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...
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!
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...
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...
"The global weather pattern that has been affecting the United States over the last 9 months is coming to an end, and now its sister is likely to take hold."
Check out this recent article - http://www.fox9.com/news/135728044-story
Water Availability can be defined as "The hydrologic capacity of a water source (surface water body, groundwater, municipal water) to sustain additional water demands after considering other current water uses and water conditions. (GEMI, 2012)
The Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission provides information on water availability and environmental stress for estimating plant productivity and...
The freezing and thawing of our planet's soil can make a big impact on our climate. Check out the blog below to see just how important this is.
SMAP’s focus also includes measurements of freeze/thaw, which tells us whether the land surface is frozen or thawed in areas north of 45-degree north latitude. This is very important to know, because when the vegetation is frozen there is minimal...
We are just about one month into the El Niño Field Campaign and we have many schools that have gone above and beyond expectations.
Teacher, Jeff Bouwman, at Shumate Middle School in Michigan, has taken his student science to the next level. By maximizing his classroom space to using the great outdoors to do great science, #GettingScienceDone is setting the bar high for student GLOBE...
"The Atlanta Science Festival is an annual public celebration of local science and technology. From March 19-26, 2016, curious people of all ages will explore the science and technology in our region and see how science is connected to all parts of our lives in 100 engaging events, including hands-on activities, facility tours, presentations, and performances throughout the metro...
Dramatic images show El Niño beginning to rescue California from its drought!
As you may know, the state of California has been facing drought conditions for some time now. Over the last few months, the El Niño phenomenon has brought much needed precipitation to the drought-stricken state.
Click HERE to read the full story and see the evidential images.
The SMAP Mission satellite launched on 31-January 2015 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Check out the video below to watch it take off!
How do SMAP Scientists Use GLOBE Data (Part II)?
Data Analysis and Blog by Dr. Erika Podest, SMAP Scientist
In order to start using GLOBE soil moisture data we need at least 15 measurements collected on days when SMAP flew overhead. The Varazdin School is an example of such and the chart below is a comparison between their data and SMAP soil moisture at 36 km2 spatial resolution.
Figure 2:...
How do SMAP Scientists Use GLOBE Data (Part I)?
Data Analysis and Blog by Dr. Erika Podest, SMAP Scientist
SMAP has been collecting soil moisture measurements since mid-April 2015, which are freely available, online through the National Snow and Ice Data Archive Center (NSIDC): https://nsidc.org/data/smap
Of utmost importance is to have an assessment of the quality of the data, which is why...
While your students continue to collect data for the El Niño Field Campaign, think about how you can have your students interpret the data they are collecting and expand upon its use. From science fair projects to student research projects to El Niño (ENSO) Tales & Stories (see below for more details), your students can come up with great ways to use the data they are collecting to tell a...
Fenómeno El Niño: 8 niños mueren en Piura por altas temperaturas
El Niño : 8 children die in Peru by high temperatures
It seems the effects of the El Niño phenomena has cause the death of eight children due to heat stroke.
Click HERE to see the original story, in Spanish.
Below is the entire article translated into English.
_________________
The high temperatures in northern Peru...
Did you know that soil moisture plays a vital role in human health? Those nasty little critters called mosquitoes love warm, wet soil, and can carry extremely dangerous viruses and diseases. We also can use SMAP soil moisture data to assist famine early warning systems.
Improved seasonal soil moisture forecasts using SMAP data will directly benefit famine early warning systems particularly in...
The NASA SMAP satellite took off for space on January 31, 2015 to study our planet's soil moisture and freeze/thaw state. Once in space, the satellite had to go through a prescribed series of steps to ensure that the spacecraft was functioning and all its instruments and components on-board were working properly. This took several months.
In mid-April 2015, NASA starting receiving its first...
There are many application for SMAP soil moisture satellite data.
Understanding drought risk is vital to the health of the planet and to the lives of potentially billions of people around the world. Soil moisture strongly affects plant growth and hence agricultural productivity, especially during conditions of water shortage and drought. Currently, there is no global in situ network for soil...
We all know that the SMAP satellite measures soil moisture. But, how does knowing our planet's soil moisture help us in understanding agriculture's reaction to it?
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...
From Dr. Erika Podest, SMAP Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
How do the measurements from different GLOBE protocols serve a mutual purpose better understanding our planet?
In previous blogs I’ve discussed the importance of soil moisture and how it plays a large role in weather prediction, flood and drought forecasting, plant growth, and even in pin pointing areas at risk for...
Hello from Medford Memorial Middle School in Medford, New Jersey.
The quest to get an accurate soil sample continues at Medford Memorial Middle School, Medford NJ. Hello, we are the students of Memorial’s Citizen Science Education Program. We’re excited to be part of the SMAP campaign, but have not yet been able to enter any data. Here’s a brief overview of our journey.
First, we...
Greetings from Alfred State College in Alfred, New York!
We are very excited to be participating in the NASA SMAP soil moisture sampling project. The project here is overseen by Jessica Hutchison, Instructor in the Department of Agriculture and Veterinary Technology. Two Agriculture Technology students, Kayana Fonseca and Peter Meyer, take samples and input data. We have one site, located...
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...
Have you ever wondered how the SMAP satellite, with an altitude of 685 km (425 miles) above the Earth, can take measurements as precise as the amount of water in the Earth's soil?
The quick answer is that it requires precisely calibrated instruments, along with a technological marvel in satellite design.
SMAP was designed to use a combination of two precise instruments, one with high...
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...
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...
Greetings from NASA and the SMAP Mission!
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission is an orbiting observatory that measures the amount of water in the top 5 cm (2 inches) of soil everywhere on Earth’s surface will soon be placed in a polar orbit around Earth.
The topsoil layer is the one in which the food we eat grows and where other vegetation lives. Moisture in the soil...
GLOBE Teachers and Students,
The GLOBE/SMAP Soil Moisture Measurement Field Campaign has begun!
To support this effort, the SMAP satellite mission invites GLOBE schools to participate in the 7-month-long soil moisture measurement campaign. Students will take soil moisture measurements following the GLOBE SMAP Block Pattern Soil Moisture (Volumetric) Protocol and input this data into...
Greetings from NASA and the SMAP Mission!
The SMAP Soil Moisture Measurement Field Campaign begins in 3 days.
The NASA SMAP satellite mission wants your soil moisture data.
Click HERE for more information.
Thank you to those that were able to join the webinars today.
If you were unable to attend, you can check out the recording of the webinar, presentation, and movie HERE!
This will be a great campaign and I look forward to working with all of you.
Remember, if you have any questions, please contact me Brian.A.Campbell@nasa.gov
The campaign officially starts on October 1, 2015 and runs until...
GLOBE Friends,
Greetings from NASA and the SMAP satellite mission!
As you know, The GLOBE Program has a collaboration with the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite mission. As part of this collaboration, we have developed the SMAP Block Pattern Soil Moisture Protocol, that allows for the collection of volumetric soil moisture measurements, just like the measurements we get from...
Mission managers for NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory have determined that its radar, one of the satellite's two science instruments, can no longer return data. However, the mission, which was launched in January to map global soil moisture and detect whether soils are frozen or thawed, continues to produce high-quality science measurements supporting SMAP's objectives...
SMAPpers,
The GLOBE/SMAP Soil Moisture Measurement Campaign is almost here! Beginning October 1, 2015 and ending April 30, 2016, we are hoping to get a wide array of GLOBE schools participating.
NASA launched an Earth observing satellite called Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) on January 31, 2015 and its purpose is to measure soil moisture globally with a high level of...
Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, are assessing an anomaly with the radar instrument on NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite observatory. The radar is one of two science instruments on SMAP used to map global soil moisture and detect whether soils are frozen or thawed.
See more HERE!
The radar measurements made by NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory are sensitive to whether land surfaces are frozen or thawed. As liquid water freezes in soil, the water molecules become bound in a crystalline lattice, which changes how the incoming radar energy from SMAP interacts with Earth's surface, compared to soil containing freely oriented liquid water molecules.
...
"With its antenna now spinning at full speed, NASA's new Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory has successfully re-tested its science instruments and generated its first global maps, a key step to beginning routine science operations next month."
Read more HERE!
Brian
So, now that we have a satellite in space called SMAP, why is the data from the spacecraft so important?
SMAP will help:
Monitor Drought
Predict Floods
Assist Crop Productivity
Improve Weather Forecasting
Linking Water, Energy, and Carbon Cycles
Read more HERE
To find our where the SMAP spacecraft is, at any time in relation to my school, you can check on the SMAP Orbit Calculator Tool!
As you might have noticed in the SMAP Block Pattern Soil Moisture Protocol document, we recommend that measurements be taken and collected around 9:00am local time. This is due to the SMAP spacecraft's 6am and 6pm local time equator crossings. In order to...
Hi Everyone,
This past week and a half has been rather quiet as we performed two orbital maneuvers. The first maneuver placed the spacecraft at an altitude closer to its final orbit. The second one slightly adjusted the inclination of the orbit to ensure that SMAP goes over the equator at approximately 6:00 am and 6:00 pm every day, which are the ideal times to obtain our science...
As you know, SMAP will be giving us unprecedented soil moisture data from around the Earth. But, did you know that SMAP is also looking at frozen soil?
Check out the article link below to learn more about this measurement and how it aligns to our better understanding of our ecosystem and climate change.
"Let It Go! SMAP Almost Ready to Map Frozen Soil"
SMAPtastic,
Brian
Hey All,
We just finished up a two-day GLOBE Train-the-Trainer Workshop at the GEMS World Academy in Chicago, Illinois. Trainers from across the USA came to learn about several NASA Earth Science Missions and their affiliation with GLOBE and associated protocols. Those missions are Cloud Satellite (Cloudsat), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP),...
Hi Everyone,
This past week has been smooth sailing as we tested both of our instruments, the radar and the radiometer. The radar’s high power transmitter was turned on as the spacecraft was flying over the North Atlantic and then over Greenland. The telemetry data looked great and the signals received clearly showed the transition from ocean to land (yay!). There were some biases with the...
Fresh off the recent successful deployment of its 20-foot (6-meter) reflector antenna and associated boom arm, NASA's new Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory has successfully completed a two-day test of its science instruments.
The observatory's radar and radiometer instruments were successfully operated for the first time with SMAP's antenna in a non-spinning mode on Feb. 27 and...
Hi Everyone,
The major milestone this past week was the deployment of the reflector antenna/boom assembly (RBA), which refers to a 5-meter (~16 foot) long boom that holds a 6-meter (~20 foot) diameter antenna at the end of it. For launch the RBA was folded against the spacecraft to fit within the launch vehicle fairing. The boom and antenna together weigh 58 kilograms (127 pounds). Yes,...
Hi Everyone,
A lot has happened since my last posting. The mission operations team has been hard at work testing the spacecraft and learning its intricacies. Having a new satellite in space is like driving a new car, it takes a little while to learn how it behaves and reacts.
This past week we’ve been testing subsystems and making sure that temperatures and voltages are within range. Also,...
WOW, WOW, WOW! Early Saturday morning, January 31, 2015, everything was a GO for the SMAP launch except the high altitude winds were too strong to proceed. Everyone was on edge and ten minutes before the scheduled launch time things turned for the better. The wind situation was deemed “green” and it was safe to continue. Whew!
The launch itself was an exhilarating experience. As the countdown...
The SMAP team would like to give a shout out to the schools in Trinidad and Tobago, Croatia, and Oman that have already started taking measurements with the SMAP Block Pattern Soil Moisture Protocol.
We are excited to compare GLOBE student data to the SMAP spacecraft data, once the spacecraft starts taking soil moisture. The SMAP spacecraft is currently working on the phase when we raise the...
Hi Everyone,
The Thursday before the launch of SMAP was a day of much anticipation and excitement. We were ready to go, but high upper winds caused the cancellation of the launch four minutes before lift-off. You might be wondering how we monitor wind conditions at high altitudes (in this case, thirty four thousand feet). We do it by sending up weather balloons ahead of time to make...
Hi Everyone,
My name is Erika Podest, and I am a scientist at JPL working on the SMAP mission. I’ll be writing about SMAP’s debut into space and providing updates during this exciting time. Welcome to my first post!
As a child growing up in tropical Panama and enjoying its exuberant nature, I always had a love for the environment. I went from playing in nature to studying it, and focused my...
