Continuous water quality monitor that is deployed off a bridge in Westerly RI, just upstream of the 01118500 gage.
Jonathan Morrison
Jon has extensive experience developing a variety of cooperative water-quality monitoring networks in New England focusing on nutrient and other constituent transport from terrestrial to coastal waters. Jon has conducted numerous watershed water quality studies and published many U.S. Geological Survey reports on nutrient transport and water-quality issues in Connecticut and New England.
Jon currently serves as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Long Island Sound (LIS) Coordinator serving as the authoritative voice for USGS LIS studies, fostering collaborative relationships with federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to align the scientific capabilities of the USGS. Jon serves as the lead USGS point-of-contact for the LIS and maintains relationships with key partners to ensure stability of the program while implementing the USGS LIS strategy by managing the LIS portfolio, which involves several million dollars of work across multiple Science Centers, project teams, and topical areas.
Science and Products
Research on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the New England Water Science Center
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of over 4,000 different compounds. Since the 1940s, PFAS have been manufactured and used around the globe, including in the United States. PFAS are resistant to chemical and thermal breakdown and impart stain and water-resistance properties, making them useful for a variety of commercial applications, but also persistent in the...
Water Quality Sampling in the Tributaries of the Long Island Sound
Coastal estuaries in southern New England and New York show the effects of excess nutrients and coastal eutrophication. These include excessive growth of macroalgae, excessive blooms of phytoplankton, oxygen depletion, hypoxia and deteriorated substrates. State and Federal regulators have responded to these nutrient-caused impairments by requiring more stringent permit limits for National...
Embayment Monitoring to Support Nutrient Management Activities in Connecticut for Long Island Sound
The USGS, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will be collecting water-quality and hydrologic data at six embayments from April 2021 to June 2027: Mystic, Norwalk, Saugatuck, Sasco-Southport complex, Farm, and Poquonnock.
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...
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
Continuous water quality monitor
Continuous water quality monitor that is deployed off a bridge in Westerly RI, just upstream of the 01118500 gage.
Water quality at the Salmon River
Installing dissolved oxygen sensors at the Salmon River near East Hampton, Connecticut
Installing dissolved oxygen sensors at the Salmon River near East Hampton, Connecticut
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after Irene
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after IreneThis photo taken on August 30, 2011 shows what used to be the parking lot where we parked our field vehicle during a previous deployment. The rocks in the forefront used to be part of the paved parking lot that was largely destroyed during Irene.
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after Irene
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after IreneThis photo taken on August 30, 2011 shows what used to be the parking lot where we parked our field vehicle during a previous deployment. The rocks in the forefront used to be part of the paved parking lot that was largely destroyed during Irene.
Science and Products
Research on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the New England Water Science Center
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of over 4,000 different compounds. Since the 1940s, PFAS have been manufactured and used around the globe, including in the United States. PFAS are resistant to chemical and thermal breakdown and impart stain and water-resistance properties, making them useful for a variety of commercial applications, but also persistent in the...
Water Quality Sampling in the Tributaries of the Long Island Sound
Coastal estuaries in southern New England and New York show the effects of excess nutrients and coastal eutrophication. These include excessive growth of macroalgae, excessive blooms of phytoplankton, oxygen depletion, hypoxia and deteriorated substrates. State and Federal regulators have responded to these nutrient-caused impairments by requiring more stringent permit limits for National...
Embayment Monitoring to Support Nutrient Management Activities in Connecticut for Long Island Sound
The USGS, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will be collecting water-quality and hydrologic data at six embayments from April 2021 to June 2027: Mystic, Norwalk, Saugatuck, Sasco-Southport complex, Farm, and Poquonnock.
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...
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
Water quality at the Salmon River
Installing dissolved oxygen sensors at the Salmon River near East Hampton, Connecticut
Installing dissolved oxygen sensors at the Salmon River near East Hampton, Connecticut
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after Irene
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after IreneThis photo taken on August 30, 2011 shows what used to be the parking lot where we parked our field vehicle during a previous deployment. The rocks in the forefront used to be part of the paved parking lot that was largely destroyed during Irene.
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after Irene
Parking lot in Guilford, Connecticut destroyed after IreneThis photo taken on August 30, 2011 shows what used to be the parking lot where we parked our field vehicle during a previous deployment. The rocks in the forefront used to be part of the paved parking lot that was largely destroyed during Irene.
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government