods, Groundwater 62, no.1 (Special Issue on Modflow‐and‐More 2022), p. 140-149
Farshid, F., Hughes, J., Chen, F., Dugger, A., Schneider, T., Gochis, D., Traylor, J., Essaid, H., 2024, Simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge, Journal of Hydrology 630, no. 130703, ISSN 0022-1694

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products

link
Groundwater Quality Monitoring Well near Ashland, NE

Groundwater-Quality Monitoring near Ashland, Nebraska

Since 1991, the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has collected water samples from six monitoring wells in the Platte River alluvial aquifer near Ashland. Analytes include major and trace metals, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pesticides and their degradates, and arsenic species. The samples are analyzed by the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory. The USGS also collects additional...
By
Nebraska Water Science Center
link

Groundwater-Quality Monitoring near Ashland, Nebraska

Since 1991, the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has collected water samples from six monitoring wells in the Platte River alluvial aquifer near Ashland. Analytes include major and trace metals, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pesticides and their degradates, and arsenic species. The samples are analyzed by the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory. The USGS also collects additional...
Learn More

Simulations of the groundwater-flow system in the Cache and Grand Prairie Critical Groundwater Areas, northeastern Arkansas

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) is one of the most important agricultural regions in the United States and underlies about 32,000 square miles of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The MAP region supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry. The MAP is part of the Mississippi Embayment with several water-bearing units that make up the Mississippi Emba
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW models for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge.

There is a growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including new processes such as three- dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler r
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW-One-Water model used to support the Central Platte Natural Resources District Groundwater Management Plan

An integrated hydrologic-flow model, called the Central Platte Integrated Hydrologic Model, was constructed using the MODFLOW-One-Water Hydrologic Model code with the Newton solver. This code integrates climate, landscape, surface water, and groundwater-flow processes in a fully coupled approach. This study provided the Central Platte Natural Resources District (CPNRD) with an advanced numerical m
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW 6 model and ensemble used in the simulation of groundwater flow and land subsidence in the northern part of the Gulf Coast aquifer, 1897-2018 (ver. 2.0, September 2023)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District and Fort Bend Subsidence District, constructed a finite-difference numerical groundwater-flow model of the northern Gulf Coast aquifer region for 1897 through 2018 using MODFLOW 6 with the Newton formulation solver to simulate groundwater flow and land-surface subsidence. Model parameter estimation and
By
Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center

MODFLOW-One Water Hydrologic Model integrated hydrologic-flow model used to evaluate water availability in the Osage Nation

The integrated hydrologic-flow model, called the Osage Nation Integrated Hydrologic Model (ONIHM) was developed to assess water availability in the Osage Nation. This model was developed using the MODFLOW-One Water Hydrologic Model (MF-OWHM) code. The ONIHM was discretized into an orthogonal grid of 276 rows and 289 columns, and each grid cell measured 1,312.34 feet (ft) per side, with eight varia
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

MODFLOW-NWT groundwater flow model used to evaluate groundwater availability with five forecast scenarios in the Northern High Plains Aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

This groundwater flow model used a previously developed three-dimensional groundwater flow model (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20165153) was used to assess future groundwater availability in the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. In this groundwater flow model, a modified version of a previously published soil-water-balance (SWB) model (https://doi
By
Nebraska Water Science Center

Inset groundwater-flow models for the Cache and Grand Prairie Critical Groundwater Areas, northeastern Arkansas

The water resources in the Mississippi alluvial plain, located in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry that relies heavily on pumping of groundwater for irrigation of crops and aquaculture. The primary source of groundwater for agricultural-related pumping is the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer,
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Leslie L. Duncan, Andrew T. Leaf, Alec Rolland Weisser, Benjamin J. Dietsch, Moussa Guira
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Nebraska Water Science Center

Simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge

There is growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including processes such as three-dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler represen
Authors
Farshid Felfelani, Joseph D. Hughes, Fei Chen, Aubrey L Dugger, Timothy Schneider, David Gochis, Jonathan P. Traylor, Hedeff I. Essaid
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Effects of auto-adaptive localization on a model calibration using ensemble methods

Simulations of the natural systems for environmental decision-making typically benefit from a highly parameterized approach (Hunt et al. 2007; Doherty and Hunt 2010), which enhances the flow of information contained in state observations to the parameters and improves application to decision support. However, parameter estimation (PE) with highly parameterized environmental models using traditiona
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Randall J. Hunt, Jeremy White, Michael N. Fienen
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

An integrated hydrologic model to support the Central Platte Natural Resources District Groundwater Management Plan, central Nebraska

The groundwater and surface-water supply of the Central Platte Natural Resources District supports a large agricultural economy from the High Plains aquifer and Platte River, respectively. This study provided the Central Platte Natural Resources District with an advanced numerical modeling tool to assist with the update of their Groundwater Management Plan.An integrated hydrologic model, called th
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Moussa Guira, Steven M. Peterson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Assessment of water availability in the Osage Nation using an integrated hydrologic-flow model

The Osage Nation of northeastern Oklahoma, conterminous with Osage County, covers about 2,900 square miles. The area is primarily rural with 62 percent of the land being native prairie grass, and much of the area is used for cattle ranching and extraction of petroleum and natural gas. Protection of water rights are important to the Osage Nation because of its reliance on cattle ranching and the po
Authors
Jonathan P. Traylor, Shana L. Mashburn, Randall T. Hanson, Steven M. Peterson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Groundwater availability of the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

Executive SummaryThe Northern High Plains aquifer underlies about 93,000 square miles of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming and is the largest subregion of the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Irrigation, primarily using groundwater, has supported agricultural production since before 1940, resulting in nearly $50 billion in sales in 2012. In 2010, the High Plains aquife
Authors
Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor, Moussa Guira
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Groundwater-flow model of the northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

The High Plains aquifer is a nationally important water resource underlying about 175,000 square miles in parts of eight states: Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Droughts across much of the Northern High Plains from 2001 to 2007 have combined with recent (2004) legislative mandates to elevate concerns regarding future availability of groundwater a
Authors
Steven M. Peterson, Amanda T. Flynn, Jonathan P. Traylor
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Numerical simulation of groundwater flow, resource optimization, and potential effects of prolonged drought for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma

A hydrogeological study including two numerical groundwater-flow models was completed for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area of central Oklahoma. One numerical groundwater-flow model, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation model, encompassed the jurisdictional area and was based on the results of a regional-scale hydrogeological study and numerical groundwater flow model of the Centra
Authors
Derek W. Ryter, Christopher D. Kunkel, Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Traylor, Jonathan P. and Zlotnik, Vitaly A., 2016, Analytical modeling of irrigation and land use effects on streamflow in semi-arid conditions, Journal of Hydrology, vol. 533, pages 591-602
Traylor, J.P., Hunt, R.J., White, J.T., Fienen, M.N., 2023, Effects of Auto-Adaptive Localization on a Model Calibration Using Ensemble Methods, Groundwater 62, no.1 (Special Issue on Modflow‐and‐More 2022), p. 140-149
Farshid, F., Hughes, J., Chen, F., Dugger, A., Schneider, T., Gochis, D., Traylor, J., Essaid, H., 2024, Simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge, Journal of Hydrology 630, no. 130703, ISSN 0022-1694

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

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