Project of heavy metals in Bioluminescence Bays is presented to the Geology Faculty
Mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), and Arsenic (As) were measured in Puerto Mosquito (Vieques) and La Parguera (Lajas) bays. These are the two most well-known bioluminescence bays of Puerto Rico. The samplings were carried out by Yadira Soto and William Hernandez as part of the research activities in a project sponsored by Sea Grant. This was also the undergraduate research project of Yadira, whom presented it at the end of the semester to the faculty of the Geology Department as part of her requirements in that curse.
 See Yadira's report |
Workshop of the Scientific Method
 The Puerto Rico-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP) program invited Fernando Gilbes to give a workshop about the scientific method. It took place in the Auditorium of Civil Engineering during October 24 of 2006 and several UPRM students from science and engineering attended.
See the presentation |
Lectures of Remote Sensing at SESO
 As part of the course “Jumping into the Sea”, Fernando Gilbes gave two lectures in the Southwestern Educational Society (SESO) School during October 19 and 24 of 2006. The lectures were:
Technology in Oceanography: See presentation
Ocean from Space: See presentation
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CenSSIS Research is shown at the Ocean Optics XVIII Conference
 During October 9-13 of 2006 Fernando Gilbes attended the Ocean Optics XVIII Conference to present the poster entitled “CenSSIS SeaBed: Diverse approaches for imaging shallow and deep coral reefs”. Other authors of this CenSSIS work were Roy Armstrong, James Goodman, Miguel Velez, and Shawn Hunt. The conference took place in Montreal.
See the poster |
Mangrove Research is presented in the 2nd Sea Grant Symposium
 Johannes H. Schellekens presented the work entitled “Developing a protocol to use remote sensing as a cost effective tool to monitor contamination of mangrove wetlands” during the Second Annual Symposium for Coastal and Marine Applied Research organized by the UPRM Sea Grant College in October 5, 2005. This new project is sponsored by Sea Grant and other authors of the presented work were Fernando Gilbes-Santaella, Augustine Rodriguez-Roman, and Yomayra Roman-Colon.
See the presentation |
ENVI workshop is offered as part of PRYSIG 2006
 A workshop of Digital Image processing using ENVI was given in September 29 of 2006 as part of the Fourth Meeting of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems of Puerto Rico (PRYSIG 2006) organized by CoHemis. The workshop was given by Fernando Gilbes in the GERS Lab teaching facilities of the Geology Department. |
Caribbean Vorticity Experiment-6 is carried out on board the R/V Pelican
The sixth cruise, denominated CaVortEx-6, of our ONR project took place from August 26 to September 9 of 2006 in waters between Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Nine students and five professors, including Fernando Gilbes, conducted multiple measurements and experiments in order to better understand the role of Caribbean eddies. These eddies affect the salinity and temperature of the water column and induce changes in the phytoplankton production. |
Research in Bioluminescent Bays is presented during the review of the UPR Sea Grant Program
 In the week of August 21, 2006, a panel review of NOAA came to Puerto Rico to evaluate the UPR Sea Grant Program. As part of the activities a poster section was organized in the Mayaguez Resort that took place on August 22nd. Our Sea Grant supported research was present in a poster entitled “The relationship between land use and sedimentation processes in two bioluminescent bays of Puerto Rico”. This poster clearly summarizes all the findings of our project and discusses the practical applications.
See the poster
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Patrick Reyes attended the NOAA Remote Sensing Conference
 During August 14-16, 2006, the NOAA Conference took place in Virginia where several NOAA CREST researchers attended, including the graduate student Patrick Reyes. This conference was another opportunity to show our efforts in understanding the bio-optical variability of Mayaguez Bay. Patrick presented the poster entitled “Dynamics of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) in Tropical Marine Environment”. This work is part of his dissertation research.
See the poster
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Vilmaliz Rodriguez in summer internship at the US Geological Survey in Virginia
 During this past summer of 2006 the graduate student, Vilmaliz Rodriguez, participated in an internship work at the Eastern Geographic Science Center of the US Geological Survey, located at Reston, VA. She had the opportunity to work with GIS aspects of three different projects and to present her work at the end of the summer. Other experiences included joined field trips, visited historic places, and met scientists that are working on topics related to her research interests.
See the Presentation |
Lecture in the Geoscience Congress at the Arecibo Observatory
 As part of the Arecibo Geoscience Diversity Project, sponsored by the NSF, a group of high school students, teachers and college undergraduates participated in a research experience conducted at the Arecibo Observatory and UPR-Arecibo. Their third Geoscience Congress was held on April 29 of 2006 and Fernando Gilbes offered the lecture entitled "Puerto Rico Desde El Espacio". The other keynote speaker was Carl Soderberg, Director of EPA in the Caribbean Region (in the picture with students). |
Second sampling of 2006 in Mayaguez Bay as part of NOAA CREST activities
 During April 21 of 2006 we carried out the second sampling of the dry season in the Mayaguez Bay. The same 8 stations visited in March 2006 were sampled and similar field activities took place. NOAA-CREST supported student, Patrick Reyes, collected more data for his doctoral dissertation. Also, the doctoral student from the Department of Marine Sciences, Ramon Lopez, performed new experiments using optical instruments to measure photosynthetic parameters. |
Coral bleaching in La Parguera is documented with the GER-1500 spectroradiometer
A large coral bleaching event has been documented around the world, including in the Caribbean Sea. On April 20 of 2006, Fernando Gilbes and Roy Armstrong visited Los Pinaculos coral reef in La Parguera to collect underwater reflectance measurements of the corals at different stages of bleaching using the GER-1500. This effort, which is part of the CenSSIS project, aims to better understand the optical signals for future application of remote sensors in continuous monitoring of coral reefs.
Pictures were taken by Jorge Sabater. |
Seminar is given to NASA EPSCoR Graduate Students
 Every month the graduate students of the Climate project funded by NASA-EPSCoR get together and discuss their research activities. As part of this initiative they also invite active researchers to offer seminars. In April 19, 2006, Fernando Gilbes was invited to this meeting and talked about his research in Mayaguez Bay. This provided the opportunity to the students to learn about application and validation of remote sensing in coastal waters.
See the presentation |
GERS Lab student presents her undergraduate research at Sigma-Xi
 Eidalia Gonzalez presented their undergraduate research on April 6 of 2006 during this year Sigma-Xi poster presentations. Other students from the Department of Geology also presented their projects. This was an excellent opportunity to expose their work to the UPRM community.
See the poster |
Sea Grant project is discussed with USFWS authorities in Vieques
 As part of the Sea Grant project the co-investigators, Fernando Gilbes and Roy Armstrong, traveled to Vieques during March 17-19 of 2006 to meet Oscar Diaz, field supervisor of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss a possible collaboration with that federal agency in our Mosquito Bay project. The meeting also allowed us to talk about a future project to study the Coral Reefs in Vieques using optical equipment and image processing.
See the latest progress report of this project |
First sampling in Mayaguez Bay during the dry season of 2006
 During March 8 of 2006 we carried out the first sampling of the dry season as part of the NOAA-CREST project. During this cruise ten stations were sampled and over 15 bio-optical parameters were measured. Several graduate students collected data for their thesis including: Patrick Reyes (currently supported by NOAA-CREST) and Ramon Lopez from Marine Sciences, and Claudia Tapia from Biology. In this trip the new GERS Lab graduate student, Vilmaliz Rodriguez from Geology, had the opportunity to learn more about this project. She is currently supported by NOAA-CREST. |
Research of Mayaguez Bay is presented at the Fourth NOAA CREST Symposium
 During February 23 to 25 of 2006 Fernando Gilbes and Patrick Reyes presented their work at the NOAA CREST Symposium in UPRM. Fernando Gilbes talked about the "Estimation of Suspended Sediments Using AVIRIS", a research project developed by Eidalia Gonzalez, and undergraduate students of Geology. Patrick Reyes talked about his dissertation work of CDOM.
See the presentation |
GERS Lab will provide support to EPA Water Quality Center
 The US Environmental Protection Agency and the UPRM hosted in October of 2005 the Colloquium on Water Quality Monitoring and Testing in Latin America and the Caribbean. The participants agreed with the creation of the Center of Excellent for Water Quality to be located at UPRM. It will provide the mechanisms to develop collaborations and technology transfer among countries. The first follow up meeting of this colloquium was held at UPRM during February 13 and 14 of 2006 with EPA managers. In such meeting it was determined the strong collaboration that the GERS Lab must provide for the coordination and support of remote sensing and GIS workshops and the necessary technical advise. |
Bio-optical properties are measured in coral reefs of the southern Puerto Rico
 On board of the R/V Sultana, Fernando Gilbes and Maria Cardona (graduate student of Marine Sciences) visited several coral reefs located closed to Ponce, Guayanilla, and La Parguera. The visits took place on January 13 and February 8 of 2006 and were part of CenSSIS research project and Maria's master thesis. At every reefs several parameters were measured using the GERS Lab bio-optical package. Maria have already determined theirs species diversity. |
