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Discover how the GLOBE community is engaging in all things GLOBE through the community blog posts below.

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Greetings from NASA and the GLOBE ENSO Student Research Campaign! As you know, as part of Phase III: Water in Our Environment, we have been having data collection events each month that focus on Short Observation & Data Analysis (SODA). Following these data collection events, students and teachers are welcome to present at SODA webinar. So far, we have had SODA presentations from Croatia and the United States.  Check out our ENSO Phase III webinar page . As a refresher on how the SODA webinars work: Introduction of featured teacher, students and school (2 ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   Primary Audience: TRAINERS STUDENTS TEACHERS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


"Our route travels north along the South Pole Operational Traverse route for about 100km, then turns left and heads out to 87.979 degrees south. 750 kilometers of the great flat white!" Check out the latest blog from two NASA ICESat-2 scientists and their South Pole traverse. Check it out HERE!


Posted in: Primary Audience: TRAINERS STUDENTS TEACHERS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


  It turns out that we are most likely entering another mild La Niña winter across the globe. This article, “ La Nina Makes a Quiet Return ”, describes how scientists are able to use data on sea surface temperatures from were made by altimeters on the  Jason-2  and  Jason-3  satellites, and show averaged  sea surface height  anomalies. Climatologists are predicting that this La Niña should last through the 2017-2018 winter period in the northern hemisphere, and then should change back to neutral conditions by late spring. Be sure to become a ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE BACKYARD SCIENCE 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   News Topics: SCRC RESEARCH   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS


Too much water can have devastating consequences when it falls too quickly on Earth's surface. On January 9th, the " Water in Our Environment " webinar will spotlight the experiences of our GLOBE community in Asia and the Pacific.  Earlier this week in the Philippines, tropical cyclone Kai-Tak wrecked havoc on this region as it caused extreme flooding and landslides . On December 4th and 5th, tropical cyclone Ockhi was the strongest cyclone to develop in the Arabian Sea since 2015, and it brought intense rainfall to the western part of India. A recent CNN report stated ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)   Field Campaigns: WATERSHEDS EL NIÑO SMAP GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE DATA INCLUDED BACKYARD SCIENCE 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 LAND COVER/BIOLOGY HYDROLOGY SOIL   News Topics: CALENDAR TRAINING   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS   Teacher's Guide: INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS


We flew from Christchurch to McMurdo – 7.5 hours on a C-130 airplane operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. There were 38 passengers in the front of the aircraft and three pallets of gear in the rear. The passenger space is extremely tight; you have to work together with your neighbors to share space in an effort to remain as comfortable as possible for the long flight. And ladies, the restroom facilities are not fabulous. Greetings from McMurdo!


Posted in: Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Follow two NASA ICESat-2 scientists, Dr. Tom Neumann and Dr. Kelly Brunt, as they head to Antarctica for 2 months to do some preliminary ICESat-2 measurements. They will travel to 88S latitude and collect measurements of the ice sheet elevation around part of the circle at that latitude. We will compare our measurements with those from ICESat-2 shortly after launch to evaluate the performance of the satellite. Click on the blog title below to see Blog 1 from the trip. "Heading South, to New Zealand and Beyond"  


Posted in: Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


At the Annual Meeting in Connecticut this summer, I asked the United States GLOBE partners and teachers to write down one GLOBE-related accomplishment on an index card. It could be either professional or personal, something that was time-consuming or one that took minutes. Whatever it was, it had to have made them proud or excited about their year in GLOBE. The responses are below:   One of the 21CCLC (after school) student groups that I worked with attended and received a Science Research Award at the SRS in New Jersey. Wrote an article on Education Outreach - various ...


Posted in: Event Topics: MEETINGS   News Topics: MEETINGS REGIONS   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a hearing entitled " Gravity Never Sleeps: Landslide Risk Across the Country "at the Rayburn House Office Building that was intended to inform our lawmakers and government officials about the impacts of landslides in many parts of the United States. As the topic is related to our guiding investigative question for the ENSO Student Research Campaign - " What impacts does water, above and below ground, have on our environment? ", I thought I would share some of the things that I learned. Jonathan Godt, the Landslide Hazard Programs Coordinator ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE DATA INCLUDED BACKYARD SCIENCE CLIMATE EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   Learning Activities: EARTH AS A SYSTEM ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE LAND COVER/BIOLOGY HYDROLOGY SOIL   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR REGIONS TRAINING   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS


The next Phase III GLOBE ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) Student Research Campaign  SODA (Short Observation and Data Analysis) webinar will be held on 04 December at 2:00 p.m. EST (7:00 p.m. UTC): “ SODA, Live from Croatia (Featuring Teachers Marina Balažinec and Marija Krajnik and their student stars).” To join the webinar, click here ! How SODA webinars work: Introduction of featured teacher, students, and school (2 minutes) Presentation by featured teacher and/or students (20-25 minutes) Chosen Phase III Guiding Investigative Question(s) ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


"Rivers and floodplains as key components of global terrestrial water storage variability" Check out this new research. Did you know that terrestrial water storage differs across different climate zones? A team of NASA civil servant and contractor researchers have been using data from several NASA instruments and satellites to better understand the correlation of rivers and floodplains with global terrestrial water storage variability. One of the NASA researchers, Dr. Matthew Rodell, will be our featured presenter for the ENSO Campaign's Phase III Webinar to be held on ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Learning science involves learning important concepts, conducting experiments to see first-hand how researchers discovered and confirmed some elements of science concepts, and learning how to think scientifically. With this complete approach to learning science, students are well-prepared to deal with the natural world around them and to make wise decisions when confronted with various choices. The ability to think scientifically is a valuable skill in almost all aspects of life and doing science teaches scientific habits of mind. Students can do science through research projects ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GENERAL SCIENCE BACKYARD SCIENCE   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR COMPETITIONS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Currently, Science education has transitioned away from textbooks to more hands on learning. This is an amazing opportunity for teachers to move away from the normal lecturing and explaining in class to reshaping the process of learning. I think that the GLOBE Program is a fantastic organization and empowered program that promises to give an essential change in education.  One example is teaching and learning from directs activities in the field. An excellent activity is to share data from school to school through collaboration.  Students can share what  they are ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Event Topics: OTHER SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Many of us are so used to having clean freshwater that is easily accessible that we don't often stop to marvel at the fact that we are incredibly fortunate. The majority of our freshwater comes from our water cycle, and precipitation is unevenly distributed across the globe. You can learn more about the importance of clean freshwater resources in this "one-pager" entitled " Precious Freshness ".   During our ENSO Phase III Webinar #3, we will be focusing on water quality in Europe and Eurasia. We will host this webinar at 18:30 UCT, and hope we will have many of you from ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS STEM   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: WATERSHEDS EL NIÑO   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE   Learning Activities: ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE HYDROLOGY   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR SCRC RESEARCH   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS


The journal Scientific American just published a blog about GLOBE. The post, titled " The GLOBE Program: Making the Case for K–12 Citizen Scientists " discusses several aspects of GLOBE, including our contributions and campaigns. As well, it helps explain our mission of providing the resources for students across the world to become citizen scientists. "Contributing to global datasets not only gives students a chance to collect data that scientists can actually use, but allows them to compare their experiences and findings with other students around the world." To read more ...


Posted in: Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) OTHER   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO SURFACE TEMPERATURE   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS BACKYARD SCIENCE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Observations of daily precipitation have been a part of GLOBE from the beginning. At the start, GLOBE’s participation model was that schools would take measurement following all of the original 17 protocols. Atmosphere temperature, precipitation, cloud, and soil moisture measurements were to be collected daily at a site easily accessible to the school. A permanent installation of an instrument shelter containing a max/min thermometer mounted to a post along with a rain gauge was the expected norm with other measurements taken nearby. Daily temperature and precipitation measurements were ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS   Teacher's Guide: DOCUMENT TYPES


From the start, the measurement of daily maximum and minimum air temperature within one hour of local solar noon has been a key GLOBE protocol. The low cost approach was to use a U-tube thermometer housed in a wooden instrument shelter facing away from the equator. The U-shaped tube contained mercury with pins on either side of the mercury. As the air temperature warmed the pin on one side would move while the other pin stayed in place; when the air cooled, the pin on the other side would be pushed up. The pins were held in place by magnetized strips behind the thermometer tube so that ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM TECHNOLOGY   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS TRAINERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


I recently had the pleasure of meeting a GLOBE student named Aspen. I was excited because my favorite type of tree is Aspen (Quaking Aspen to be more specific, Populus tremuloides to be even more specific), and I was able to tell her some of the fun facts about her namesake. My favorite thing about aspens is their bark. The white powder on it can act as sunscreen. It’s only about an SPF of 5 but it’s still pretty cool. The bark also contains chloroplasts which means it can photosynthesize, making it one of the few deciduous trees that do not solely rely on leaves for ...


Posted in: Investigation Areas: BIOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


One of the things I do as a GLOBE partner is facilitate workshops for educators. When I facilitate a workshop for credit, I always require a short reflection. I use reflection because when teachers, like all of us, stop and think about what they learned the learning is deeper and more relevant. And, candidly, they are more likely to implement GLOBE into their classrooms. To give participants direction in their reflecting, I use the 4 R model of reflection: review, relate, remark, revise. - Review. Participants review and summarize one salient aspect of the workshop . ...


Posted in: Curriculum: ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: WORKSHOPS   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: CLOUDS   Learning Activities: CLOUD WATCH OBSERVING, DESCRIBING, AND IDENTIFYING CLOUDS ESTIMATING CLOUD COVER   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS   Teacher's Guide: UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5


 I was selected as a National Geographic  2017 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow  which is a professional development opportunity that provides educators a rich, immersive experience exploring the world to bring back to their teaching and communities. I and two other educators traveled with Lindblad Expeditions around Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland on the ship the National Geographic Explorer, making stops for excursions along the way. I decided to do field work on my Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship because 1) that is what one does on an expedition according ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Learning Activities: ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Mr. Jeff Bouwman and his Shumate Middle School students are NASA GLOBE ENSO Student Research Campaign superstars.  Check out what they have been doing in the video below!   Shumate Middle School was the first location for a new WeatherSTEM program, including a weather station, cloud camera, and an agricultural station. Learn more in the video below!


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