Community Blogs
Community Blogs
Discover how the GLOBE community is engaging in all things GLOBE through the community blog posts below.
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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 ...
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Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
CLOUDS
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
COMPETITIONS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
SCIENTISTS
Teacher's Guide:
GRADE LEVELS
INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS
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 ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
AEROSOLS
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
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 ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
OTHER
COMPETITIONS
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
CLOUDS
News Topics:
COMPETITIONS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
Teacher's Guide:
GRADE LEVELS
The GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA would like to highlight the top observers for the month of January! Thank you to all observers for submitting your observations and using the satellite matching of data.
Top 10 cloud observers for January 2018
Observer
School
Country
Total Observations
Ebtisam Nahhas
19th Secondary Girls School at Al-Madinah Al-Monawarah
Saudi Arabia
121
Helio Cabral ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
News Topics:
COMPETITIONS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
ALUMNI
Friday, February 2nd is Groundhog Day and some of us will be waiting to see if Punxsutawney Phil saw a shadow or not! Punxsutawney Phil and other groundhogs have been predicting the arrival of Spring for many years and has intrigued us all.
NASA Education Specialist
Dr. Anne Weiss
NASA Education specialist at NASA Langley Research Center, Dr. Anne Weiss, was gathering cloud and temperature data while visiting her nephews (3rd, 5th, and 8th grade) when they got talking about Punxsutawney Phil. Her nephews were questioning if Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast would affect ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
EDUCATION RESEARCH
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
BACKYARD SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
CLOUDS
Learning Activities:
ESTIMATING CLOUD COVER
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
Satellites can detect and collect a lot of observations in very short amount of time. It is simple to think that anything that is white in an image is a cloud. Well, not always.
Look at these beautiful images taken by the GOES 16 satellite of the recent "Winter Weather Bomb" that left a blanket of snow from South Georgia to New England on January 4, 2018. Click here and watch a loop of images from the GOES 16 satellite for January 4, 2018.
GOES 16 Image taken on January 4, 2018 at 171720Z
GOES 16 Image taken on January 4, 2018 at 201720Z
...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
EDUCATION RESEARCH
Event Topics:
OTHER
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GENERAL SCIENCE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
Investigation Areas:
CLOUDS
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
The GLOBE Clouds team loves coming up with ways to help students and teachers identify clouds. I've been blessed to visit a number of 4th grade full inclusion classrooms and want to share my quick cloud ID and data collection activity outline!
Anchor question: Do all clouds look the same, even from space?
Goal: Students identify, collect and submit cloud observations by using their own notes and clues for each possible cloud type.
Objectives: Students will,
(A) Recognize that clouds are part of the water cycle.
(B) Investigate cloud types ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5
RESOURCES
The journal Scientific American just published a blog about GLOBE. The post, titled " The GLOBE Program: Making the Case for K–12 Citizen Scientists " discusses several aspects of GLOBE, including our contributions and campaigns. As well, it helps explain our mission of providing the resources for students across the world to become citizen scientists.
"Contributing to global datasets not only gives students a chance to collect data that scientists can actually use, but allows them to compare their experiences and findings with other students around the world."
To read more ...
Posted in:
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
OTHER
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
BACKYARD SCIENCE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
Observations of daily precipitation have been a part of GLOBE from the beginning. At the start, GLOBE’s participation model was that schools would take measurement following all of the original 17 protocols. Atmosphere temperature, precipitation, cloud, and soil moisture measurements were to be collected daily at a site easily accessible to the school. A permanent installation of an instrument shelter containing a max/min thermometer mounted to a post along with a rain gauge was the expected norm with other measurements taken nearby. Daily temperature and precipitation measurements were ...
Posted in:
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
GPM
GLOBE Science Topics:
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
Teacher's Guide:
DOCUMENT TYPES
From the start, the measurement of daily maximum and minimum air temperature within one hour of local solar noon has been a key GLOBE protocol. The low cost approach was to use a U-tube thermometer housed in a wooden instrument shelter facing away from the equator. The U-shaped tube contained mercury with pins on either side of the mercury. As the air temperature warmed the pin on one side would move while the other pin stayed in place; when the air cooled, the pin on the other side would be pushed up. The pins were held in place by magnetized strips behind the thermometer tube so that ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
TECHNOLOGY
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE
GLOBE Working Groups:
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
These are the results from my surface temperature experiment that I discussed in my previous blog post (same title, part 1).
Results and Conclusion :
Figure 2: Graph of average surface temperatures of the three surfaces over three days including air temperature data lines.
My results show that my hypothesis was half right (remember, it’s ok if your data results do not match your hypothesis!). During the day, asphalt was the hottest, concrete was in the middle, and grass was the coolest. The surface temperatures of all three dropped at night, however, I was ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
DATA INCLUDED
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
In case you missed it, last month, was all about the 2017 International Virtual Science Symposium . There were over 140 entries from all 6 GLOBE regions. Students submitted reports about their research on all of the “spheres” (hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, and earth as a system) and they were reviewed by a panel of scientists, teachers, and science enthusiasts to be rewarded with stars and badges.
I had the wonderful privilege of being able to read through and review several projects. I was blown away with the thought and hard work that went into these ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
DATA INCLUDED
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
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
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
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
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 ...
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 ...
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