science

Punta Galeta: From spy den to research center

The Marine Laboratory of Punta Galeta served as a radio station in two wars before becoming a marine observation center.

eric batista/la prensa

nurse to the caribbean: Some 26 high-tech instruments posted around the Panamanian Marine Laboratory of Punta Galeta, in the Colón province, monitor subtle changes taking place in the Caribbean Sea, an activity that has earned it the name of “the Infirmary.”1134786

Once the so-called “eyes and ears of the Pentagon” during World War II and the strategic hideout from which the British Navy launched attacks on the Argentines during the 1982 Falkland War, the Panamanian Marine Laboratory of Punta Galeta, perched on a peninsula southeast of the Colón Free Zone, has evolved over the last 44 years to become the weather vane of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s quest to track the planet’s changing climate.

No longer dedicated to military machinations, the scientists at the laboratory take advantage of its unique location at the near confluence of two oceans to observe marine vegetation and wildlife and the effect of temperature change on global weather systems. The center’s primary responsibility, however, is to monitor the overall health of the Caribbean Sea and the regional climate, earning it the affectionate title of “ The Infirmary of the Caribbean Sea.”

Since 1972, in fact, the information compiled at the laboratory has allowed scientists around the world to make increasingly accurate weather forecasts through an incredibly complex analysis of rainfall patterns, salinity levels, solar radiation, impurities in the air and water and wind speed. These measurements are taken with the help of 26 delicate instruments placed around Punta Galeta.

According to some of the most recent data collected at the center, the Caribbean’s sea level has increased in four centimeters over the last decade, leading some scientists to believe that some of the country’s coastal areas, such as Bocas del Toros, may be submerged in the coming decades.

Based on that discovery, biologists have been able to focus their research of marine animals threatened by increases in sea temperature and levels, which is commonly characterized by mass migrations. Punta Galeta scientists, for instance, were among the first to notice the emergence of the current El Niño. And reports from the center dating to early October 1998 indicate the temperature of sea water in the region rose to an unusually warm 30 degrees centigrade, causing the fishing industry in the region to suffer as fish scattered to cooler waters.

Ever on the cutting edge of technological advances, the center plans to install a wind tower this year to generate sufficient power to run the entire facility. If it succeeds, it will the first building to do so in Panama.

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