I am a permafrost geomorphologist interested in understanding how changing system components (e.g. climate, ground cover, active layer properties and ground ice content) within permafrost environments drives landscape change, such as ground subsidence and slope failure. I am also interested in understanding and quantifying the resulting system responses to changing landscapes.
I use a mix methods approach and combine field observations and measurements, sensor networks, remote sensing, GIS and statistical analysis to answer research questions. Finally, I am passionate in both understanding permafrost systems and applying my permafrost knowledge to tackle sustainability issues, such as food security and agriculture in permafrost-affected soils.
2022 – 2027: NNA Research: Permafrost Grown: Cultivating convergence between farmers and researchers to foster sustainability for intensifying permafrost-agroecosystems
National Science Foundation: Navigating the New Arctic
Principal Investigator: Melissa Ward Jones (UAF)
Co-Investigators: Mikhail Kanevskiy (UAF), Tobias Schwoerer (UAF), Benjamin Jones (UAF), and Glenna Gannon (UAF)
Award Number: 2126965
2021 – 2024: Degrading ice-wedges: using field, airborne and satellite measurements to link fine-scale micro-topographic changes to large-scale impacts in terrestrial permafrost systems
NASA New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science
Principal Investigator: Melissa Ward Jones (UAF)
Award Number: 80NSSC21K1820
2020 – 2022: Quantifying Arctic Mass Wasting using ArcticDEM
NASA Earth Surface and Interior
Principal Investigator: Chunli Dai (LSU)
Co-Investigators: Ian Howat (OSU), Jeffrey Freymueller (MSU), and Anna Liljedahl (Woodwell)
Award Number: 80NSSC20K0491
2019 – 2022: Teshekpuk Lake Observatory Landscape and Ecosystem Studies
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Impact-Directed Environmental Accounts (IDEA)
Principal Investigator: Benjamin Jones (UAF)
Award Number: NFWF Project ID #8006.19.063445 / UAF S
2022 – Present: Research Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
2020 – 2022: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
2020 – 2021: Part-time Postdoctoral Researcher, Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA, USA
2020: Temporary Research Technician, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
2016 – 2017: Course Instructor, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
2013 – 2018: Symposium Co-organizer: McGill Sustainability Research Symposium, McGill University Montreal, QC, Canada
2013 – 2015: Report Manager, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
2012 – 2016: Teaching Assistant, McGill University Montreal, QC, Canada
2010 – 2012, and 2014 – 2015: Research Assistant, McGill University Montreal, QC, Canada
Graduate Course (2021), Computer Science and Computer Engineering, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Doctor of Philosophy (2020), Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (awarded to W. Pollard), and additional Field Logistics was provided by the Polar Continental Shelf Program (awarded to W. Pollard).
Additional Ph.D. support awarded to M. Ward Jones (in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated):
Research Exchange (2018), Department of Geosciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Intensive Graduate Course (2016), Department of Arctic Geology, University Center in Svalbard (UNIS), Longyearbyen, Norway
Master of Science (2016), Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (awarded to W. Pollard), and additional Field Logistics was provided by the Polar Continental Shelf Program (awarded to W. Pollard).
Additional M.Sc. support awarded to M. Ward Jones (in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated):
Bachelor of Science (2012), McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
UAF at AGU 2021, Science Shorts Q & A: Melissa Ward Jones.
Northern Farmers and UAF Researchers Team up to Sustainably Manage Permafrost-Agroecosystems, Witness the Arctic, Arctic Consortium of the United States (ARCUS), 22 November 2021.
Project to study interactions between permafrost, agriculture, University of Alaska Fairbanks Cornerstone Newsletter, 22 September 2021.
Widespread permafrost degradation in the Canadian High Arctic at 80°N, Witness Community Highlights, Arctic Consortium of the United States (ARCUS), 18 October, 2019.
Twig Science Reporter Weekly News Update, 6 June, 2019, Twig Education, Imperial College London, UK
Live Radio Interview, CBC Homerun, 29 May, 2019
Interview, CBC Montreal 6pm evening news, 24 May, 2019
Even in the High Arctic, researchers find permafrost thaws are changing the landscape. CBC News Montreal, 24 May, 2019:
Permafrost degradation spreads in Canadian High Arctic. Eye on the Arctic, 24 May, 2019
Permafrost degradation spreads in High Arctic. Radio Canada International 24 May, 2019
Ward, M. (2016) Fosheim Peninsula. The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada.
Ward, M. (2016) Axel Heiberg Island. The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada.
Jones, B.M., Tessier, S.S., Tessier, T., Brubaker, M., Brook, M., Schaeffer, J., Ward Jones, M.K., Grosse, G., Nitze, I., Rettelbach, T., Savoico, S., Clark, J.A., and Tape, K.D. (2023). Integrating local environmental observations and remote sensing to better understand the life cycle of a thermokarst lake in Arctic Alaska. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 55 (1), 2195518. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2023.2195518
Witharana, C., Udawalpola, M. R., Liljedahl, A. K., Ward Jones, M. K., Jones, B. M., Hasan, A., Joshi, D., and Manos, E. (2022). Automated recognition of retrogressive thaw slumps in the Arctic permafrost tundra using high spatial resolution commercial satellite imagery. Remote Sensing, 14(17), 4132. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174132
Ward Jones, M. K., Schwoerer, T., Gannon, G., Jones, B. M., Kanevskiy, M. Z., Sutton, I., St. Pierre, B., St. Pierre, C., Russell, J., and Russell, D. (2022). Climate-driven expansion of northern agriculture must consider permafrost. Nature Climate Change, 12, 699-703. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01436-z.
Ward Jones, M., and Bendixen, M. (2022). It’s time to make science in remote places family friendly. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02048-5.
Dai, C., Howat, I. M., Freymueller, J. T., Lu, Z., Vijay, S., Liljedahl, A. K., Ward Jones, M.K., Bergstedt, H., and Lev, E. (2022). Quantifying surface height changes at Mt. Cleveland, Alaska between 2001 and 2020 using satellite photogrammetry. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 429, 107614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2022.107614.
Shur, Y., Fortier, D., Jorgenson, M. T., Kanevskiy, M., Schirrmeister, L., Strauss, J., Vasiliev, A., and Ward Jones, M. (2022). Yedoma Permafrost Genesis: More than 150 Years of Mystery and Controversy. Frontiers Earth Science, 9, 1251. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.757891.
Jones, B. M., Tape, K. D., Clark, J. A., Bondurant, A. C., Ward Jones, M. K., Gaglioti, B. V., Elder, C. D., Witharana, C., and Miller, C. E. (2021). Multi-dimensional remote sensing analysis documents beaver-induced permafrost degradation, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Remote Sensing, 13(23), p.4863. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13234863.
Ward Jones, M. K. and Pollard, W. (2021). Daily field observations of retrogressive thaw slump dynamics in the Canadian high Arctic. ARCTIC, 74(3), 339-354. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic73377.
Shur, Y., Jones, B. M., Kaveskiy, M., Jorgenson, T., Ward Jones, M. K., Fortier, D., Stephani, E., and Vasiliev, A. (2021). Fluvio-thermal erosion and thermal denudation in the yedoma region of northern Alaska, revisiting the Itkillik River Exposure. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 32(2), 277-298. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2105.
Witharana, C., Bhuiyan, M.A.E., Liljedahl, A.K., Kanevskiy, M., Jorgenson, T., Jones, B.M., Daanen, R., Epstein, H.E., Griffin, C.G., Kent, K. and Ward Jones, M.K. (2021). An Object-Based Approach for Mapping Tundra Ice-Wedge Polygon Troughs from Very High Spatial Resolution Optical Satellite Imagery. Remote Sensing, 13(4), 558. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13040558
Bull, D.L., E.M. Bristol, E. Brown, R.C. Choens, C.T. Connolly, C. Flanary, J.M. Frederick, B.M. Jones, C.A. Jones, M. Ward Jones, J.L. Kasper, J.W. McClelland, A. Mota, I. Tezaur (2020). Arctic Coastal Erosion: Modeling and Experimentation, Report SAND2020-10223, Sandia National Laboratories, NM.
Chunli, D., Higman, B., Lynett, P. J., Jacquemart, M., Howat, I., Liljedahl, A. K., Dufresne, A., Freymueller, J. T., Geertsema, M., Ward Jones, M., Haeussler, P. J. (2020) Large slow moving landslide and potential future tsunami following rapid glacier retreat, Barry Arm Fjord, Alaska. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089800
Ward, M. K. (2020) Permafrost-active layer dynamics and feedbacks with climate forcing in ice-rich sediments, Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. Ph.D. thesis, McGill University, Department of Geography. 193 p.
Witharana, C., Bhuiyan, E. M., Liljedalh, A. K., Kanevskiy, M., Epstein, H. E., Jones, B. M., Daanen, R., Griffin, C. G., Kent, K., and Ward Jones, M. K. (2020) Understanding the synergies of deep learning and data fusion of multispectral and panchromatic high resolution commercial satellite imagery for automated ice-wedge polygon detection. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2020.10.010
Ward Jones, M. K., Pollard, W. H., and Amyot, F. (2020) Impacts of degrading ice wedges on ground temperatures in a high Arctic polar desert system. Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005173
Ward Jones, M. K., Pollard, W. H., and Jones, B. M. (2019) Rapid initialization of retrogressive thaw slumps in the Canadian high Arctic and their response to climate and terrain factors. Environmental Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab12fd
Ward Jones, M. K., and Pollard, W. H. (2018) Daily Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump on the Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. In European Conference on Permafrost (EUCOP) Conferences Proceedings.
Ward, M. K., and Pollard, W. H. (2018) A hydrohalite spring deposit in the Canadian high Arctic: A potential Mars analogue. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 504, 126-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.001
Ouellet Dallaire, C., Trincsi, K., Ward, M. K., Harris, L. I., Jarvis, L., Dryden, R. L., and MacDonald, G. K. (2018) Creating space for sustainability literacy: the case of student-centered symposia. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19(4), 839-855. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-08-2017-0126
Ward, M. K. (2016) The geomorphology of two hypersaline springs in the Canadian high Arctic. M. Sc. Thesis, McGill University, Department of Geography. 146 p.
Ward, M. K., Pollard, W. H. (2015) Hyper-saline spring dynamics and salt deposits on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut. In GeoQuebec 2015 – the 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and the 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference Proceedings.
Pollard, W., Ward, M., Becker, M. (2015) The Eureka Sound lowlands: an ice-rich permafrost landscape in transition. In GeoQuebec 2015 – the 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and the 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference Proceedings.
Bishop, J. L., Ward, M. K., Roush, T. L., Davila, A., Brown, A. J., McKay, C. P., Quinn, R., and Pollard, W. (2014) Spectral Properties of Na, Ca-, Mg-and Fe-Chlorides and Analyses of Hydrohalite-Bearing Samples from Axel Heiberg Island. In Lunar and Planetary Institute Science Conference Abstracts (Vol. 45, p. 2145).