NASA trains Puerto Rican students in oceanography and tropical marine ecosystems – NotiCel – La verdad como es – Noticias de Puerto Rico – NOTICEL

Proyecto OCEANOS provides the opportunity for Latino and Spanish students interested in these sciences to develop their academic and professional potential.

About 20 Puerto Rican students from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, the Metropolitan Campus, and public schools on the island interested in oceanography and marine sciences were the first-generation interns for the summer internship of the OCEANOS project (Ocean Community Engagement and Awareness with NASA Observations and Science for Hispanic/Latino Students).

The project, which is supported by the NASA Science Enablement Program, focuses on educating and training high school students in grades 10-12 and college students in their first year of studies, on the study of oceans, marine ecosystems, coasts, atmosphere, our planet, and Earth’s surfaces, among other topics, With Puerto Rican scientific leaders and experts in the field of oceanography and marine sciences in Puerto Rico.

OCEANOS is a project led by the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California and is being implemented for the first time in Puerto Rico with collaborating science and education entities, including: NASA Ames Research Center, EcoExploratorio: Museo de Ciencias de Puerto Rico, CariCOOS, Visual Oceanography Laboratory Bio at University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus, University of Miami, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus, Marine Environmental Society, Puerto Rico Environmental Workshop, Environmental Mapping Consultants and Bay Area Environmental Research Institute.

“Proyecto OCEANOS offers a unique opportunity created to attract the first generation of high school and university students from Puerto Rico to marine and ocean sciences with the goal of completing a summer internship on the island. Students are trained in the use of NASA tools for remote sensing, analysis of water quality, and ecology of tropical marine ecosystems. At the end of the internship, students are expected to act as agents of change by relaying the message of marine resource conservation to their families and communities,” said Juan Torres Perez, initiative leader and research scientist at NASA. Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.

As part of the internship project, students had the opportunity to develop research papers on five major topics with the guidance of scientific resources and experts in the field of marine and ocean sciences, namely: Marine plankton. Where the ecosystem of different organisms that live on the surface of the sea and that do not have the ability to swim or resist the sea currents were studied in Cayo Enrique in Maguez Island and Bioluminescent Bay in La Parguera in Lajas.

Coral reefs; Where the shape of the colonies of different coral species on the coast of Lajas municipality and their function in the ecosystems to protect the coast and marine life were studied. temporary water quality; The study focused on the water quality of Ponta Soldado Beach in Culebra, where the physical and chemical characteristics and the state of organisms living on the beach were studied.

spatial water quality; The marine water profile was examined using different scientific instruments to compare the different geographic regions of Puerto Rico. The following main factors were studied: photosynthetic attenuation, temperature, turbidity, and chlorophyll concentration in La Parguera, Cayo Enrique, Isla Cueva, and Bioluminescent Bay in Lajas.

beach profile; Where the profile and geological performance of Flamenco Beach were studied, providing valuable information on coastal dynamics and processes, and its physical properties, such as its shape, slope, and elevation to better understand the complex interactions between waves, tides, and sediment movement. coast forms.

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