You have entered the website of the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI) at the University of Guam. We are currently six faculty and five staff and our mission is to seek solutions through research, teaching and outreach programs, to issues and problems associated with the location, production, distribution and management of freshwater resources in Guam, the CNMI and the FSM.
A stalagmite collected by WERI researcher, Dr. Jenson and his students, in April 2005 from a cave on northern Guam is providing clues as to how the climate of Guam and the surrounding region evolved over the past 28,000 years. Stable isotope (18O and 13C) and trace element (Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca) analysis on the stalagmite layers are being conducted by collaborators at the University of Texas-Austin School of Geosciences and provide chemical clues about climate history. The initial results from the stalagmite are consistent with results from other islands in the Pacific and suggest, among other things, that the regional climate was much drier some 5000-6000 years ago. The western Pacific Ocean plays an important, but still poorly understood, role in global climate.
