GLOBE News
Return to the Roof of Africa: Join the Kilimanjaro Learning Expedition Online
On 24 September through 1 October 2015, GLOBE returns to the Roof of Africa, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, to collect scientific data in order to evaluate the evolving ecosystem of the largest freestanding mountain in the world during the 2015 Kilimanjaro Learning Expedition.
Since 2008, The Xpedition team has been recording vegetation, air temperature, clouds, surface temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature, and several parameters of water on the mountain (pH, electrical conductivity and dissolved oxygen). The data obtained by using GLOBE protocols are entered into the GLOBE database where students and scientists can access them for visualization, analysis and further research. This information is being used to determining how the ecological biomes are shifting and how much the glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro are shrinking.
What's new to the Xpedition this year? Plenty. This year, Dr. Tony Murphy, Director of the GLOBE Implementation Office, will join the trek to the summit. Here at the GIO he can be seen stomping around in his new hiking boots to break them in! Tony will be blogging about his experience regularly.
This year we collaborate with Discovery Education who will likely increase participation in the online experience by alerting their vast network of classrooms in the United States and in the United Kingdom. On 8 October --a week after the Xpedition ends-- the climbers will regroup to present an online Virtual Field Trip hosted by Discovery Education, in order to showcase highlights of the week on the mountain.
For more information about this special 20th GLOBE Anniversary trek to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, including a link to the 8 October Virtual Field Trip through Discovery Education, visit the 2015 Kilimanjaro Xpedition webpage.
type: globe-newsNews origin: GLOBE Implementation Office