Puerto Rico

Daily Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) now available for Puerto Rico

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Daily photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is now available for Puerto Rico. PAR is estimated from net radiation using a regression equation developed in Florida (pre-fire equation, Sumner, 2001). Click here to access images and data
PAR
Relation between daily values of measured net radiation and photosynthetically active radiation (from Sumner, 2001).

Other daily hydro-climate variables for Puerto Rico

REFERENCE
Sumner, D. M., 2001. Evapotranspiration from a cypress and pine forest subjected to natural fires in Volusia County, Florida, 1998-99. U. S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4245. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey.

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Downscaled Climate Data Projections for Puerto Rico Now Available

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The Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CLCC) has just announced the release of downscaled climate data projections (through 2099) for Puerto Rico.  This is a valuable resource, which will allow scientists from many fields to evaluate climate change impacts in their respective fields.

The data have the following characteristics:

Projections of daily maximum and minimum temperature and twenty-four hour cumulative precipitation for over 200 long-term weather stations throughout the region for the period 1960-2099 based on Global Climate Models (GCMs) from the Third Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) used for the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR4 IPCC).

Projection datasets are available for three greenhouse gas emission scenarios: high (A2), medium (A1B), and low (B1). The global model output for precipitation and temperature were downscaled to local station locations by Hayhoe (2013): 71 stations for precipitation, 29 stations for maximum temperatures (Tmax) and 27 stations for minimum temperatures (Tmin).

Download the downscaled precipitation and temperature data here.  (After loading website, click on Geospatial Data.)

Photos from a Class Field Trip to the Coloso Valley

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On April 25, 2014, students from the TMAG 4035 Soil and Water Management course at  UPRM visited the farm of Sr. Patiño in the Coloso Valley near Aguada, PR.  This post includes some of the pictures that were taken during the field trip.

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CLICK HERE to see more pictures from the field  trip.

CLICK HERE to see miscallaneous pictures from the TMAG 4035 Soil and Water course.

PR remains on SpaceX’s launch radar

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PR remains on SpaceX’s launch radar

Puerto Rico could still land a planned private rocket launchpad that would give a lift to the lagging local economy and make the island a player in a bold new industry that is starting to take off.

SpaceX — formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — has yet to nail down where it will develop the world’s first commercial rocket-launching complex, but a site in Texas has emerged as the frontrunner in a race that includes Puerto Rico, Georgia and Florida.   Read more

Caribbean Business News

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The Port to Nowhere: PR’s lost opportunity

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Excerpted from The Puerto Rican English Blog:  http://prenglishblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-port-to-nowhere.html

Monday, September 9, 2013

The Port to Nowhere

(AKA “The Island of Disenchantment”)

Even though this is a relatively old article, it’s just so depressing to hear, and I had to share it and vent a little.

Ponce’s Port of the Américas’ transshipment potential rapidly fading away – at CaribbeanBusinessPR.com.

The Port of the Americas (aka the Port of Ponce) is PR’s opportunity to become a vital link in world trade, the only deep-water port in the Caribbean that could handle the super-huge PANAMAX container ships that traverse the Panama Canal. We were billed to become the “Singapore of the Caribbean”. We were set to reclaim our position as the 1st Port of the New World, the geographic axis connecting North America, South America, and Europe, and with the traffic from the Panama Canal, Asia as well. This is PR’s chance to grow rich and powerful off of basically just being there, sitting in the ocean exactly where it’s always been, which is the best way to get rich.  READ MORE…

NOAA CREST SUMMER CAMP at UPRM

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Students from across Puerto Rico attended the NOAA CREST Summer Camp this week on the UPRM Campus.  This afternoon, they attended a workshop by Dr. Eric Harmsen, which focused on the use of GOES-PRWEB for scheduling irrigation in Puerto Rico.  Irrigation scheduling is important for water conservation and for achieving optimal crop yields.  The presentation is provided below:

DOWNLOAD PDF PRESENTATION HERE

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