Every time you take a cloud observation, the NASA GLOBE Clouds team matches your observation to satellite data. Why do we do this? Your view of clouds is from a different perspective than what is observed from a satellite. Satellites look down at clouds and see the top. When you make your observation, you are looking up towards the sky and seeing the bottom of the clouds. When there is a match, scientists then have a top-down view of clouds from a satellite and a bottom-up view from your spot. When you mix these two views together, you have a more complete picture of the sky....
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team highlights cloud observers Hilde Fålun Strøm (Norway) and Sunniva Sorby (Canada), who created Hearts In The Ice to call attention to all the rapid changes occurring in the polar regions due to the changing climate. These citizen scientists made history last year by being the first women to overwinter solo in the high Arctic. They spent 12 consecutive months without running water or electricity at a remote trappers cabin called “Bamsebu” in Svalbard, Norway. While they were there, they made numerous GLOBE cloud observations as well as...
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team is continuously working with scientists around the world finding ways that cloud observations from citizen scientists impact the most. As we find new ways of using the data, we want to remind you how important each part of your cloud report is to the scientific community. All cloud observations can help with big questions such as the link between clouds and climate. Dr. Patrick Taylor is an atmospheric scientist at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In the Clouds and Earth’s Climate video, Patrick discusses how he studies clouds to look at our...
Each cloud observation submitted using the GLOBE Observer app or through The GLOBE Program is compared to data from multiple satellites. A satellite match is when satellite data is identified that corresponds to a cloud observation. For orbiting satellites the observation must be within 15 minutes before or after a satellite’s overpass. Geostationary satellites, like the GOES satellites, are always observing the same location. If you are in the United States, you are likely to get a satellite match to a GOES satellite. These satellites are sending data every 15 minutes. As long as the...
Have you ever wondered what happens after you press submit on your International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS) report?
The GLOBE Implementation Office (GIO) Education team gets to work!
Ok, that might be a little misleading because work on the IVSS already started back in August when we started planning for the 2021 IVSS. And while learning about planning webinars and recruiting judges might be something you are interested in; this is not what this blog post will cover. This is the “story” of what happens after teachers upload their students’ projects and press the big blue SUBMIT...
Scientists are wondering what is happening over Antarctica and where are the noctilucent clouds. Noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds are the highest occurring cloud types (form about 50 miles or 80 Km above the Earth's surface). They form in the Mesosphere and are thin clouds made up of ice crystals that form from left over fine dust from meteors. Because they are so high up in the sky, you see them when the sun is low or almost nighttime. The form during the summer months over the north and south poles. That is when it is coldest that high up in the sky (in the...
septiembre/octubre/noviembre 2020
Nuevos recursos disponibles
Gracias a nuestra comunidad de nubes, el reto comunitario de nubes 2020 fue un gran éxito al mostrar cómo la ciencia es mejor juntos. Recibimos excelentes fotografías y obras de artes de los participantes, algunas de las cuales se destacaron en el video de agradecimiento.
Si no pudistes participar del reto o quieres seguir trabajando en él, visita la página de la guía para familias de nubes GLOBE para obtener los recursos. Encontrarás vídeos sobre la ciencias de nubes (inglés) y el reto para Familias sobre...
September/October/November 2020
Cloud Challenge Resources Available
Thanks to our cloud community, the 2020 Community Cloud Challenge was a great success showing how Science is Better Together! We received some great photos and artwork from participants, some of which were highlighted in the thank you video.
If you missed the challenge or want to keep working on it, visit the GLOBE Clouds Family Guide page for the resources. You will find videos about the Science of Clouds and the Family Cloud Challenge page with a Choice Chart for activities...
This collaborative webinar was planned and presented by three NASA Science Activation Earth science awards and the GLOBE Implementation Office. Each group shared a broad range of NASA-sponsored opportunities and resources to connect students to investigating our Earth system using NASA and GLOBE data. The recording is available on-demand https://www.globe.gov/web/mission-mosquito/overview/webinars/archived-webinars A list of resources shared by the presenters is available at https://bit.ly/3cwCkhz
The goal is to support teachers and students to develop and enter their...
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team never imagined this time last year that we'd be holding our GLOBE 2020 Community Cloud Challenge in the midst of a global pandemic. But GLOBE is about community and showing how science is better together!
In the four weeks of the challenge, we had the opportunity to learn how eight different NASA scientists study clouds to better understand our atmosphere and the important role citizen science observations play in that. You also had the chance to learn about cloud-related activities from six different amazing GLOBE educators.
And considering the...
Audiencia: ¡Todos! (Estudiantes y maestros de todos los grados, educadores informales y el público en general)
Fechas: 15 de julio de 2020 - 15 de agosto de 2020
Cómo Participar: Disfruta del verano descubriendo las nubes desde una nueva perspectiva. Hay muchas formas de participar. Cada jueves puedes aprender más sobre las nubes con científicos y educadores de la NASA por medio de la página NASA Earth’s Facebook page. También puedes hacer actividades en casa o hacer observaciones de las nubes o el cielo a través de la herramienta Nubes en GLOBE o la aplicación GLOBE Observer app. ¡Todo...
Audience: Everyone! (Students and teachers all grade levels, informal educators, and the general public)
Dates: July 15, 2020 - August 15, 2020
How to Participate: Spend summer together by discovering clouds from a new perspective. There are many ways to participate. Learn more about clouds with NASA scientists and educators each Thursday on NASA Earth’s Facebook page, do at-home activities, or take cloud or sky observations through the Clouds tool on GLOBE or the GLOBE Observer app. It is all up to you! Show how you took part in this unique event by sharing on social media.
Choose...
The EPA is celebrating Air Quality Week (May 4-8) and the GLOBE Clouds team would like to ask everyone again for your photographs of dust events! We got a chance to chat with Anne Semrau, a biology teacher at New Mexico State University, who sent in some amazing photographs of a dust event.
Question: Where are you from? Where do you live now?
Answer: I am mostly from Texas (different parts: Dallas, Houston, Austin, rural northeast Texas) but I have lived in several other places (Navajo Nation, California, Montana, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Missouri, Washington DC).
...
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team has put together a family guide filled with activities and resources great to do as a family from your home.
El equipo NASA GLOBE nubes ha preparado una guía para familias llena de actividades y recursos tremendas para realizar haceren family en tu hogar.
Guide in English (Link). Guía en español (Enlace).
La Sra. Tina Rogerson es la programadora científica y analista para el equipo NASA GLOBE nubes en el Centro de Investigaciones Langley de la NASA en Hampton, Virginia con la compañía SSAI. Tina analiza tus observaciones de nubes y del cielo y escribe código de computadoras para realizar la correspondencia con data de satélites. Ella también está encargada de manejar todos los mensajes electrónicos de la NASA y se asegura que te lleguen por cada observación de nubes.
Pregunta: ¿De dónde eres?
Respuesta: Yo soy de Poquoson, Virginia un pueblo pequeño en la costa este de los...
March/April/May 2020
What is NASA GLOBE Clouds? Cloud observations through The GLOBE Program are led by the NASA GLOBE Clouds Team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Every sky and cloud observation submitted through GLOBE Clouds, including through the GLOBE Observer app, is analyzed by the team to determine if it matches satellite data. If there is a match, a personalized NASA email is sent to you comparing your observations with satellites. Your observations and photographs help researchers better understand our atmosphere and how to make satellite data...
Hello GLOBE community,
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team is offering virtually connections or personalized videos (previously recorded) for your students. It can be in a variety of topics including:
Career Connections (Path to NASA)
The Impact of Your Observations
Clouds and Cloud Types
Earth's Atmosphere and Climate
Clouds and Atmospheres on Earth and Other Planets
Cloud Types in Masterpieces/Landscape Paintings
Any topic of Your Choice
If you are interested, comment below or contact NASA GLOBE Clouds Project Scientist Marilé Colón Robles.
You have submitted GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper observations, but are still unsure how to access and analyze that data? This blog outlines the steps to download data into a spreadsheet, describes the data found in each column, and discusses what to do with the two sets of latitude and longitude data associated with each observation.
Download Data
First you will need to download your data using GLOBE’s Advanced Data Access Tool (ADAT). This link also has video and text tutorials to get you started. Once you open ADAT, it prompts you to select filters, which will determine...
We are asking for photographs of dust storms and dust events in cold climates (or high latitude areas), southwest United States and Northern Mexico, and desert (or arid and semi arid) areas. Follow these steps on how to take photographs of the horizon, not the sky in the direction of the dust event. Different flyers are now available to print or share that you can use to spread the word!
Special observations of airplanes and contrails are being collected by a select few as part of a pilot project the GLOBE Clouds team has been working on for a year. The project asks students to use an app that tracks aircrafts, then note if the airplane is or is not creating a contrail. The airplane tracker app suggested notes the height of the airplanes, giving the opportunity to note the altitude of the contrails if present.
The GLOBE Clouds team was able to present a first look at the data collected by students at Alpena Elementary/Middle School (Mr. Roger Rose teacher), Treadway...
The GLOBE Fall Cloud Observation Challenge brought in more than 45,000 observations from citizen scientists in more than 17,000 locations in 93 countries on every continent — including Antarctica. This influx of cloud observations is super helpful to NASA scientists who work with geostationary satellites and the suite of satellite instruments known as the Clouds and the Earth's Energy Radiant System (CERES). By comparing geostationary and CERES observations from a particular area to data submitted by citizen scientists, scientists can differentiate between wispy cirrus clouds and cold,...
A new article is now available on the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Science Scope journal geared for middle school teachers on ways to integrate using the GLOBE Observer app in the classroom and take cloud observations. The article titled "Making Science Come Alive with Clouds" features GLOBE superstar educators Mr. Jeffrey Bouwman (Shumate Middle School in Gibraltar, Michigan, USA) and Dr. Caryn Smith-Long (Montverde Academy, Montverde, Florida, USA) as they share their classroom technology expertise and how they use the app with their students.
...
Story published on https://spaceweather.com/ on 10/29/2019. A sharable version of this story is available here. You can also look at Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery.
Image Credit - Chris Holmes.
This is the picture that captured everyone's attention! It is a photograph of a gigantic jet as observed by pilot Chris Holmes as he traveled at 35,000 ft over the Gulf of Mexico near the Yucatan Peninsula. He noticed the big thunderstorm (or cumulonimbus cloud) producing lots of lightning with sprites and jets.
Gigantic jets, sometimes...
Purple Skies observed Dallas, TX on October 27, 2019.
Purple skies during sunsets and sunrises (blog explaining science) have been observed by our GLOBE participants! Thank you to all those sending in their observations and participating of the Fall Clouds Challenge!
Educator Angie Rizzi, part of the Science Education team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, created this lesson for teachers who want to use this event to talk about aerosols and sky color. The activity incorporates the Elementary GLOBE Sky Observers activity with photographs of the observed...
Picture by Jan Curtin @ Vail, AZ (https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=156718)
Raikoke Volcanic Eruption
Have you noticed purple sunrises or sunsets where you live? Submit your photographs to GLOBE or GLOBE Observer, especially as we get ready to start the Fall Cloud Challenge: What's Up in Your Sky (Oct 15 - Nov 15, 2019)!
People around the world have been noticing purple skies at dawn and at dusk, calling it the Raikoke Sunsets (see photographs submitted). The purple color is because of sulfurous gas that was launched into...
NASA está solicitando tu ayuda para determinar “¿Qué ves en tu cielo?” El equipo NASA GLOBE nube quiere estudiar diferencias en nubes y aerosoles. La data colectada durante este reto del otoño en el hemisferio norte o primavera en el hemisferio sur será comparada con los resultados obtenidos durante el reto de primavera del 2018.
Puedes ayudar sometiendo observaciones de nubes, polvo atmosférico, calina, o humo (límite 10 por día) a GLOBE usando cualquiera de las opciones de entrada de datos, incluyendo la aplicación móvil GLOBE Observer.
Los participantes GLOBE y GLOBE...
Tú puedes reportar el cielo como 100% cubierto u obscurecido usando el protocolo de nubes en GLOBE y en la aplicación GLOBE Observer. ¿Cuál es la diferencia? Este blog tiene consejos para ayudarte. Todas las fotografías en este blog fueron colectadas por observadores como tú. ¡Gracias!
Al principio encontré la diferencia entre cubierto y obscurecido algo confuso, pero cuando entendí el significado de ambas, pude mejorar mis observaciones. Empecemos con definir ambos términos:
Cubierto – Noventa por ciento o más del cielo está cubierto por nubes. En esta situación vez bien poco o...
Audience: Everyone! (Students and teachers all grade levels, informal educators, and the general public)
Dates: October 15, 2019 - November 15, 2019
Observations: Clouds and aerosols (dust storms, haze, smoke). Limit 10 per day.
NASA is requesting your help to determine “What’s up in your Sky”. The GLOBE Clouds team wants to study differences in clouds and aerosols. The data collected during this fall challenge will be compared to results from the 2018 Spring Clouds Challenge. Help by submitting clouds, dust, haze or smoke observations (limit of 10 per day) to GLOBE using any of...
In the GLOBE Clouds protocol and GLOBE Observer app, you can report if your sky is “overcast” or “obscured”. But what’s the difference? Below are some tips to help! All the photographs featured were collected by observers just like you - Thank you!
I found “obscured” and “overcast” very confusing at first, but when I understood what they meant, things made much more sense. Let’s start by defining them:
Overcast – The sky is completely covered by clouds (cloud cover greater than 90%). This means that you will see little or no blue sky. When it’s overcast, you are looking at stratus...
NASA GLOBE Clouds team with summer intern (from left to right: Tina Rogerson, Kevin Ivey, Marilé Colón Robles.
The NASA GLOBE Clouds team has been delighted to have recent high school graduate Kevin Ivey this summer as our intern through NASA's Internships and Fellowships program [link]. Read about his experience this summer as he tackled big data!
I’m Kevin Ivey and I’ve been interning with NASA GLOBE Clouds at NASA Langley Research Center this summer. I graduated high school in June and I’ll be a first-year at the University of Virginia this fall where I plan to...
