Stars and STEM Stories
Akutan School, Akutan, AK, USA
On Sunday, March 13, GLOBE teacher Rod Rozier and his wife began feeling the earth tremor. By the next evening, the town of Akutan, Alaska was under an earthquake alert. Mr. Rozier and five of his GLOBE students became critical players in the community's efforts to monitor their environment. The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) set up an emergency operation at Akuktan School and the National Weather Service (NWS) turned to GLOBE students for measurements of wind and air temperature. Almost two-thirds of the village chose to evacuate, but Mr. Rozier and his team of five GLOBE students stayed on to help monitor the situation.
After several days, the seismic activity began to decrease and things began to return to normal. "It was a very interesting experience," said Mr. Rozier. "The students learned much about their volcano and earth science, in addition to the resources of our government."
As a result of the impressive role these GLOBE students and their teacher played in monitoring the tremors, Akutan School will continue to serve as a key player in future monitoring operations of the USGS and the NWS. The Alaska Volcano Observatory issued a special thanks to the Akutan School on the World Wide Web.
15 June 1998