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Discover how the GLOBE community is engaging in all things GLOBE through the community blog posts below.

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Consider the rain gauge used in GLOBE, CoCoRaHS, and other citizen science programs. Just four pieces plus 2 mounting screws – an inner graduated cylinder, an outer cylinder, a cap/funnel, and a mounting bracket. The area of the outer tube is exactly 10 times the areas of the inner tube and the cap/funnel, so the graduations on the inner cylinder can be spaced ten times further apart. Thus, 0.2 mm of rain fills the inner tube to a depth of 2.0 mm, which one can read. In addition, if heavy rainfall fills the inner cylinder, the rest of the rainfall overflows into the outer cylinder, ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: BACKYARD SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS ALUMNI


Please welcome Guest Blogger Shona Emery , a GLOBE 5th/6th Grade STEAM Teacher from Ellis School in Fremont, New Hampshire. This blog is the fourth in a series of posts by GLOBE teachers sharing classroom experiences to support the student research process. The series is supported by NSF funding for the United States Regional Student Research Symposia . If you are a teacher interested in contributing, please contact Haley Wicklein for more information. Specifically, we would love to hear from teachers who can share challenges and advice around the topic of student data ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS GENERAL SCIENCE   Investigation Areas: DISSOLVED OXYGEN FRESHWATER MACROINVERTEBRATES HYDROSPHERE WATER TEMPERATURE WATER TRANSPARENCY PH   Learning Activities: PRACTICING YOUR PROTOCOLS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS   Teacher's Guide: DATA SHEETS UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5 MIDDLE: 6-8 SITE DEFINITION SHEETS PROTOCOL INSTRUCTIONS FIELD GUIDES


Concerns regarding the impact of global warming on vector-borne diseases have intensified interest in the relationship between atmospheric factors and dengue fever incidence. Global climate change poses the threat of serious social upheaval, population displacement, economic hardships, and environmental degradation. Changes in temperature, rainfall and relative humidity have potential to enhance vector development, reproductive and biting rates, shorten pathogen incubation period and encourage adult longevity. In addition, changes in wind direction, velocity and frequency will have an ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE   Learning Activities: HYDROLOGY   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS


Please welcome Guest Blogger Jayme Margolin-Sneider , a GLOBE 6-8 grade science teacher and STEM Advisor from Westview Middle School in Longmont, Colorado.   This is the second in a series of posts by GLOBE teachers sharing classroom experiences to support the student research process. The series is supported by NSF funding for the United States Regional Student Research Symposia . If you are a teacher interested in contributing, please contact Haley Wicklein for more information. Thank you to Jayme for sharing this! Last year, I had two different groups of ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: MEETINGS COMPETITIONS SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS GENERAL SCIENCE DATA INCLUDED MEETINGS/CONFERENCES   News Topics: COMPETITIONS MEETINGS REGIONS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS


In most scientific research an important test is whether the results of an experiment can be repeated, typically repeated by another lab and research group. A result that cannot be confirmed in this way is generally viewed as invalid. This is a great test for controlled experiments where virtually identical experimental conditions may be achieved. In Earth science research involving observations of the natural world, experimental conditions cannot be reproduced. For environmental research the standard must switch for repeatable to intercomparable – capable of being compared. ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE BACKYARD SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) ATMOSPHERE BIOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI


Guest Blog by NASA SMAP Scientists Dr. Erika Podest and Dr. Narendra Das of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California USA. SMAP scientists are using soil moisture in a number of ways, ways that allow all of us to better understand water’s role on Earth: Weather Prediction : Water in the soil has the potential to evaporate (depending on atmospheric temperature and pressure) and when it does it plays a large role in cloud formation. Soil moisture also has a modulating effect on air temperature and humidity therefore having the ability to measure soil moisture ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SMAP   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


The SMAP Mission is vital to understanding our planet. Water is an essential source for life. By understanding the amount of water in the soil, or soil moisture, we can apply this information to many things. Monitoring Drought SMAP monitors soil moisture and provides critical information for drought early warning. In fact, a deficit in the amount of moisture in the soil defines agricultural drought. SMAP's measurements will come into play because researchers forecast a threefold increase in drought frequency in many regions of the world by the end of the 21st Century. ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: SMAP   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Weekly Report 1: 10/1/15 - 10/15/15 This report contains two weeks of data collection due to the beginning of the campaign on October 1, 2015: Volumetric Soil Moisture Measurements = 19 Participating Sites = 4 Schools Submitting Data: Shumate Middle School - Michigan - 8 data counts Ramey School - Puerto Rico -7 data counts The University of Toledo -Ohio - 2 data counts Thomas Edison Energy/Smart Charter School - New Jersey - 2 data counts Congratulations to those schools for getting a great start. Let's get more schools participating! Brian


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Field Campaigns: SMAP   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)   News Topics: COMPETITIONS   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Blog originally posted on the GLOBE Scientists' Blog:  http://blog.globe.gov/sciblog/2012/10/24/as-the-last-leaf-falls/ This was my first year doing the Green-Down Protocol with GLOBE. I am trained as an atmospheric scientist, so I have taken many atmospheric measurements over the course of my career. I had not ventured into the world of phenology until I joined GLOBE. More so, I am intrigued by this field of Earth Science, since it is closely connected to climate and can be a very good indicator of a climate change. This year, as part of the GLOBE Phenology and ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS


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


From January 22 to 26, 2012, scientists from around the world gathered for the American Meteorological Society annual meeting, which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Scientists from the GLOBE Program stayed next to the beautiful Mississippi River. The Mississippi River in New Orleans (photo courtesy of Dr. Donna Charlevoix) The Mississippi River is the lifeblood of New Orleans and has so impacted the city that the city was actually developed around it. The first buildings were constructed around the river edge, which has the highest ground, and now ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE   Primary Audience: STUDENTS


Sometimes in a rapidly changing world, it is difficult to see the effects that small changes in human lifestyle can have on not only climate, but on ecosystems.  Various countries and international organizations are working to pass legislation to ensure change.  One such case of legislation working is being observed in the San Francisco Bay – the return of harbor porpoises.  This was recently reported in the  QUEST biology blog . The map below shows the location of the San Francisco Bay, marked by the bubble with an A, from Google.  In 1972, ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE BACKYARD SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE


A few weeks ago, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) wrote about a report claiming that some of the fruit from native trees in Britain are ripening anywhere from 13 to 18 days earlier than they did a decade ago.  The report was from Nature’s Calendar, a data collection network in the United Kingdom.  While the cause isn’t specifically known, many believe it’s due to a change in climate. What does a change like this mean to the earth as a system? Scientists are interested in studying the connections between the different Earth processes – from how greenhouse ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM BACKYARD SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBE PROTOCOLS