Research

My current research focuses on using satellite microwave data to track phenology across biomes at continental and global scales. Ideally we can use the microwave signal to determine the start, peak and end of the growing season and incorporate optical-IR satellite imagery and corresponding vegetation indices to inform and enhance our phenology models. Assessments of these long term phenology trends will allow us to identify times of significant plant stress and physiological constraints to canopy evaporation, ecosystem productivity and terrestrial carbon sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Education

• M.S. 2006, Resource Conservation, University of Montana

• Teaching Credential Program 1998, Secondary Mathematics, San Francisco State University

• B.A.1995, Philosophy - Emphasis on Ethics and Public Policy, University of California Santa Barbara

Experience

My masters project assessed water quality of Flathead Lake using MODIS satellite imagery, GIS analysis and field data collection of water samples.   After my masters, I moved to California where I worked for the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University.  I was a member of the Carnegie Airborne Observatory Science Team working in every phase of system calibration and data collection using the airborne dual hyperspectral/lidar system.  The focus of that research was invasive species detection and remote measurement of vegetation biochemical properties over Hawaiian rainforests.  After Carnegie, I spent a small amount of time working in Santa Cruz, CA for NOAA fisheries on the Landscape Ecology Team as a GIS and Remote Sensing Scientist before I was drawn back to the Biostation, NTSG and the Montana lifestyle.

Publications and Presentations:

• Asner G.P, M.O. Jones, R.E. Martin, D.E. Knapp, R.F. Hughes. Remote Sensing of Native and Invasive Species in Hawaiian Forests, Remote Sensing of Environment.
• Asner G.P, D.E. Knapp, M.O. Jones, T. Kennedy-Bowdoin, R.E. Martin, J. Boardman, C.B. Field. Carnegie Airborne Observatory: In-flight fusion of hyperspectral and waveform-LiDAR for 3-D studies of ecosystem structure and function,  Journal of Applied Remote Sensing.
• Jones M.O., G.P. Asner, D.E. Knapp, T. Kennedy-Bowdoin, R.E. Martin, J. Boardman. Integrating Hyperspectral Remote Sensing and LiDAR Forest Structure Data to Map Canopy Biodiversity in Hawaiian Rainforests, AVIRIS Science Workshop, Pasadena, CA May 2007
• Cover Image, Carnegie Science, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Spring 2007
• Jones M.O., J.S. Kimball, S.W. Running, B.K. Ellis, A.E. Klene. Application of MODIS for Monitoring Water Quality of a Large Oligotrophic Lake, AGU Fall Meet. Abstract B41A-0160, 2005