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GISN & STEM Professionals' Blog

The GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN) and STEM Professional's Blog is an online collaborative effort where scientists associated with GLOBE post their thoughts, comments, and philosophies about a variety of science topics.

GLOBE strongly encourages positive and productive discussions to further advance the scientific understanding of all involved with The GLOBE Program.
 


 

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I just updated HoloGLOBE to v1.0.2. For those of you new to this app, HoloGLOBE brings NASA and NOAA visualizations of the Earth to the palm of your hand through augmented reality (AR). You can read more about the app here: http://www.palmyracove.org/InstituteforEarthObservations/HoloGLOBE.aspx In this latest release, I have added play/pause functionality to the MyNASAData module. The MyNASAData is essentially an augmented reality version of GLOBE's Earth System Poster. In addition the new ICESat-2 module has been added. The ICESat-2 module was built by Emme Wiederhold, a ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION EDUCATION RESEARCH LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) GLOBE LEARNING EXPEDITIONS OTHER SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS MEETINGS WORKSHOPS COMPETITIONS   Field Campaigns: SCRC - PHASE 2 SCRC FLEXE CARBON CYCLE WATERSHEDS SEASONS AND BIOMES SCUBANAUTS EL NIÑO GGIC SCRC - PHASE 1 SMAP SURFACE TEMPERATURE GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE @ES CLIMATE CHANGE DATA INCLUDED BACKYARD SCIENCE MEETINGS/CONFERENCES CLIMATE SCIENTIST SKILLS EARTH AS A SYSTEM GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EVALUATION WORKING GROUP SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: BIOSPHERE ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)   Learning Activities: EARTH AS A SYSTEM ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE LAND COVER/BIOLOGY HYDROLOGY SOIL   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR IOPS REGIONS CALENDAR SCRC RESEARCH TRAINING COMPETITIONS MEETINGS VIDEO WEB MAINTENANCE / ENHANCEMENTS   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS   Teacher's Guide: GRADE LEVELS DOCUMENT TYPES TIME REQUIREMENTS LANGUAGES STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS


Just over four years after my first visit to Australia (From drought to flood down under: Part I), the tides have turned and the country has gone from experiencing the driest decade on record to having the wettest two-year period on record in 2010-2011.  These recent rains have been both a blessing and a curse.  The good news is that they helped the region of southeastern Australia start to recover from the long drought (see Figure 1).  The bad news is that the rains came on heavy and strong.  In January 2011, devastating floods occurred across southeastern ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE CLIMATE


In December 2007, I arrived in Australia for the first time ever.  It was a critically dry period for the region, as they were in the midst of a terrible drought.  Immediately upon my arrival, there were signals of a community in dire straits.  Instead of advertisements for products and services, the signs in the airport were encouraging water conservation.  My hotel bathroom had a message affixed to the mirror asking me to limit my shower time and water usage.  The dams were drying up and many communities faced running out of water in just mere months.  As ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE CLIMATE


This week we have a guest blogger, Dr. Dixon Butler. Dr. Butler was the GLOBE Chief Scientist from 1996-2003 and now works as a consultant to NASA. Students working on GLOBE Hydrology Protocols The general explanation of the scientific method focuses on comparing two situations that differ in only one clearly defined way. One case serves as the control while the other is the experiment. The results must be replicable as a check that the measurements were made correctly and that any other differences between the control and experiment are insignificant. This is an ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE


Since the end of January 2012, Europe has been experiencing record-breaking cold temperatures and heavy snowfalls.  Temperatures are dropping to -40°C (-40°F) and below in Europe.  The canals of Venice are freezing over (the first time since 1991) and sections of the Black Sea have frozen (the first time since 1977).  And, Rome has received its first substantial snowfall since 1986. A small boat cuts through the ice along a canal in Venice. Photo by Marco Sabadin/AFP/Getty Images The frozen Black Sea in Ukraine (Reuters photo) ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE


Communities in the Sahel region of Africa depend on trees for firewood, food, building materials, and even medicine.  Anecdotal observations in this savannah climate, a transition region to the south of the Sahara Desert, have suggested the number of trees is decreasing.  A recent study by a group of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley has provided scientific support indicating that trees are indeed dying and the decline is being attributed to climate change.  Scientists looked at aerial photos dating back to 1954, satellite images, climate change ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBE PROTOCOLS


If you’ve seen the science news headlines in the past few weeks, you may have noticed stories summarizing how 2011 ranked in climate history.  What is interesting is that the headlines have been a bit contradictory.  For example, if you’ve read the story as reported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the headline reads “ NASA finds 2011 ninth-warmest year on record ”, which to me implies it was another record hot year given that it made the top ten list.  Nonetheless, another story reported in ABS news touts that the world wasn’t quite ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE CLIMATE


Recently NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) released the 2010 State of the Climate. The State of the Climate is an annual report that summarizes the climate conditions around the world over the time period of a calendar year. All the reports are available online through the National Climatic Data Center website. [ http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-the-climate/2010.php ] The annual State of the Climate is a record of the conditions around the globe and provides an excellent reference for beginning studies of climate. If you are participating in the ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SCRC   GLOBE Science Topics: CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE