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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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I just came across an article that discusses the impact of the 2015-2016 El Nino on landslides in California. You can read it at this link: http://landslides.usgs.gov/monitoring/2015elnino/ncal.php.
How would you think that the El Nino impacted the incidence of landslides in that region? Historically it is the large winter storms that cause the devastating landslides in the Francisco area. What do you think causes landslides to occur anyway?
If you look at this website, you will learn about the different types of landslides and see records about how the El Nino conditions ...
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As you might know, NASA came out with a statement that July 2016 was the hottest month on record, ever! Since the 2015-2016 El Niño event began in October 2015, each month has set a new record for the hottest month on record. Even though we are currently in a period of neutrality, we are on the tails of an El Niño and quite possibly about to enter a La Niña.
"Since October 2015, every month has set a new global record for hottest temperatures. It coincides with an unusually strong El Niño Pattern which caused severe heat and drought across Southeast Asia, as well as raising ...
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Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
I just read a fascinating article from National Geographic that was published yesterday entitled "How La Nina Could Affect the Spread of Zika": http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/will-la-nina-affect-the-spread-of-zika-/.
Before you read the article, stop and consider how the temperature and precipitation patterns in your local region changed as a result of the El Nino. In my area, the greater Wash., D.C. metropolitan area, we had warmer temperatures and more precipitation. Then consider how the change in weather patterns might impact mosquitos- which in my case would mean more ...
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Plants need light to grow. They also require nutrients. For tiny marine plants, called phytoplankton, those nutrients are often brought up from the ocean’s cold, deep waters to the surface by mixing. But this normal circulation gets disrupted during El Niño years, when huge masses of warm water—equivalent to about half of the volume of the Mediterranean Sea—slosh east across the Pacific Ocean towards South America. The change can have fatal consequences for phytoplankton in the eastern equatorial Pacific.
Here is the full story with associated images and video!
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Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
Check out the latest and greatest images, from NASA, associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event.
These images that you will see show sea surface height anomalies with the seasonal cycle (the effects of summer, fall, winter, and spring) removed. The differences between what we see and what is normal for different times and regions are called anomalies, or residuals. When oceanographers and climatologists view these "anomalies" they can identify unusual patterns and can tell us how heat is being stored in the ocean to influence future planetary climate events. Each ...
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Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
US La Nina forecast: Snowy winter on tap for East; Dry weather to alleviate flood woes in South Central!
Check this out!
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Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
10. El Niño Student Campaign Refresher and Update - Wednesday, September 21st, 2016 8:00 pm EDT (12:00 am September 22nd UTC)
In this hour-long webinar, participants will get a refresher on this campaign, and will hear from several GLOBE teachers who have been involved with their classes from the start of the campaign. We will discuss the need for ongoing data collection and share the current state of the ENSO cycle. We will have a NASA scientist discuss the current state of the ENSO cycle and what it might mean for weather conditions for the remainder of this campaign. ...
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Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
A heat lamp and reflector socket with a spring clamp may be purchased on-line for as little as $26. The amount of time required to dry samples depends on many things including the wetness of the initial sample, the soil characteristics, the relative humidity, and the temperature to which the sample is heated. GLOBE protocols specify that samples are not to be heated above 105 o C. In using a heat lamp, the temperature to which the sample is heated depends on the wattage of the bulb and the distance between the heat lamp and the sample bag.
I have tried drying a sample using this ...
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Phenology: Community Storytelling in Action
(This is a continuation of my blog about Rising Voices. Click here to see the first blog entry in this series.)
"How healthy is our reef?"
The following day, after meeting Aunty Pua Case and hearing about the sacredness of Mauna Kea and touring the Mauna Loa Observatory, we went to the Ka’upulehu Interpretive Center to learn about place-based learning in Hawai’i. There, we met Aunty Lei - another powerful educator and leader who talked about the educational center that they created in their community and some of the ...
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Blog Two
(This is a continuation of my blog about Rising Voices. Click here to see the first blog entry in this series.)
Part One: Mauna Kea
“Let’s do something that is right for our mountain, and our people, and our mountain.”
Location: Pu’uhuluhul, base of the Mauna Kea Mountain, en route to Mauna Loa Observatory
We arrived at the base between two mountains: Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. We met Aunty Pua Case, who shared the importance of Mauna Kea to the people of Hawai’i and led us through a cultural protocol to recognize the sacredness of the space. Similar to ...
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Blog One: Rising Voices: Collaborative Science with Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Solutions
Credit: Craig Elevitch
Nana ka maka, look with your eyes.
Ho'olohe ka pepeiao, hear with your ears (not your Heart).
Paa ka waha, shut your mouth.
Hana i ka lima, work with your hands.
According to the United States National Climate Assessment 2014 , “c limate change threatens Native Peoples’ access to traditional foods and adequate water. Alaskan Native communities are increasingly ...
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El Niño Field Campaign members, teachers, students, and campaign team at the 20th GLOBE Annual Meeting in Estes Park, Colorado 16-21 July 2016! Keep up the awesome work!
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Hello again! Our GLOBE Technology Working Group is meeting again. This annual meeting is in Estes Park, CO. A great get together with members, students, trainers and country coordinators from around the world (GLOBE)!
Here is a spherical panorama of our working group doing the important business of reviewing all our recent work, etc.
GLOBE annual meeting (Estes Park, CO), Technology Working Group break out session. Discussing annual progress and challenges. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
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GLOBE Working Groups:
TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP
See the latest and greatest satellite imagery of our current El Niño leading up to a potential La Niña!
See more HERE!
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GLOBE friends,
The Annual Meeting in Colorado is only a few days away! We -the members of the Evaluation Working Group- are really excited about having the opportunity to meet in person again and about having the chance to interact with all of you.
Join us for our presentations to see what we have worked on for the past year. Our efforts will be much more targeted and much more effective if you share with us your experience of using GLOBE with your students. We would like to know your success stories, your challenges, your concerns and your suggestions.
At ...
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GLOBE Working Groups:
EVALUATION WORKING GROUP
Have you ever wondered why you need to take so much data via the GLOBE Protocols?
Are you part of the GLOBE El Niño Campaign.
This articled entitled, "El Niño is over, and nearly all the forecasts got it wrong", really hits home with the idea that a global event like El Niño is so unpredictable. So many parts of the environment are being affected it is really hard to predict how each environment will respond to the changes an El Niño event can bring.
Read the article HERE!
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If you clicked on a link to this page due to some intriguing headline, I hope you will not be too disappointed. A momentary lapse in judgement inspired me to ask the GLOBE Implementation Office (GIO) for a Blog tab and now that it is here; it’s been waiting for some content.
My intent was to fill this with guest bloggers, U.S. teachers in particular, writing about how they are implementing GLOBE in their classrooms. There weren’t any volunteers. [sad face]
Until I can entice a couple of GLOBE teachers, you get me, Jen Bourgeault. I have had the pleasure and honor of being the U.S. ...
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Guest Blogger: Pat Benner from Somerset County Schools, Maryland and her students.
Sixth grade students at Somerset Intermediate School on the Eastern Shore of Maryland are currently studying weather, climate, and human impacts on Earth systems, synthesizing our year-long study of Earth science. We monitored and measured weather conditions daily for five weeks as we researched and analyzed the factors that influence weather phenomena. After identifying trends and cause effect relationships, we graphed ...
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The 2015-2016 El Niño Event - Tuesday May 17th, 2016 8:00 pm EDT (12:00 am May 18th UTC)
In this hour-long webinar, Dr. William Patzert , a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will share the current state of the 2015-2016 El Niño event, and will discuss whether this El Niño matched the predictions for how global weather patterns would be impacted. Participants will also learn how to use the GLOBE data visualization tools to compare and contrast the El Niño Student field campaign variables from schools around the world from David Overoye ...
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Bird Beaks and What they Eat
Overview:
Students identify ideal beak shape for food.
Age:
Upper primary (4th and 5th graders) assisted 1st graders
Materials:
Bird beak/food handout
Straws
Dixie cups
Juice
Tweezers
Bowls
Wild grain rice
Slotted spoons
Cooked noodles (macaroni or similarly shaped)
Chopsticks
Gummy bears
White rice
Scissors
Marshmallows (jumbo)
Plan:
Ask students why birds have beaks and what they are used for - allow time for discussion. Read a book about beaks to the group. I used ...
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Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
Learning Activities:
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
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