New weather station at A&M’s Costa Rica center helps students track rainforest climate changes.

By Kara Socol

Aggies Kim Soltis and Matthew Hammer ’80 are carrying on a family tradition in the dense, cloud-covered rainforest of Costa Rica. On a mountain bordering the forest near San Isidro de Peñas Blancas, the Hammers and her father, Charles W. 'Bill' Soltis ’55, have bought plots of clear-cut land, where they are replanting trees.

Since farmers began cutting timber on the mountains to plant their crops, the forest’s microclimate has changed--an event that threatens the fragile rainforest ecosystem. But with a new weather station at the nearby Texas A&M Soltis Center, they hope to determine whether or not their efforts are paying off.

The Soltis Center Experience
The establishment of the weather station--which will make its appearance at the center as early as June--is made possible by the Hammers’ recent gift to the Texas A&M Foundation. The couple resides in Corpus Christi, and Kim Hammer completed her undergraduate work at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Bolstered by a matching gift proposition, financial support of area friends has increased the dollar amount of the Hammers’ gift, which in combination will fully fund the necessary instruments for the weather station.

The Soltis Center facilities were donated to Texas A&M by Soltis and his late wife, Wanda--tireless advocates for preservation of the Costa Rican rainforest. For the past year, the center has provided students with international experiences in environmental conservation and other regional issues.

The center attracts faculty and students from numerous Texas A&M academic disciplines, including the geography department. Dr. Steven Quiring, a climatologist and assistant professor of geography, said that information generated from the weather station will be used for hydrological, climatological and biological research.

Climate Change Research
For Quiring and his students, scientific data obtained with the new weather instruments will be particularly relevant for climate change research. Once the station is complete, it will be part of the Global Historical Climatology Network, which monitors long-term trends in temperature and precipitation.

As a geophysicist, Matthew Hammer is particularly interested in this climate change aspect of Soltis Center research. "I think that, in general, we don’t know nearly enough about climate and weather to support a lot of the broad claims being made on both sides of the global warming discussion," he said. "Putting a weather center anywhere is a good thing. More data is always better."

Along with its research and educational uses, the weather station will provide Costa Ricans in the area with a convenience Americans take for granted: weather forecasts.

"Forecasts are made with weather models, so you need accurate information about current conditions to get good forecasts," Quiring explained. "The equipment purchased by the Hammers will provide this information."

To learn more about the Soltis Center, visit its web site.

Watch a video about the Soltis Center.

For more information about how you can support the weather station at Texas A&M’s Soltis Center, contact Diane Barron ‘81, director of development for Texas A&M’s College of Geosciences, at (979) 862-4944.

To support other opportunities at the Soltis Center, contact Carl Jaedicke ’73, assistant vice president for development, at (800) 392-3310.