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Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
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Silver Spring, MD 20910
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NOAA Strategic Goal: Climate Variability and Change

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is conducting research in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez to reconstruct the past climate variability and change in the northern tropical Atlantic from two 300-year massive scleractinian pinnacle coral records near Puerto Rico in the eastern Caribbean. This effort represents an attempt to expand the view of the full range of natural variability beyond the instrumental record using paleoenvironmental proxy records from corals.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Weather and Air Quality

The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory's Hurricane Research Division (HRD), located in Miami, FL, conducts research to advance the understanding and prediction of hurricanes and other tropical weather, benefiting Puerto Rico. HRD’s research is based on a combination of models, theories, and observations, with particular emphasis on data obtained with research aircraft. These observations are primarily collected in our annual field program using the two NOAA turboprop aircraft and jet operated by the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center. The goals of this research are to: advance the prediction of tropical cyclone intensity change, improve the prediction of tropical cyclone tracks, improve the understanding of and ability to predict tropical cyclone frequency and intensity, and enhance the ability to diagnose and predict the impact of tropical cyclones on life and property. For more information please visit http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/index.html.

Computer systems developed by the NOAA Research Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) are in operation at all NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) field offices, one of which is located in Carolina, Puerto Rico. ESRL has been the prime developer of the data ingest and display components of the NWS weather display and text generation system known as AWIPS (Advanced Weather Information Processing System). This system integrates meteorological, hydrological, satellite, and radar data. ESRL also developed the Interactive Forecast Preparation System Graphical Forecast Editor, a system that allows forecasters to display and manipulate forecast depictions of sensible weather (temperature, wind, precipitation, etc.), and use these to generate text and graphical forecasts for the public and other customers. NWS field offices are using this system to produce gridded forecast products, which allows forecasters to convey more information to the customers than they did in the past.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Ecosystems

The Coral Reef Watch program is a collaborative effort between NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). Remote monitoring stations in the Florida Keys, Bahamas, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands continually observe meteorological and oceanographic parameters. These data are transmitted to AOML where they are processed by artificial intelligence-based software and compared with NESDIS-supplied satellite data. The integrated data are used to predict, monitor, and model incidences of coral bleaching and other coral-related biological events. For more information, please visit http://www.coral.noaa.gov/crews/index.shtml

NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program is a federal-university partnership that integrates research, education, and outreach (extension and communications). Sea Grant forms a network of 32 programs in all U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states, Puerto Rico and Guam. Puerto Rico Sea Grant is located at the University of Puerto Rico and is devoted to the conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine resources in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Caribbean region. The program's mission is two-fold: to conduct excellent scientific research in the areas of water quality, fisheries and mariculture, seafood safety, marine recreation and coastal tourism, coastal hazards and coastal communities economic development; and to apply scientific knowledge to solve a variety of problems their communities of users face every day. Specific projects include sedimentation and nutrients in coral reefs, heavy metals in estuarine areas of mangrove forests in the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, the red hind population’s breeding and spawning habits, and changes in coral reef population structures. Puerto Rico Sea Grant disseminates research findings through two magazines: Boletín Marino and Sea Grant in the Caribbean, as well as through a variety of other educational products. For more information see http://seagrant.uprm.edu.

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Updated June 8, 2006