Today we start a series of posts devoted to providing information, tips, tricks and answers to frequently asked questions by Calitoo users!
So, how do you measure Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) with a Calitoo?
First and foremost: NEVER look directly at the sun!
And…ONLY take measurements when the sun is not obstructed by clouds.
TIP: Use your hand(s) to cover the sun; if you see any clouds on either side of your hand(s), do NOT take any measurements. Wait until the sun is not obstructed by clouds.
Now, the Calitoo sun photometer measures AOT values at 465 nm, 540 nm and 619 nm. ...
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team is excited to highlight Mr. Gary Popiolkowski, a middle school science teacher at Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School in Houston, PA, USA. Mr. Popiolkowski has been teaching for 44 years and has been a GLOBE teacher since 1995. He has had his students doing cloud observations for the past 18 years, submitting over 15,000 observations! He has also been doing virtual connections with Patumwan Demonstration School in Thailand each year for the past four years.
We ask Mr. Popiolkowski how he does it! Here is what he shared:
Each period of the day the students...
The GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA would like to highlight the top observers for the month of February! Thank you to all observers for submitting your observations and using the satellite matching of data.
Also, remember that on March 15, 2018 we will start our NASA GLOBE Clouds: Spring Cloud Observations Data Challenge! The top observers will be congratulated by a NASA scientist with a video posted on the NASA GLOBE Clouds website. Click here for more information.
Top 10 cloud observers for February 2018
Observer
School or...
A fourth grade student from Public School 122 (Queens, NY), recently visited NASA Langley for a week. During his visit, he studied the GLOBE Aerosol Protocol. He went outside the Atmospheric Sciences building and collected aerosol data using a Calitoo sun photometer, which measures Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) at three wavelengths: 465nm (blue), 540nm (green) and 619nm (red).
After downloading the data measured with the Calitoo to his laptop, the student learned how to access AERONET data. The AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) project is a federation of ground-based remote sensing...
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team recently presented a webinar the details of how your cloud observations are matched to satellite data. The webinar, recording found below, also focuses on the importance and quality of the observations, ways that the data can be used by scientists, and current work being done by the team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. The webinar also highlights newly processed data from the temperature and cloud observations reported for the Great North American Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017.
See how your data is collected...
Spring is starting to spring in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere but not quite yet in others. The March observations period for the Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Student Research Campaign has started. Please take surface temperature observations in March to help out with the campaign. If you can, please take observations from two sites so you can compare the temperatures for them. One approach is to take observations from a grassy area and an asphalt area to compare.
Just a quick look at surface temperature data on the GLOBE visualization page shows the cold weather that is...
This past week was a very exciting one for the Science Education Team at NASA Langley Research Center! Four members visited one of the schools participating in the GLOBE Air Quality Student Research Campaign: Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, in Newport News, VA., where twenty middle school students, led by their science teacher Ms. Angie Rizzi, presented their team research projects and posters about aerosols.
After students started taking aerosol measurements and once they had selected their research project questions, Dr. Pippin, -lead scientist for the GLOBE Air Quality Student Research...
Mr. Jeff Bouwman
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team is excited to highlight Mr. Jeff Bouwman, a 6th and 7th grade teacher at Shumate Middle School (Gibraltar School District) in Gibraltar, MI. Mr. Bouwman was one of the top 10 GLOBE Cloud observers for 2017 and we are very excited for the research his students are doing with the data.
We invite you to read his most recent post - "It's Cool to Have Your Head in the Clouds" - and read the research his students are doing with 2-years of cloud observations!
If you would like to be highlighted as a NASA...
The 2017-18 GLOBE U.S. Air Quality Student Research Campaign is well underway in the United States! There are 34 school participating with more joining as the weeks go by:
Broadalbin Perth High School (Alicia Dobyns)
Cassadaga Middle School (Sandi Askin)
Crestwood High School (Diana Johns) *
Elizabeth City Middle School (Wanda Hathaway)
Fredonia Middle School (Amy Lauer)
Hamburg High School (Kaci Nowadly)
Kipp Intrepid Prep School (Robert Bujosa)
Life Academy (Sarah Pipping) *
Main Street Intermediate School (Marcy Burns)
Met Sacramento High School (Christopher Chu)
Mountain View...
NASA GLOBE Clouds: Spring Cloud Observations Data Challenge
Audience: Students and teachers all grade levels, informal educators, and the general public
Dates: March 15, 2018 - April 15, 2018
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA is excited to announce the NASA GLOBE Clouds: Spring Cloud Observations Data Challenge. Participants are invited to enter up to 10 cloud observations per day from March 15, 2018 to April 15, 2018 using the GLOBE Program’s data entry options or using GLOBE Observer app. GLOBE and GLOBE Observer participants with the most...
