Student Research Reports
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Reliability of high cloud data between citizen science and GEO satellite during the 2019 Fall Cloud Challenge
Organization(s):MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate School
Country:United States of America
Student(s):Mia L., Kimberly T., Victoria T. and Trina T.
Grade Level:Middle School (grades 6-8, ages 11-14)
GLOBE Teacher:Esther Flores
Contributors:Mrs. Marilé Colón Robles
Report Type(s):U.S. Student Research Symposia (SRS)
Protocols:Clouds
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:05/05/2020
The presence of low-level and mid-level clouds can lead to inaccuracies in high cloud data collection. This can lead to satellite or ground observation errors. Satellite errors can be reduced with adjustments to instrument sensitivity, while observer errors can be improved with training. Data from the Fall Cloud Challenge was collected to observe when satellite data and student data agreed. If there was agreement, low and mid clouds did not interfere with the accuracy of high cloud data collection. The inverse was considered as well. Over 1000 observations were made, only 395 observations were “reliable” data. Of this reliable data, it was concluded that 328 (83%) agreements were found. Upon further analysis, only 82 observations were taken under the condition in which there was the presence of both low/mid clouds as well as high clouds, the inverse was found. Only 14 (17%) observations consisted of an agreement of high cloud data between student and satellite. This did support our hypothesis that low/mid cloud presence can interfere with high cloud data recording. Further high cloud data collecting in the presence of both high clouds and low/mid clouds needs to be collected to gather greater support for our hypothesis.