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Today we start a series of posts devoted to providing information, tips, tricks and answers to frequently asked questions by Calitoo users!
So, how do you measure Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) with a Calitoo?
First and foremost: NEVER look directly at the sun!
And… ONLY take measurements when the sun is not obstructed by clouds.
TIP: Use your hand(s) to cover the sun; if you see any clouds on either side of your hand(s), do NOT take any measurements. Wait until the sun is not obstructed by clouds.
Now, the Calitoo sun photometer measures AOT values at 465 nm, 540 ...
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Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
AEROSOLS
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
PARTNERS
Hello, GLOBE Universe,
No need to be cloudy and confused with identifying clouds! There are easy questions that you can ask yourself to help identify what beautiful clouds you are seeing floating high above you.
I created a Cloud Identification Guide to step you and your students through identifying clouds. Here's a quick summary of the main questions. Inside the cloud guide, there are additional hints to help you tell the difference between similar looking clouds by using special clues.
Is it raining? -- this is the first important question because ...
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The NASA GLOBE Clouds team is excited to highlight Mr. Gary Popiolkowski, a middle school science teacher at Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School in Houston, PA, USA. Mr. Popiolkowski has been teaching for 44 years and has been a GLOBE teacher since 1995. He has had his students doing cloud observations for the past 18 years, submitting over 15,000 observations! He has also been doing virtual connections with Patumwan Demonstration School in Thailand each year for the past four years.
We ask Mr. Popiolkowski how he does it! Here is what he shared:
Each period of the day the ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
OTHER
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
CLOUDS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
ALUMNI
SCIENTISTS
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
The GLOBE Program is in a unique position to provide citizens worldwide with amazing benefits. One of the biggest benefits, I feel, it that of gaining a larger perspective.
I work at Goddard Space Flight Center with the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) mission . This Earth-observing satellite is able to measure global precipitation and update these measurements every 30 minutes. You can see the latest data animation for the past week here . As NASA is a key sponsor of The GLOBE Program, many of us who work for NASA are able to share the unique perspectives that ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
EDUCATION RESEARCH
LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
Field Campaigns:
WATERSHEDS
EL NIÑO
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
GPM
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
HYDROLOGY
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
SOIL
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
REGIONS
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
Teacher's Guide:
INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS
"Under a three-year agreement signed on Feb. 22, NASA will support two Conservation International-led initiatives, one focused on land ecosystems in Africa, the other on water resources along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. NASA researchers will analyze and model remote-sensing data from the agency’s fleet of Earth-observing missions and commercial satellites, mapping ecosystems at regional and national scales. Satellite data, with its coverage of broad swaths of terrain, are critical for understanding the impacts of human activity on the environment."
Sanje Waterfall in ...
Posted in:
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
On Thursday, 1st of March,
A delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who have come to learn more about the issue and the NASA-sponsored Global Globe program led by Dr. Farid Hamdan on a national level, and a member of the European Globe Committee. The members of the delegation were exposed to Almajd Junior High School students who presented the Globe program in various aspects: scientific research on the water properties in the Alexander Valley, Sending measurements to the Global Globe site, and comparing and analyzing data at the national and international levels. ...
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The GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA would like to highlight the top observers for the month of February! Thank you to all observers for submitting your observations and using the satellite matching of data.
Also, remember that on March 15, 2018 we will start our NASA GLOBE Clouds: Spring Cloud Observations Data Challenge ! The top observers will be congratulated by a NASA scientist with a video posted on the NASA GLOBE Clouds website. Click here for more information.
Top 10 cloud observers for February 2018
...
Posted in:
Event Topics:
COMPETITIONS
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
CLOUDS
News Topics:
COMPETITIONS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
ALUMNI
SCIENTISTS
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
A fourth grade student from Public School 122 (Queens, NY), recently visited NASA Langley for a week. During his visit, he studied the GLOBE Aerosol Protocol. He went outside the Atmospheric Sciences building and collected aerosol data using a Calitoo sun photometer, which measures Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) at three wavelengths: 465nm (blue), 540nm (green) and 619nm (red).
After downloading the data measured with the Calitoo to his laptop, the student learned how to access AERONET data. The AERONET ( AE rosol RO botic NET work) project is a federation of ground-based remote ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE Working Groups:
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
AEROSOLS
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
Water- essential to life and capable also of causing so many natural disasters.. The ENSO Phase III "Water in our Environment" field campaign will be hosting a webinar this Thursday at 18:00 UTC/1 pm EST which will focus on "Connection and Communication" as we listen to students from Texas and Nigeria share ways they use The GLOBE Program protocols to learn about water in their environment. Feel free to join us as your schedule permits- this will be a great webinar to share with your students!
Posted in:
Curriculum:
LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS
SCIENCE AND MATH
Field Campaigns:
WATERSHEDS
SEASONS AND BIOMES
EL NIÑO
GPM
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
HYDROLOGY
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
SOIL
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
CALENDAR
SCRC RESEARCH
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
TRAINERS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS
"Much of the U.S. Midwest has received above normal precipitation this winter. A NASA rainfall analysis provided a look at the precipitation that contributed to current flooding."
Check it out HERE!
Posted in:
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team recently presented a webinar the details of how your cloud observations are matched to satellite data. The webinar, recording found below, also focuses on the importance and quality of the observations, ways that the data can be used by scientists, and current work being done by the team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. The webinar also highlights newly processed data from the temperature and cloud observations reported for the Great North American Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017.
See how your ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
CLOUDS
News Topics:
VIDEO
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
March is National Reading Month in the U.S., which presents the perfect opportunity for learners to explore NASA reading material on a more personal level. The resources highlighted on NASA Wavelength - a digital library for educators of all levels - at http://nasawavelength.org/blog/national-reading-month are grade-appropriate reading opportunities that feature engaging and educational science stories and articles. And they can be used anytime – not just in March.
Books highlighted include Elementary GLOBE storybooks with learning activities for children, which you ...
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Right now I am sitting in my home office, watching the trees bend as the wind howls. My automated weather station in my front yard has an anemometer that is simply going nuts, and the wind vane is wildly careening back and forth as the winds pushes in from all directions. We have had wind gusts that exceeded 40 mph and now my weather station is reporting sustained winds at 25 mph.
The power of nature simply astounds me and fills me with wonder and awe. Being able to make visible observations of the impact of the wind- by watching how fast the clouds are moving, seeing the ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
COMPETITIONS
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
News Topics:
COMPETITIONS
CALENDAR
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
Spring is starting to spring in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere but not quite yet in others. The March observations period for the Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Student Research Campaign has started. Please take surface temperature observations in March to help out with the campaign. If you can, please take observations from two sites so you can compare the temperatures for them. One approach is to take observations from a grassy area and an asphalt area to compare.
Just a quick look at surface temperature data on the GLOBE visualization page shows the cold weather that ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
This past week was a very exciting one for the Science Education Team at NASA Langley Research Center! Four members visited one of the schools participating in the GLOBE Air Quality Student Research Campaign: Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, in Newport News, VA., where twenty middle school students, led by their science teacher Ms. Angie Rizzi, presented their team research projects and posters about aerosols.
After students started taking aerosol measurements and once they had selected their research project questions, Dr. Pippin, -lead scientist for the GLOBE Air Quality Student ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
AEROSOLS
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
Why do we make goals? A goal is what you want to achieve in your program. Knowing what you want to achieve allows you to focus your efforts on accomplishing something. Do you ever feel that your partnership (or other projects) is not really accomplishing anything? Did you sit down and create goals? If you do not have a goal for your project, often times you end up spinning your wheels because you do not have a set direction on your horizon. We waste time and energy on pointless projects that are not helping us move forward in a chosen direction. Making a reasonable goal can help you ...
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A few fun announcements for South Dakota GLOBE Educators:
Data and Stipends
You still have a month left to collect and report data in order to receive a stipend for the 1st quarter of 2018. No sure what to monitor? The Urban Heat Island campaign is calling for data in March. If you would like to participate with your students and need infrared thermometers, please let me know ASAP. The deadline to request thermometers is March 2nd.
Send me:
Your school shipping address
The number of infrared thermometers you need ...
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If you are attending the Michigan Science Teachers Association (MSTA) Conference this coming Friday, March 2, 2018 in Lansing, Michigan (United States of America), I welcome you to join myself ( Jeff Bouwman ), David Bydlowski , and Andy Henry . We are excited to present Aerial Exploration of Environmental Study Sites, Using Kites, Cameras and Other Sensors on Friday, March 2, 2018 at 9:00 AM and #GettingScienceDone – Citizen Science on Friday, March 2, 2018 at 11:00 AM. Aerial Exploration of Environmental Study Sites, Using Kites, Cameras and Other Sensors will ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
Field Campaigns:
SMAP
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Investigation Areas:
PRECIPITATION
AIR TEMPERATURE
SOIL MOISTURE - SMAP BLOCK PATTERN
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
SOIL TEMPERATURE
CLOUDS
Mr. Jeff Bouwman
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team is excited to highlight Mr. Jeff Bouwman, a 6th and 7th grade teacher at Shumate Middle School ( Gibraltar School District ) in Gibraltar, MI. Mr. Bouwman was one of the top 10 GLOBE Cloud observers for 2017 and we are very excited for the research his students are doing with the data.
We invite you to read his most recent post - "It's Cool to Have Your Head in the Clouds" - and read the research his students are doing with 2-years of cloud observations!
If you would ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
CLOUDS
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
COMPETITIONS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
SCIENTISTS
Teacher's Guide:
GRADE LEVELS
INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS
Para el Programa GLOBE, la ciencia es algo que todos pueden hacer. ¡Y hacer ciencia te convierte en un cientÃfico! Entonces, ¿qué hacen los cientÃficos? Observan el mundo que les rodea, hacen preguntas y usan evidencia (o datos) para responder las preguntas que se plantean. La generación de evidencia es una actividad clave para la labor que realizan los cientÃficos.
La generación de evidencia para responder las preguntas que se plantea un cientÃfico puede hacerse de diversas maneras, tomando medidas con procedimientos estandarizados o identificando los datos disponibles que otras ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
EDUCATION RESEARCH
LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
GLOBE Science Topics:
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
DATA INCLUDED
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
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