Lecture to discuss connections between humans and environment

Dr. Reinaldo García, senior research scientist, working in Laguna de la Ascensión, state of Quintana Roó, Mexico. Photo by Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm.

Dr. Reinaldo García, senior research scientist, working in Laguna de la Ascensión, state of Quintana Roó, Mexico. Photo by Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm.

Graduate student David Lagomasino installing a monitoring well for water and salinity in El Playon, part of Laguna de la Ascensión, state of Quintana Roó, Mexico. Photo by Rene Pri.

Victoria Garcias//Contributing Writer

There are theories that we came from the ocean; whether we did or not, the ocean is still apart of us.

Everyday we grow and live by surrounding waters hugging our Floridian state. But what do we have to do with these waters? And what do they have anything to do with us?

The answers lie within NASA’s Water-Science of Coupled Aquatic Processes in Ecosystems from Space program.

WaterSCAPES’ mission is to discover the connections between humans and the environment. The program seeks to answer questions regarding how Earth is changing and what the consequences are for life on Earth and how the Earth changing. NASA and the program are researching wetland’s water issues, climate and ecosystems to help answer these questions.

WaterSCAPES Director Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm will speak in an upcoming lecture titled “WaterSCAPES: Exploring Coastal Wetlands from Space” about the program and its research.

“We want to give the community an opportunity to discuss, ask questions and to hear about what we are doing in their own backyard,” said Elaine Pritzker, coordinator of SEAS.

WaterSCAPES not only uses remote sensing observations, but also incorporates mathematical models to support its findings on water cycles, vegetation, biomass dynamics and biodiversity. Although most of the research is done out of the Florida Keys and Everglades, Miralles-Wilhelm and his team are expanding their research to other parts of the world with similar ecosystems.

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Scenery during a fly over of the Everglades going south towards Florida Bay. Photo by David Lagomasino.

“What WaterSCAPES does, which is really cool is that they study wetlands from space,” said Elaine Pritzker. “What is neat is that [Fernando] is apart of a larger effort to understand what is going on in our ecosystem and how we are apart of this larger system that is changing.”

Pritzker said the program has also began work with people in South America.

“It started this sort of global conversation in our hemisphere by looking at how our wetlands and communities are interacting,” said Pritzker.

Miralles-Wilhelm said in the future he wants to strengthen the relationship between NASA and wetland environments.

“Taking South Florida as an example, [I want to look] at broader questions of climate, population, land use and other changes,” said Miralles-Wilhelm.

The WaterSCAPES research program is located at Biscayne Bay Campus and is open to student involvement.

The lecture takes place on May 17th at the Murray Nelson Cultural Center in Key largo.

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