Community Blogs

Community Blogs
 

Included below is a feed of the latest blog posts created by the GLOBE Community. To view a tutorial on how you can create a blog click here 

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From Dr. Erika Podest, SMAP Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. How do the measurements from different GLOBE protocols serve a mutual purpose better understanding our planet? In previous blogs I’ve discussed the importance of soil moisture and how it plays a large role in weather prediction, flood and drought forecasting, plant growth, and even in pin pointing areas at risk for mosquito carrying diseases (such as malaria or yellow fever). Soil moisture also drives or is driven by other environmental variables such as air temperature, soil temperature, humidity, and...

Read More About SMAPing with Erika: Combining Soil Moisture Measurements with Other GLOBE Measurements »

Posted in: Field Campaigns: SMAP Investigation Areas: Pedosphere (Soil) » Soil Moisture - SMAP Block Pattern

We have had a great start to our 2015 Surface Temperature Field Campaign. We are off to a quick start with 16 schools reporting since December 1, 2015. There are a number of other schools that collected data in November. I hope they are able to collect observations in December as well. Since November 1, 8 countries have reported data and 5 states within the United States. If we look at the number of observations since December 1, Main Street School in Norwalk, Ohio has the most observations. Below, I’ll talk about how El Nino is affecting the temperatures in the United States. I noticed...

Read More About First Week of Surface Temperature Field Campaign and El Nino »

Posted in: Field Campaigns: Surface Temperature GLOBE Working Groups: Science Working Group
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By Kristen Weaver, posted 12/4/15 2:33 PM

GPM's ground validation campaign called OLYMPEX is in full swing! (See my earlier blog post for more background about the campaign.) You can visit the OLYMPEX website to see daily precipitation data, like this image below: If you go to the website itself, you can click on any of the points to get more detailed information about that station, see the latest satellite and  coastal radar images, and read science summaries. For a quicker overview, here are two videos about the campaign. One produced by NASA: And one produced by the Weather Channel: Enjoy!

Read More About Videos about OLYMPEX »

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Hello from Medford Memorial Middle School in Medford, New Jersey. The quest to get an accurate soil sample continues at Medford Memorial Middle School, Medford NJ. Hello, we are the students of Memorial’s Citizen Science Education Program. We’re excited to be part of the SMAP campaign, but have not yet been able to enter any data.  Here’s a brief overview of our journey. First, we learned about SMAP as a satellite, and then we studied the protocol. We didn’t have any soil sample cans, so we settled on a sturdy coffee can, Ryan had brought in from home. Ashwin measured 5 cm from the...

Read More About GUEST BLOG from Medford Memorial Middle School in Medford, NJ: Testing and Finessing Soil Moisture Measurements »

Posted in: Field Campaigns: SMAP Investigation Areas: Pedosphere (Soil) » Bulk Density Pedosphere (Soil) » Soil Moisture - SMAP Block Pattern Pedosphere (Soil) » Soil Moisture - Gravimetric Pedosphere (Soil) Primary Audience: Trainers Teachers Students Partners Scientists Alumni Country Coordinators

Greetings from Alfred State College in Alfred, New York! We are very excited to be participating in the NASA SMAP soil moisture sampling project. The project here is overseen by Jessica Hutchison, Instructor in the Department of Agriculture and Veterinary Technology. Two Agriculture Technology students, Kayana Fonseca and Peter Meyer, take samples and input data. We have one site, located right outside the greenhouse next to the agriculture building so we don't have to travel far to get a sample in bad weather. We are lucky to have a soils laboratory and sampling equipment right in the...

Read More About GUEST BLOG by Alfred State College: From Milking Cows to Taking Soil Moisture Samples »

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Guest Blog by NASA SMAP Scientists Dr. Erika Podest and Dr. Narendra Das of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California USA. SMAP scientists are using soil moisture in a number of ways, ways that allow all of us to better understand water’s role on Earth: Weather Prediction: Water in the soil has the potential to evaporate (depending on atmospheric temperature and pressure) and when it does it plays a large role in cloud formation. Soil moisture also has a modulating effect on air temperature and humidity therefore having the ability to measure soil moisture continuously...

Read More About How Do NASA Scientists Use the SMAP Satellite Data? »

Posted in: Field Campaigns: SMAP GLOBE Science Topics: Earth as a System Scientist Skills Earth System Science General Science GLOBE Protocols Investigation Areas: Pedosphere (Soil) Primary Audience: Trainers Teachers Students Partners Scientists Alumni Country Coordinators

December 1 to December 31, 2015 The GLOBE Program will host the annual surface temperature field campaign from December 1 to December 31, 2015.  This is a great opportunity to work as a community with schools around the world on a common research project. Students have used the surface temperature field campaign data to do research projects from fourth grade up to graduate students at universities. One of my graduate students published her masters thesis and found that a strong warming due to urban areas is observable in the student data. It is my hope that continued expansion of the...

Read More About Announcing GLOBE Surface Temperature Field Campaign 2015 »

Posted in: Field Campaigns: Surface Temperature GLOBE Working Groups: Science Working Group

Have you ever wondered how the SMAP satellite, with an altitude of 685 km (425 miles) above the Earth, can take measurements as precise as the amount of water in the Earth's soil? The quick answer is that it requires precisely calibrated instruments, along with a technological marvel in satellite design. SMAP was designed to use a combination of two precise instruments, one with high resolution, one with high accuracy. THE INSTRUMENTS: Active (High Resolution): SMAP’s radar was designed accurately measure the echoes of very short radio frequency (RF) pulses that bounce (“backscatter”)...

Read More About How Does the SMAP Satellite Mission Take Measurements All the Way from Space? »

Posted in: Curriculum: Science and Math Technology Field Campaigns: SMAP GLOBE Science Topics: Earth System Science Investigation Areas: Pedosphere (Soil) Primary Audience: Trainers Teachers Students Partners Scientists Alumni Country Coordinators
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By Brian Andrew Campbell, posted 10/19/15 2:05 PM

The SMAP Mission is vital to understanding our planet. Water is an essential source for life. By understanding the amount of water in the soil, or soil moisture, we can apply this information to many things. Monitoring Drought SMAP monitors soil moisture and provides critical information for drought early warning. In fact, a deficit in the amount of moisture in the soil defines agricultural drought. SMAP's measurements will come into play because researchers forecast a threefold increase in drought frequency in many regions of the world by the end of the 21st Century. History shows that...

Read More About Why SMAP Matters! »

Posted in: Field Campaigns: SMAP GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE Protocols Investigation Areas: Pedosphere (Soil) Primary Audience: Trainers Teachers Students Partners Country Coordinators

Weekly Report 1: 10/1/15 - 10/15/15 This report contains two weeks of data collection due to the beginning of the campaign on October 1, 2015: Volumetric Soil Moisture Measurements = 19 Participating Sites = 4 Schools Submitting Data: Shumate Middle School - Michigan - 8 data counts Ramey School - Puerto Rico -7 data counts The University of Toledo -Ohio - 2 data counts Thomas Edison Energy/Smart Charter School - New Jersey - 2 data counts Congratulations to those schools for getting a great start. Let's get more schools participating! Brian

Read More About SMAP Soil Moisture Measurement Campaign -Weekly Report 10/15/2015 »

Posted in: Curriculum: Science and Math Field Campaigns: SMAP GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE Protocols Investigation Areas: Pedosphere (Soil) News Topics: Competitions Primary Audience: Trainers Teachers Students Partners Country Coordinators
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