2020 SRShttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_category?p_l_id=66666481&mbCategoryId=666664662024-03-29T06:54:12Z2024-03-29T06:54:12ZRE: Contrail Formation in Southeastern Michigan Potential Impacts 12th GradLynne Harris Hehrhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=673172422020-06-11T04:41:11Z2020-06-11T04:41:11ZDear Noor and Zaharaa, My name is Dr. John Hehr and I am a retired professor of Geosciences at the University of Arkansas. My research interests center on atmospheric sciences, specifically, tree-ring analysis to build climate back through time. Your project is of great importance as increased numbers of contrails are having impacts at all scales. The fact that you are considering satellite data for correlation is extremely interesting. Using temperature data, could you forecast where and at what levels contrails might form? If accurate, forecasting locations of contrail formation would be extremely valuable to both civilian and military operations. The fact that your data suggest a strong correlation between contrail formation and upper level temperatures would encourage further research on your part. I hope you continue your quest for new approaches to the research you have already completed. Great job!Lynne Harris Hehr2020-06-11T04:41:11ZRE: Comparing the Effects of Precipitation and Select Water Quality 12th GrLynne Harris Hehrhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=673165412020-06-11T03:47:33Z2020-06-11T03:47:33ZDear Zeinab and Haneen, My name is Dr. John Hehr and I am a retired professor of Geosciences at the University of Arkansas. My research interests center on atmospheric sciences, specifically, tree-ring analysis to build climate back through time. You did a great job in designing your project and were diligent in gathering considerable data over the research time frame. As in many research projects, more questions surface than initially thought. You used GLOBE ptotocols and suggested equipment to gather your data in a very worthwhile way. It would have been great if you could have collaborated with the school in Thailand in order to compare data and results. It would also be interesting to use the stream gauge data to look at the increased frequency of floods in the region and what this means for water quality. This was a very ambitious project with considerable data collected. Keep up the good work!Lynne Harris Hehr2020-06-11T03:47:33ZRE: Comparing Aerosols and Surface Temperature 8th GradeLynne Harris Hehrhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=673156932020-06-11T02:54:37Z2020-06-11T02:54:37ZElla, My name is Dr. John Hehr and I am a retired professor of Geosciences at the University of Arkansas. My research iinterests center on atmospheric sciences, specifically, tree-ring analysis to build climate back through time. I thought your project was timely and well done. I am sure you are aware that one of the consequences of the current pandemic is a large reduction in tropospheric aerosols. Thus, your GLOBE project concerning aerosols and surface temperature is important and could be continued. Your methodology was appropriate for gathering and analyzing data in order to support (or not) your hypothesis. You also made excellent use of GLOBE protocols and instrumentation to gather and analyze your data. I would suggest that you more slowly give your slide presentation so that listeners can absorb and retain the major points of your research. Excellent job and I hope you continue looking at emerging problems in the atmospheric sciences.Lynne Harris Hehr2020-06-11T02:54:37ZRE: Contrail Formation in Southeastern Michigan Potential Impacts 12th GradLynne Harris Hehrhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=673145082020-06-11T01:30:11Z2020-06-11T01:30:11ZHi, Noor and Zaharaa. I'm Lynne Hehr, a GLOBE Trainer and Partner with research degrees in Geology. I have been with the GLOBE program for 25 years as a Scientist trainer and have been involved with GLOBE Student Research Symposiums since they began several years ago. You two have done quite a lot of work as far as data collection and data analysis. Your research, conducted over this long period of time, definitely shows your dedication to the study. You have also chosen an area of research that has research potential and lends itself to the type of GLOBE protocols you chose. Using NASA satellite comparisons, as well as the idea of site comparisons, are very good research points – and your conclusions are well thought out/supported by your research. Contrail and heat island comparisons are also a correlation that you might consider in future research. The badges you chose fit your study well. One point to consider when making your poster, it is not necessary to include the entire narrative of your research – bulleting the high points will make it easier to read. Excellent job. Keep up the good work!Lynne Harris Hehr2020-06-11T01:30:11ZRE: Comparing the Effects of Precipitation and Select Water Quality 12th GrLynne Harris Hehrhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=673137902020-06-11T01:05:13Z2020-06-11T01:05:13ZHi, Zeinab and Haneen. I'm Lynne Hehr, a GLOBE Trainer and Partner with research degrees in Geology. I have been with the GLOBE program for 25 years as a Scientist trainer and have been involved with GLOBE Student Research Symposiums since they began several years ago. You two have done quite a lot of work as far as data collection and data analysis. Well done, you two! The fact that your research was conducted over a long period of time shows your dedication to the study. You have also chosen an area of research that has a real impact on your community and lends itself to the type of GLOBE protocols you chose. As a point to ponder, you might consider soil characterization and soil moisture components in an extended study…the idea of infiltration that you bring into play is a good point for further study. The badges fit your study well. Excellent job to both of you.Lynne Harris Hehr2020-06-11T01:05:13ZRE: Comparing Aerosols and Surface Temperature 8th GradeLynne Harris Hehrhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=673046952020-06-10T16:00:45Z2020-06-10T16:00:45ZHi, Ella. I'm Lynne Hehr, a GLOBE Trainer and Partner with research degrees in Geology. I have been with the GLOBE program for 25 years as a Scientist trainer and have been involved with GLOBE Student Research Symposiums since they began several years ago. After reading your abstract and watching your presentation, I was impressed with the ease of your ppt presentation. You used instrumentation and protocols appropriately and were clear in how you conducted your research. I agree with the badges you chose and think they fit your project. Aerosol and surface temperature data are important studies in atmospheric research and you are clearly interested in the research possibilities. I would suggest taking more time with your slide statements. This will allow your audience to more clearly understand your presentation. In graduate school, I had a professor who would say “more data, more better”, so I would encourage you to continue with your research and collect as much data as possible when doing any type of study. Also, in your collaboration badge statement, you mention that you shared data with a student from another school. Collaboration is a great idea for comparison of study sites, but be sure to always reference data provided by other sources in any shared research or explain how the data was used in your research. Keep up the good work! Lynne Harris Hehr2020-06-10T16:00:45ZGrass Isn't Always GreenerTracy Ostromhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=672523422020-06-08T17:53:54Z2020-06-08T17:53:54ZWhat a GREAT Question! My name is Tracy Ostrom and I am a GLOBE partner and scientists with the University of California at Berkeley. I work iwth students such as yourself in GLOBE investigations and I work with their teachers as well. Your research is incredibly thorough and thank you for your in-depth analysis of fertilizers and crop growth. I did my undergraduate studies in Ohio at Heidelberg and this was a big research topic for us back in the 80s. Nitrogen is so important to the success of our agriculture. Do you know how nitrigen helps plants grow? It's pretty intersting and one reason why fertilzers have so much nitrogen in them. Crop rotation techniques also put nitrogen back into the soil....perhaps a longer addition to your research? I think your presentation of data was very well done, your graphs were very clear and easy to follow. Thank you for taking the time to present your work to us. Soil science is a great way to tie in planst, animals and nutrients. Bravo!Tracy Ostrom2020-06-08T17:53:54ZRE: Micro and Macro Invertebrates in Freshwater Guzzlers - Grade 9 - 12Tania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671295392021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-02T19:05:49ZThis is an interesting project! I really enjoyed how you graphically illustrated your sites and data. <br /><br />Your poster taught me about guzzlers, and I wanted to know more. I suggest adding more details to your methods and results/discussions. (Did you sample all 3 sites each day of investigation? Were the sampling days consecutive? Did you sample each guzzler for macroinvertebrates once, or more than once? What do the data that are not associated with the seed/scuds in guzzler 8 reveal? Why are the sites numbered 5, 7, and 8? What did HOBO sensors reveal?)<br /><br />I hope you will keep up your research and extend this project. I look forward to learning more about guzzlers from the FresH2O Group in the future!<br /><br />Dr. Renee Clary, Professor of Geology, Mississippi State University<br />RClary@geosci.msstate.eduTania Dey2020-06-02T19:05:49ZRE: MACROINVERTEBRATE LEAF SPECIES PREFERENCE 5th GradeTania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671254212021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-02T16:00:41ZI enjoyed reading about your project with macroinvertebrates, and watching the video where you introduced your project. The best part of the project for me was learning that your curiousity led you to different investigations, in addition to the one you started out to research! <br /><br />In your future projects, it would be helpful if you include an overview of your methods in your video. I was unsure how you were able to keep leaves/macroinvertebrates apart by watching the video (and I was happy to learn about your methods in the paper). <br /><br />I hope you continue to investigate the macroinvertebrates. I look forward to learning more about what you discover! <br /><br />Dr. Renee Clary, Professor of Geology, Mississippi State University<br />RClary@geosci.msstate.eduTania Dey2020-06-02T16:00:41ZRE: The Effects of Road Salt on the Waterways of the Bee Branch - Grade 12Tania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671160032021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-02T01:28:30ZHi Emily - <br />My name is Shan Zuidema, and I'm a Research Scienist and PhD Candidate at the University of New Hampshire. I use computer simulation models to understand how we rely on, value, and affect watersheds and riverine ecosystems. <br /><br />Thanks for sharing your work looking at the chloride chemistry of the watershed surrounding Dubuque during the spring snowmelt period of 2020. I agree with your conclusion of the meteorological controls on when melting occured and how that might be associated with chloride concentrations. Some of your main conclusions are that concentrations didn't change dramatically, but I guess I don't know if I completely agree. Conductivity increased 600% at one site, 200% at another, and declined at another. Again you interpretations of the mechanisms (when melting happened and how that mobilized salt) seem totally reasonable - and that is more important than the actual magnitude of the changes. I see you chose three different types of water body to sample, do you think that the differences in observations at each site is related to the type of water body sampled? One thing to take a look at for next time - Table 1 shows two sub-columns for each date sampled - but its not clear from either column headings or the caption what the two sub-columns refer to. Is one conductivity and one chloride? Thanks again and keep it up!<br /><br /> - STania Dey2020-06-02T01:28:30ZRE: Urban Trees Role in City Park 12th GradeTania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671150492021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-02T01:02:25Z<span style="font-family: sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Zaher, Mohamedhussin, and Anas - <br /><br />I'm Shan Zuidema, a Research Scientist and PhD candidate at the University of New Hampshire. I use computer simulation models to see how humans and watersheds interact - how we rely on water resources and how we can alter and contaminate water bodies such as aquifers and rivers.<br /><br />Thank you sharing your work on the microclimate effects of trees in an urban park. I liked how you are chosing a clear hypothesis, and making a straightforward clear paired study. Your graphs really clear illustrate your findings. Since you measured meteorologic variables in the winter and spring, do you think you captured the full effect of trees on micro-climate in your study area? You mention you'd like to extend the study to different times of the year. Can you hypothesize how the presence of leaves might affect some or all of the meteorologic variables you measured? This could be a good thing to put in a discussion to mak the reader more excited for future research. What types of trees were in the park? I noticed you mentioned measurements of tree height and DBH. It would be good to tie those measurements into the hypothesis that you are testing.</span></span>Tania Dey2020-06-02T01:02:25ZRE: Nitrate Relationship between Soil, Pond, and Stream 8th GradeTania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671074382021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-01T22:07:24ZDear Molly, Sophia and Gabe,<br />I am Varun Paul, a faculty in the Geosciences Department at Mississippi State University. I teach courses related to Water Resources and my research focuses on investigating surface water and groundwater quality. <br /><br />I wanted to congratulate you on the excellent work that you guys did with the nitrate project. You were correct in asking those important questions. Excessive use of fertilizers in agricultural lands is one of the main reasons for high levels of nitrogen in waterbodies, leading to eutrophication and algal blooms. I liked that you tried to compare the stream, pond and soil nitrate values. Researchers and land managers are currently asking the exact questions that you are asking: what is the transportation and fate of these nutrients? As you mentioned, the process is complicated, because the physical and chemical characteristics of soil and that of the water that flows through it are extremely variable. Add to this, human activities like contruction fill. I also liked that you were able to compare the water quality with the fish population. <br /><br />I would have to liked to hear you all discuss a little bit more about your data slides in your presentation. For example, I was curious to know what your thoughts were on why nitrate in soil was higher in winter than in Fall? Perhaps, you can add precipitation data to your nitrate values as well.<br /><br />I enjoyed listening to your presentation and reading your work. <br />Good luck!Tania Dey2020-06-01T22:07:24ZRE: Nitrate Relationship between Soil, Pond, and Stream 8th GradeTania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671071862021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-01T22:04:27ZMolly, Sophia, and Gabe - <br />Thanks for sharing your work! I'm Shan Zuidema, a Research Scientist and PhD candidate at the University of New Hampshire. I study how people affect, rely on, and value watersheds. Although I have used lots of tools, nowadays I mostly work with computer simulation models to understand how changes in how people interact with watersheds will affect aquifers and the riverine ecosystem.<br /><br />I really liked that you are looking at the nitrogen cycle from a whole landscape perspective! We have only recently began appreciating how connected soil, streams, and ponds can be when it comes to the nitrogen cycle. I thought the plot showing the stream and pond concentrations was a really strong piece, because it shows directly how the two systems are linked. Its interesting how the highest concentrations of the year (the peaks) for the pond and stream aren't at the same time. Why do you think that is? Its hard to tell from the figure, but it appears that the stream and pond are not connected - am I seeing that right - or does the stream flow through the edge of the pond? The fish abundance data confused me a bit; does it support your hypothesis? I try to make sure that every piece of a data I present is related to the question posed or the hypothesis being tested - and tend to get sidetracked if things come up that aren't related. Sometimes less is more!Tania Dey2020-06-01T22:04:27ZRE: A Comparison of the Oxygen Levels in Mill Creek & Harrison Lake - 7th gJodi J. Haneyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671059792020-06-01T21:34:00Z2020-06-01T21:34:00ZHello Brooke. <br />My name is Dr. Jodi Haney. I am a professor emeritus (which means retired, but still VERY active ;-) at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. My students at the university have collected hydrology data including dissolved oxygen in Lake Erie too. We also collect this data on campus ponds (all 7 of them)! Your work is very interesting for sure. How did you choose this topic? Your methods are solid and your results make good sense. The finding that the creek has more D.O. consistently is important. Faster moving water is the likely cause... are there any other potential explanations? What does the higher D.O. values tell you about the creek vs. lake in terms of aquatic life? When you show your data in the table, it's always a good idea to have the AVERAGE data included. You can also plot an average line on your graph. Finally, you might want to think about the "sensitivity" of the kit you used... since the lake and creek differed by only a few ppm, can the kit detect small differences like that? We call that the precision of the kit. Just something to think about as you move forward. I hope you continue your study in the future and keep contributing data to GLOBE. We need YOU and the good work you do!Jodi J. Haney2020-06-01T21:34:00ZRE: Comparing the Effects of Precipitation and Select Water Quality 12th GrTania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671058582021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-01T21:27:25ZDear Zeinab and Haneen,<br />I am Varun Paul, a faculty in the Geosciences Department at Mississippi State University. I teach courses related to Water Resources and my research focuses on investigating surface water and groundwater quality. <br />I am very impressed with your project. I especially liked that you were able to collect as much data as you could in the four month period. I felt that questions you asked were very important to understand the changes in surface water quality. Precipitation, as you mentioned, plays a very important role in influencing water quality. I was also glad to see that you were able to compare precipitation with discharge data. Great job!!!<br />I had two minor suggestions that you might want to consider for this and future projects:<br />1) I would recommend the use of correlation analysis to compare any two variables to check how well they are related to each other. You can do this very easily with Excel. For example, you can take rainfall values in Figure 6 as your x axis and conductivity on y axis. When you plot these two, you can use Excel to find out the R^2 (correlation) value. The closer this value is to one (1.0), the more related those two variables are. It is a very simple step and can give you more definite values for your analysis.<br />2) I liked that you compared DO with temperature and your explanation makes perfect sense. I would encourage you to think about how precipitation affects salinity, pH and other parameters. Salinity, especially, is very interesting because depending on the surrounding land area, salinity in streams/rivers can either decrease or increase with rainfall.<br /><br />Keep up the wonderful work and keep asking such important questions. <br />Good luck!Tania Dey2020-06-01T21:27:25ZRE: Cool Concrete - 5th GradeJodi J. Haneyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671056032020-06-01T21:23:11Z2020-06-01T21:22:11ZHello Annabelle. <br />My name is Dr. Jodi Haney. I am a professor emeritus (which means retired, but still VERY active ;-) at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. My students at the university also collect temperature data using the GLOBE Surface Temperature protocol. Your work is very interesting for sure. How did you choose this topic? Your methods are really solid and follow the GLOBE protocol closely... great! I like that you included all the data obtained from your study and that your conclusions are supported by your findings. Your findings stated as a percentage increase or decreases helps summarize your findings nicely and make good sense for 5th-grade learners since you are using percentages in your math classroom. You show differences between all of the surfaces, even in the fall and winter. Why do you think these differences existed? When you say you hypothesized that asphalt would be much warmer than the air, why did you think so? What is it about asphalt that makes it so HOT? In your hypothesis, it's a good ideas to say WHAT you predict and WHY you think this. I agree that you'd see hotter temperatures in the summer. Why do you think that the sand was NOT the coolest? What was it about the other surfaces that explain the temperatures you obtained? I hope you continue your study in the future and keep contributing data to GLOBE. We need YOU and the good work you do!Jodi J. Haney2020-06-01T21:22:11ZRE: "SMAP . . . . Searching for Moisture" 5th GradeJodi J. Haneyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671055862020-06-01T21:12:08Z2020-06-01T21:12:08ZHello Grady. <br />My name is Dr. Jodi Haney. I am a professor emeritus (which means retired, but still VERY active ;-) at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. My students at the university collect soil moisture data too using the SMAP protocol. Your work is very interesting for sure. I'm glad you chose something to research that interests you and relates to your world... FARMING. Your methods are really solid and follow the GLOBE protocol closely... great! I like that you included all the data obtained from your study and that your conclusions are supported by your findings. Your findings stated as percentage increase or decreases helps summarize your findings nicely. I was surprised to see such a difference between fertilized and unfertilized soil as well as morning versus nighttime. Why do you think these differences existed? When you say the nighttime fertilized soil moisture was the "BEST", explain what you mean by best in terms of farming practices. Is there such a thing as too much moisture? How do your findings match up to optimal soil moisture? Finally, I wonder about the bulk density data means? The fertilized soil was LESS dense... what might that mean for farming? In other words... how does the fertilize help exactly... what's going on? I hope you continue your study in the future and keep contributing data to GLOBE. We need YOU and the good work you do!Jodi J. Haney2020-06-01T21:12:08ZRE: Pickleweed and Nutrients: what's going on? - Grade 9 - 12Tania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=671021142021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-01T19:45:25ZHi Alejandro, Yanely, and Crystal,<br />Scientists in my group think a bit about links between nutrient (and other elemental) status in plants and the chemistry in the subsurface (soils) so I have read with interest your impressive poster- nice job! The photos are fantastic- I felt like I was in the field with you. I like how you were trying different protocols to learn how to carry out different types of analyses and how you hone in on a transect to carry out the studies. Were I lucky enough to get to see you and give this in person I would have asked how you chose your sites- you mentioned that they have a range of plants but are dominated by the pickleweed, heath and hemlock- did you have a change across the sites where there was more pickleweed (or no pickleweed)? Or did you try to sample beneath the various plants? I think sites 1 to 4 have more pickleweed, but I couldn’t really tell from the poster itself. I would have asked you if you also looked at other things like moisture in soils - I like your idea about doing more extensive studies in the different types of soils in each of these sites so maybe your plan was to go after those questions with such an extension! <br /><br />Hope you have a great summer!<br /><br />All my best,<br />Julie Bryce<br />Department of Earth Sciences<br />University of New Hampshire<br /><a href="https://ceps.unh.edu/person/julia-bryce">https://ceps.unh.edu/person/julia-bryce</a>Tania Dey2020-06-01T19:45:25ZRE: Aeropod Technology 12th GradeTania Deyhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=670970622021-04-05T17:03:32Z2020-06-01T17:23:48ZHi Nazih, Hassan, and Belal,<br /><br />My name is Lara Gengarelly and I am a science educator and former plant ecologist at the University of New Hampshire.<br /><br />Your study investigating microclimates at different altitudes was well-designed. Your scientific questions were clearly defined and your methods addressed your questions # 1 and #2. Your data-- as shown in line graphs and tables-- are comprehensive. Also, the inclusion of maps of your study site and photos of your equipment are informative and enhance your written report. <br /><br />Have you considered the impact that seasonality has on the microclimate parameters?<br /><br />Also, similar to professional scientists your investigation led to further scientific questions with respect to exploring microclimate parameters differences between northern and southern latitudes. Do you plan to continue this research as a team?<br /><br />Thank you for sharing your GLOBE research. Keep up the great work!Tania Dey2020-06-01T17:23:48ZThe Mysterious Green PatchTracy Ostromhttps://www.globe.gov/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=66666481&messageId=670904732020-06-01T13:20:14Z2020-06-01T13:20:14ZHello PVHS,<br /><br />I am a GLOBE partner in northern California. I have been involved with GLOBE as a teacher and now as a partner since 2011. I have 13 years of expereince in working with engineers and geologists in the field of environmental management. During this time I learned a lot about geology and its affect on soil quality and plant diversity.<br /><br />So I was drawn to the title of your research and even more interested when I realized the geologic connections to your work. Transects are a great way to understand the "whole" by investigatting individal "parts". I also realize this work can be tedious and present more questions as you investigate deeper and deeper. What I appreciate about your research is that you actually did "dig deeper". I think you did a great job at analyzing soil quality at varying depths in tandem with your transects. Whlie your NPK data between zones was fairly consistent, it was interesting to see the change in values after a rainfall. I am wondering if you have any further thoughts on this change.<br /><br />Work such as yours is importatnt for understanding of how our environment has changed over time and how we can protect it for the future. Thank you for taking the time to ask the tough questions and with more time I beleive you can provide even greater insights to this mystery phenomenon.Tracy Ostrom2020-06-01T13:20:14Z