LUECI-related research is conducted in two laboratories. The Florida Institute of Paleoenvironmental Research (FLIPER) laboratory is used for study of sediment cores from lakes, oceans, and wetlands. A Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) laboratory is used to study Land Use/Land Cover Change (LUCC) and long-term climate change. Existing equipment and instruments for fieldwork in both the Geography and Geological Science departments include an ASD Field-Pro field spectroradiometer, navigation and surveying instruments, differential and stand-alone GPS receivers, cartographic instruments, and field surveying instruments. The LUECI laboratories are open to all students and faculty who have interests in climate-environment-human interactions, fostering collaborative research among individuals from diverse disciplines.
FLIPER occupies 2500 ft2 of renovated space in Williamson Hall (Geological Sciences) and is designed for comprehensive paleoenvironmental study of sediment cores from lake, wetland, and marine sites. FLIPER is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation, including a Geotek Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MSCL) that measures magnetic susceptibility, p-wave velocity, and sediment density on intact cores, and can produce high-resolution digital images of sediment sections. The lab also possesses a Micromeritics Sedigraph for particle size analysis. Existing equipment and instruments include field gear (e.g., square-rod corers and Avon inflatable boats) for collection of lake sediment cores, UIC coulometers for total and inorganic carbon analysis, a Carlo-Erba NA 1500 analyzer for total carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur analyses, a Bran-Luebbe Autoanalyzer for total phosphorus and biogenic silica analysis, and three EG & G Ortec well-type gamma detectors for 210Pb dating and environmental radiation measurements (e.g. 226Ra). The affiliated mass spectrometry facility has a VG/Micromass Prism Series II mass spectrometer and Finnigan MAT 252 mass spectrometer for measurement of d18O, d13C, and d15N in carbonate and organic matter samples, and microscopes for picking microfossils. In a joint effort with the Soil and Water Sciences Department, LUECI purchased a Delta+ XL mass spectrometer and GC with interface that enables measurement of compound-specific isotope ratios in sediment organic matter.
The LUECI Spatial Analysis Laboratory is housed in a 200 ft2 room in Rolfs Hall with multiple computers and peripherals appropriate for analysis of satellite remote sensing and GIS data. The lab has an open plan and the resident users are from several departments, facilitating intellectual interactions among disciplines. Facilities in the LUECI computer laboratory allow for spatial analysis of data collected from Earth-observing remote sensing platforms and field studies with the latest hardware alongside the most current software packages available, including ArcGIS, ERDAS Imagine, RSI ENVI, IDRISI. Data capacity is 12 terabytes (TB) of highly redundant network-attached storage. The labs house data related to a number of different research projects headed by members of several departments campus-wide. Stored in a central location, these files are easily accessible to researchers within the lab environs.