News - WestEd/UC Berkeley
GLOBE Community Contributes Invaluable Data During NASA GLOBE Trees Challenge 2022: Trees in a Changing Climate
The GLOBE Program would like to thank everyone who took, and submitted, vital tree height observations during the NASA GLOBE Trees Challenge 2022: Trees in a Changing Climate. The challenge, which ran from 11 October through 11 November, received 4,753 observations from 754 unique participants, including from 92 GLOBE schools. Those data points spanned more than 1,500 unique sites from 50 different GLOBE countries. The top five countries in terms of observations were: the United States (1,992); Poland (788); Croatia (292); Thailand (172); and the Philippines (167).
Trees and climate are intricately linked. Trees cool and moisten the air, fill it with oxygen, store carbon, create shade and habitats for other creatures, anchor the soil and slow the movement of water, and provide food, fuel, and building materials for human activities. Forests are one of the world’s largest banks for the carbon emitted into the atmosphere through natural processes and human activities, since trees store carbon as they grow. Carbon calculations help scientists forecast climate change.
Tracking how trees are changing over time – both in height and in the number of trees that make up an area – is also a good indicator of an ecosystem’s health in a changing climate. Both tree height and trunk circumference can help to measure biomass, the total mass of living material above ground in a particular area.
Your invaluable assistance in this challenge contributed to tree and climate science!
Participation Certificates Available
Everyone who participated in the challenge can download a participation certificate! To download a certificate, click here.
For more information on the challenge, click here.
News origin: GLOBE Implementation Office