Student Research Reports

The aim of the presentation is to share with the GLOBE community thes results of a survey on trees in urban green areas of Marcallo con Casone, a small town in the surroundings of Milan, Italy. The research project has been carried out in October -December 2025 by K-8 students of the MIddle School L. da Vinci in Marcallo and by the GLOBE teachers of the same school. Students measured all the broadleaf trees located in two selected urban green areas (San Marco and Madunina parks), recording the trunk circumference at 1.35 metres from the ground, the tree height both by handmade and professional clinometer and by the GLOBE Observer app. Measurements were taken with some field trips in different seasonal conditions: in October, with leaves on trees; in December with bare trees. This field campaign joined the last Trees around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign IOP (21 November - 21 December 2025). Recorded data have been used to estimate the biomass, the stored carbon and the amount of CO2 absorbed. We compared the total carbon storage with the amount stored in a class of 20 students: this comparison clearly showed the large storage capacity of trees and, consequently, their essential relevant role in the carbon cycle and in climate change mitigation. A productive discussion among students and teachers concerning the different methods to measure tree height brought out critical observations on the practical factors that can have a relevant impact on measured values: a good training, a lot of practice is necessary to get accurate and precise data, even if the operating process looks simple (for example, with the Globe Observer app tools). Finally, a comparison between our tree height measurements and satellite data (Open Altimetry tool to access ICESat2 dataset), highlighting a rather good match. Students and teachers of the Middle School L. Da Vinci intend to extend their future surveys to other green areas of Marcallo, to improve their skills in taking ground based observations and measurements, and to deepen their knowledge about satellite data.