RAPID: Reconstruction of Atmospheric Observatory at Pico Este, Puerto Rico, After the Impact of Hurricane Maria

University Of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan PR

Investigators

Abstract

This project will enable the restoration of the atmospheric measurement program at the Pico Este Cloud Station. The Pico Este Cloud Station is located in a tropical montane cloud forest, one of the most sensitive and vulnerable of the world's ecosystems to climate change. The station is frequently above cloud base, thus facilitating the study of clouds without the need for aircraft and the related complexity and costs. The station was lost in its totality due to Hurricane Maria, a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. This hurricane passed across Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 and greatly affected the island and its residents. The measurements carried out at Pico Este and its companion Cabezas de San Juan Atmospheric Observatory since 2004 are a cornerstone of cloud-based research in Puerto Rico because they have been continuous and long-term, enabling the evaluation of trends in aerosol and cloud properties, and providing a context for process-oriented short-term field campaigns. These two sites are unique in the world, as they have been the only locations that provided long-term measurements of dust aerosols in the marine boundary layer that can be linked to chemical and microphysical properties of clouds above and downwind of the sites. Research activities at Pico Este are focused on aerosol, cloud, and precipitation studies, with a particular emphasis on aerosol and cloud interactions and composition. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.