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Jonathan Morrison

Jon Morrison is the Associate Director for the Applied Hydrology Program in the New England Water Science Center.

Jon earned a BS degree in Environmental Earth Science from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1988 and a MS from the University of Connecticut in Natural Resources in 1998.

Jon began his career with the USGS over 30 years ago. During that time, he has developed extensive experience in streamflow measurements and water-quality monitoring. He currently serves as the Supervisor of the Water Quality Networks Section. In his current positions Jon’s primary responsibility is managing the operation of the statewide cooperative water quality monitoring networks in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Jon also oversees water quality projects in the major tributaries to Long Island Sound as well as several other projects monitoring nutrient loads to Long Island Sound. He coordinates the various federal, state and local partners that actively collaborate on the monitoring networks. In addition, he has conducted several studies and published several USGS reports on nutrient transport and water-quality issues in Connecticut.

 Jon is currently working on issues related to nitrogen and organic carbon transport in the Connecticut River and phosphorus transport in the Housatonic and Quinipiac Rivers.

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Hydrologic Technicians set up a total station near a covered bridge on the Housatonic River in Connecticut

Applied Hydrology Program

The mission of the Applied Hydrology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center (WSC) is to support water resource managers, stakeholders, and policy makers with the hydrologic data, interpretation, and tools they need to manage and make critical decisions about water resources throughout New England. This program is divided into two broad sections: the Hydrology...
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New England Water Science Center
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Applied Hydrology Program

The mission of the Applied Hydrology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center (WSC) is to support water resource managers, stakeholders, and policy makers with the hydrologic data, interpretation, and tools they need to manage and make critical decisions about water resources throughout New England. This program is divided into two broad sections: the Hydrology...
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Continuous water quality monitor that is deployed off a bridge in Westerly RI, just upstream of the gage.

Water Quality Sampling and Monitoring of the Pawcatuck River Watershed

The Pawcatuck River and the Pawcatuck River Estuary and Little Narragansett Bay form part of the boundary between the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Both states have identified water quality impairments within these waters related to nutrients (insufficient oxygen) and bacteria. Studies of the eutrophication potential of Long Island Sound embayments have identified that the Pawcatuck...
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New England Water Science Center
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Water Quality Sampling and Monitoring of the Pawcatuck River Watershed

The Pawcatuck River and the Pawcatuck River Estuary and Little Narragansett Bay form part of the boundary between the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Both states have identified water quality impairments within these waters related to nutrients (insufficient oxygen) and bacteria. Studies of the eutrophication potential of Long Island Sound embayments have identified that the Pawcatuck...
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USGS reference streamgages used for developing regression equations in Connecticut

The Connecticut Streamflow and Sustainable Water Use Estimator: A Decision-Support Tool to Estimate Streamflow and Water Availability at Ungaged, User-Defined Stream Locations in Connecticut

The Connecticut streamflow and sustainable water use estimator is a decision-support tool that provides estimates of daily unaltered streamflow, water-use adjusted streamflow (for the portions of the state where water-use data are available), and water availability for ungaged, user-defined sites in Connecticut.
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New England Water Science Center
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The Connecticut Streamflow and Sustainable Water Use Estimator: A Decision-Support Tool to Estimate Streamflow and Water Availability at Ungaged, User-Defined Stream Locations in Connecticut

The Connecticut streamflow and sustainable water use estimator is a decision-support tool that provides estimates of daily unaltered streamflow, water-use adjusted streamflow (for the portions of the state where water-use data are available), and water availability for ungaged, user-defined sites in Connecticut.
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Map showing reference gages used in the Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator development and application

Estimation of Daily Streamflow and Water Availability in the Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator, Version 2.0

The Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator is a decision-support tool that provides estimates of daily unaltered streamflow, water-use-adjusted streamflow, and water availability for ungaged, user-defined sites in Massachusetts. In this recently completed study, version 2.0 of the original Sustainable-Yield Estimator (Archfield and others, 2010) was developed with minor changes to the...
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New England Water Science Center
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Estimation of Daily Streamflow and Water Availability in the Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator, Version 2.0

The Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator is a decision-support tool that provides estimates of daily unaltered streamflow, water-use-adjusted streamflow, and water availability for ungaged, user-defined sites in Massachusetts. In this recently completed study, version 2.0 of the original Sustainable-Yield Estimator (Archfield and others, 2010) was developed with minor changes to the...
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Connecticut River in Northfield MA outreach event

Surface Water Quality Monitoring in Connecticut

The 2,983 miles of streams in Connecticut support a range of uses, including drinking water, recreation, and fish and shellfish habitat. The State is required by the Clean Water Act to assess the health of these waters every two years.
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New England Water Science Center
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Surface Water Quality Monitoring in Connecticut

The 2,983 miles of streams in Connecticut support a range of uses, including drinking water, recreation, and fish and shellfish habitat. The State is required by the Clean Water Act to assess the health of these waters every two years.
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Connecticut River in Northfield MA outreach event

Surface Water Quality Monitoring in Rhode Island

Since 1979, the USGS has monitored water quality in the major river basins of Rhode Island contributing to Narragansett Bay.
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New England Water Science Center
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Surface Water Quality Monitoring in Rhode Island

Since 1979, the USGS has monitored water quality in the major river basins of Rhode Island contributing to Narragansett Bay.
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Connecticut River in Northfield MA outreach event

Nutrient Loads from the Upper Connecticut River Watershed

River-borne nutrients, especially nitrogen, contribute to water-quality degradation in Long Island Sound. The Connecticut River is the largest tributary to the Sound, and quantification of nutrient loads from the three upper States in the watershed, as well as the State of Connecticut, is essential for prioritizing efforts to improve the Sound’s water quality.
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New England Water Science Center
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Nutrient Loads from the Upper Connecticut River Watershed

River-borne nutrients, especially nitrogen, contribute to water-quality degradation in Long Island Sound. The Connecticut River is the largest tributary to the Sound, and quantification of nutrient loads from the three upper States in the watershed, as well as the State of Connecticut, is essential for prioritizing efforts to improve the Sound’s water quality.
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Use of dissolved oxygen monitoring to evaluate phosphorus loading in Connecticut streams, 2015–18

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) has developed an interim phosphorus reduction strategy to establish water-quality-based phosphorus limits in nontidal freshwaters for industrial and municipal water pollution control facilities. A recommendation in the strategy included the addition of diurnal dissolved oxygen (DO) sampling to the sampling of diatom commun
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Water Resources, New England Water Science Center

Export of photolabile and photoprimable dissolved organic carbon from the Connecticut River

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) impacts water quality, the carbon cycle, and the ecology of aquatic systems. Understanding what controls DOC is therefore critical for improving large-scale models and best management practices for aquatic ecosystems. The two main processes of DOC transformation and removal, photochemical and microbial DOC degradation, work in tandem to modify and remineralize DOC wi
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Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, New England Water Science Center

Source switching maintains dissolved organic matter chemostasis across discharge levels in a large temperate river network

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) helps regulate aquatic ecosystem structure and function. In small streams, DOM concentrations are controlled by transport of terrestrial materials to waterways, and are thus highly variable. As rivers become larger, the River Continuum Concept hypothesizes that internal primary production is an increasingly important DOM source, but direct evidence is limited. Recent
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Water Resources, New England Water Science Center

Nitrogen budgets of the Long Island Sound estuary

Nitrogen (N) inputs to coastal ecosystems have significant impacts on coastal community structure. In N limited systems, increases in N inputs may lead to excess productivity and hypoxia. Like many temperate estuaries, Long Island Sound (LIS), a major eastern U.S. estuary, is a N limited system which has experienced seasonal hypoxia since the 1800s. This study is the first effort to constrain the
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Water Resources, New England Water Science Center

Enhancement of primary production during drought in a temperate watershed is greater in larger rivers than headwater streams

Drought is common in rivers, yet how this disturbance regulates metabolic activity across network scales is largely unknown. Drought often lowers gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) in small headwaters but by contrast can enhance GPP and cause algal blooms in downstream estuaries. We estimated ecosystem metabolism across a nested network of 13 reaches from headwaters to t
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Water Resources, New England Water Science Center

Before the storm: Antecedent conditions as regulators of hydrologic and biogeochemical response to extreme climate events

While the influence of antecedent conditions on watershed function is widely recognized under typical hydrologic regimes, gaps remain in the context of extreme climate events (ECEs). ECEs are those events that far exceed seasonal norms of intensity, duration, or impact upon the physical environment or ecosystem. In this synthesis, we discuss the role of source availability and hydrologic connectiv
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Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program

Nitrogen concentrations and loads for the Connecticut River at Middle Haddam, Connecticut, computed with the use of autosampling and continuous measurements of water quality for water years 2009 to 2014

The daily and annual loads of nitrate plus nitrite and total nitrogen for the Connecticut River at Middle Haddam, Connecticut, were determined for water years 2009 to 2014. The analysis was done with a combination of methods, which included a predefined rating curve method for nitrate plus nitrite and total nitrogen for water years 2009 to 2011 and a custom rating curve method that included sensor
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Water Resources, New England Water Science Center

Chloride concentrations, loads, and yields in four watersheds along Interstate 95, southeastern Connecticut, 2008-11: factors that affect peak chloride concentrations during winter storms

Chloride (Cl-) concentrations and loads and other water chemistry characteristics were assessed to evaluate potential effects of road-deicer applications on streamwater quality in four watersheds along Interstate 95 (I–95) in southeastern Connecticut from November 1, 2008, through September 30, 2011. Streamflow and water quality were studied in the Four Mile River, Oil Mill Brook, Stony Brook, and
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New England Water Science Center

Source, conveyance and fate of suspended sediments following Hurricane Irene. New England, USA

Hurricane Irene passed directly over the Connecticut River valley in late August, 2011. Intense precipitation and high antecedent soil moisture resulted in record flooding, mass wasting and fluvial erosion, allowing for observations of how these rare but significant extreme events affect a landscape still responding to Pleistocene glaciation and associated sediment emplacement. Clays and silts fro
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New England Water Science Center

Monitoring storm tide and flooding from Hurricane Sandy along the Atlantic coast of the United States, October 2012

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a temporary monitoring network of water-level and barometric pressure sensors at 224 locations along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Maine to continuously record the timing, areal extent, and magnitude of hurricane storm tide and coastal flooding generated by Hurricane Sandy. These records were greatly supplemented by an extensive post-flood high-wate
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Preliminary assessment of chloride concentrations, loads, and yields in selected watersheds along the Interstate 95 corridor, southeastern Connecticut, 2008-09

Water-quality conditions were assessed to evaluate potential effects of road-deicer applications on stream-water quality in four watersheds along Interstate 95 (I-95) in southeastern Connecticut from November 1, 2008, through September 30, 2009. This preliminary study is part of a four-year cooperative study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the C
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New England Water Science Center

Nutrient Loading and Algal Response in West Thompson Lake, Thompson, Connecticut, 2003-2005

Water quality and nutrient loads were characterized for parts of the Quinebaug River and West Thompson Lake in northeastern Connecticut during 2003 to 2005. The West Thompson Lake watershed is a mainly forested watershed that receives treated municipal wastewater from several point sources in Massachusetts. The lake is a flood-control reservoir formed in 1966 by impoundment of the Quinebaug River.
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New England Water Science Center
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New England Water Science Center Associate Director Selections

The New England Water Science Center is happy to announce the selection of Jonathan Morrison as Associate Director of the Applied Hydrology Program...

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Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring Program in Connecticut

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) and New England...

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