Remote sensing of coral reefs and water quality in Puerto Rico

I was a member of Dr. Roy Armstrong's bio-optical laboratory, as part of the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, and located in the middle of beautiful La Parguera in Southwest Puerto Rico, surrounded by healthy coral reefs, a thriving mesophotic reef zone, many small pristine island cays (or cayos), important local watersheds, and world famous bioluminescent bays. As part of Dr. Armstrong's lab, I assissted in field work and analyais for multiple projects which included assessing variability of apparent and inherent optical properties of the reef's water column, hyperspectral remote sensing of coastal marine communites, understanding relationships between water optics and coral reef parameters, ocean color algorithm development and validation, and aerosol characterization. Typical work included in-situ water sampling and laboratory analysis, radiometric/optical instrument deployments, small boat operations, analysis of radiometric and optical datasets and satellite imagery, and SCUBA diving for in-situ coral reef assessments.