The
San Blas field station was established in 1977 and closed on June 1,
1998. The station was situated on an island adjacent to Punta de San
Blas, on the Caribbean coast of Panama 120 km east of the Panama Canal,
midway to the Panama/Colombia border. That island is at the western end
of Kuna Yala, an indigenous reserve (also known as the Comarca de San
Blas) that stretches along 160 km of the eastern coast of Panama.
Smithsonian scientists started working in Kuna Yala in 1970. The field
station supported short-term biological studies in addition to as well
as long-term meteorological and biological monitoring. Physical
Monitoring activities began at the San Blas station in 1992. Monitoring
activities included the measurement of air temperature, precipitation,
solar radiation, wind speed and direction, sea level, water temperature
and salinity.