{"id":356588,"date":"2021-11-26T06:02:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T20:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=356588"},"modified":"2021-11-26T06:02:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T20:02:07","slug":"715k-okd-for-uog-research-into-aquifer-coral-reef-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/715k-okd-for-uog-research-into-aquifer-coral-reef-health\/","title":{"rendered":"$715K OK\u2019d for\u00a0UOG\u00a0research into aquifer, coral reef health\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Eliana Walker, research associate with the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific at the University of Guam, prepares for a drone excursion.
(UNIVERSITY OF GUAM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This November, University of Guam will start a $715,014 project that will use unmanned aerial systems, remote sensing, and NASA technology to closely examine the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer, which supplies 90% of the island\u2019s drinking water, and produce critical data and tools for resource management.<\/p>\n

H\u00e5nom Fresko yan Acho\u2019 T\u00e5si, which translates to \u201cFreshwater and Coral,\u201d is a three-part project that will produce maps of coastal freshwater discharge, fine-tune variables needed to better estimate the aquifer\u2019s water supply, and look for relationships between that freshwater discharge and coral reef health.<\/p>\n

The project will be funded by a grant recently awarded through a NASA EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement Notice. The\u00a0UOG\u00a0Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific and the Micronesian Area Research Center will co-lead the project with collaborators from local and federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreshwater is the most basic requirement for the survival and prosperity of any community.\u00a0And island communities must make do with what we can catch, store, and manage inside our own coastlines. Importing water via rivers or pipelines is not an option,\u201d said WERI director and chief hydrologist John Jenson, who is serving as co-science investigator for the project.\u00a0\u201cWater managers can use reliable estimates of coastal discharge to determine how much freshwater [remains and] can be sustainably pumped out of the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research team will incorporate NASA technologies and methods in gathering ridge-to-reef data and in modeling the hydrologic processes in karst and non-karst landscapes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding on the work of the last two cooperative agreements with NASA, we are continuing to use UASes to expand our maps of aquifer discharge along the coast, to include the entire northern half of Guam,\u201d said associate professor Romina King, who leads the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center at\u00a0UOG and is serving as the other science investigator on the project. \u201cCoupled with high-resolution coral reef maps using NASA fluid lensing techniques, this will allow us to investigate if that coastal discharge potentially plays a role in coral reef health.\u201d<\/p>\n

A robust cyberinfrastructure hub will store, compute, and visualize the data collected from the aquifer along with complimentary data from partnering agencies. This database could be an important resource for ongoing and future research and water management decision support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an excellent example of how Guam can utilize NASA\u2019s research opportunities to produce impactful data to better manage our natural resources,\u201d said\u00a0UOG\u00a0associate professor Leslie Camacho Aquino, executive director of the NASA Guam EPSCoR program at the university and the administrative principal investigator for the award.<\/p>\n

The grant award will also allow for science-based trainings for students and capacity-building with scientists and managers from other agencies, Aquino said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese efforts all point toward a more holistic approach in maintaining our aquifer and coastal ecosystems,\u201d she said.\u00a0(UOG)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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