Blog - Dorian Wood Janney

One of the things that I find the most inspiring about The GLOBE Program, is the rich collaboration that it enables us to have with each other. Speaking for myself, I now have friends literally all around the globe, because of my engagement and interaction with GLOBE. I thought I would take a little time to write about a very inspiring intergenerational collaboration that I have found...

  Did you know that NASA's Earth-observing satellites gather data that is being used by people all over the world to help respond to a variety of challenges? The 2022 GLOBE International Virtual Science Symposium is focusing on "Engineering Solutions for a Changing Climate". In this blog, I will share some information about the ways that Faisal Hossain, a Civil and Environmental...

Ever wonder what it might be like to work for NASA? This year at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting (kind of like a huge IVSS as it is virtual this year), NASA shared a wealth of resources to help anyone interested in working with or for NASA to "find their place"! Take a look at this site and explore the myriad of amazing opportunities and programs that exist for a wide...

Did you know that NASA satellite data is being used to predict,monitor, and respond to vector-borne and water-related disease around the world? Imagine the value of using both GLOBE ground-based data; such as precipitation, vegetation, soil moisture, surface temperature, and humidity; to help us better understand disease! As you think about what you might like to research for the...

A new study using NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission data entitled "Water vapor and soil moisture can predict afternoon rainfall" was recently published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal.  Many of us who use GLOBE protocols have wondered if we could use our data to help us answer some of the most challenging questions related to weather. This study might give...

I bet you would be surprised to learn that since we began to collect "Mosquito Habitat Mapper" data (5/29/2017), we have had over 20,915 observations submitted! Think about how significant that number is for a tool that has only been available for less than three years!  As many of us who live in the northern hemisphere begin to see signs of spring arriving- robins, crocuses, leaf buds on...

High school students in GLOBE teacher Mercy Molina's 11th grade class are working in five small research groups to investigate various aspects of mosquitoes in their region. Even though there will not be active mosquitoes during the time frame they will be doing their investigation (November through January), there are still many aspects of mosquitoes that they decided to learn more...

Did you know that the mosquito is the world's most dangerous animal? What could be a better topic for students to research than this common insect that can cause so much damage?  We are looking for teachers and students who are interested in using the GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper as a part of their IVSS science project investigation. You do not need to have active mosquitoes to do...

  Water- the world's most precious resource. All around the world, NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission is collected data on how much precipitation is falling to Earth. NASA has just released its newest and most comprehensive estimate of rain and snow covering nearly 20 years. Version 6 of NASA's IMERG -- the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation...

Water is essential to life as we know it. Too much or too little water can mean the difference between life and death. While we live on a "water planet" and almost three-quarters of our planet is covered with water, less than 2.5% of that water is actually freshwater. You can read more about Earth's freshwater resources in this article, "Precious Freshness", and watch the video "Show Me the...

  Have you ever wondered if you could compare the precipitation data you are collecting to NASA satellite data?  The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is celebrating the fact that we have just released the latest version of our IMERG data which includes nearly global precipitation estimates for the past two decades!  You can follow the directions here to find out...

GLOBE teacher Vicky Gorman and her middle school students have been working hard to help reduce the threat of mosquito-transmitted disease in their region. Before they began to use the Mosquito Habitat Mapper, they did some research to find out which mosquito-transmitted diseases are found in their location. They live in Burlington County, New Jersey, outlined in red below.  Based on a...

  Patchara Pongmanawut, a GLOBE teacher at the Princess Chulabhorn Science High School in the Trang Province in Thailand, has been doing fantastic work with her students.  These students have been at the top of the Mosquito Habitat Mapper Honor Roll for the past month, and show no sign of slowing down!     "In Thailand, there are many mosquito-borne diseases such...

It is the middle of winter here in Maryland, and it is cold!  We had a lot of snow last week, and are expecting more precipitation later this week.  Even though I know we have no active mosquitoes outside, I am still using the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper.  If you are also living somewhere where mosquitoes aren't currently active, we hope you will consider collecting...

We had a fabulous webinar this afternoon in which students in both North America and South America shared their work on using GLOBE protocols to learn more about water in their environment. Meriam Kalloe, the GLOBE Assistant Country Coordinator for Suriname, brought together many students from Anton Resida Middle School who shared information on their use of several GLOBE hydrology...

As spring begins here in the northern hemisphere, we often see seasonal changes in our precipitation patterns. As most of you know, heavy rains can result in the mass movement of land- known as "landslides".  These natural hazards occur all over the world, and often result in destruction of property and even death. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center are in the process of...

The GLOBE Program is in a unique position to provide citizens worldwide with amazing benefits. One of the biggest benefits, I feel, it that of gaining a larger perspective. I work at Goddard Space Flight Center with the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) mission. This Earth-observing satellite is able to measure global precipitation and update these measurements every 30 minutes....

Water- essential to life and capable also of causing so many natural disasters.. The ENSO Phase III "Water in our Environment" field campaign will be hosting a webinar this Thursday at 18:00 UTC/1 pm EST which will focus on "Connection and Communication" as we listen to students from Texas and Nigeria share ways they use The GLOBE Program protocols to learn about water in their environment....

Right now I am sitting in my home office, watching the trees bend as the wind howls. My automated weather station in my front yard has an anemometer that is simply going nuts, and the wind vane is wildly careening back and forth as the winds pushes in from all directions. We have had wind gusts that exceeded 40 mph and now my weather station is reporting sustained winds at 25 mph.  The...

We have all been dismayed to see the extent of the damage done during the recent landslides that occurred after forest fires had destroyed much of the vegetation, and then intense rain caused a horrific landslide to occur in Montecito. You can read more here about how NASA's Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 was able to acquire natural color imagery of the affected region both before...

As many of us have seen on the news recently, a great many people in southern California were impacted by mudslides last night. We know these dangerous natural disasters occur all over the world. Scientists globally are working hard to be able to better predict these devastating events. You can learn more about the use of NASA's satellite data to detect potential landslides...

  It turns out that we are most likely entering another mild La Niña winter across the globe. This article, “La Nina Makes a Quiet Return”, describes how scientists are able to use data on sea surface temperatures from were made by altimeters on the Jason-2 and Jason-3 satellites, and show averaged sea surface height anomalies. Climatologists are predicting...

Too much water can have devastating consequences when it falls too quickly on Earth's surface. On January 9th, the "Water in Our Environment" webinar will spotlight the experiences of our GLOBE community in Asia and the Pacific.  Earlier this week in the Philippines, tropical cyclone Kai-Tak wrecked havoc on this region as it caused extreme flooding and landslides. On December 4th and...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a hearing entitled "Gravity Never Sleeps: Landslide Risk Across the Country"at the Rayburn House Office Building that was intended to inform our lawmakers and government officials about the impacts of landslides in many parts of the United States. As the topic is related to our guiding investigative question for the ENSO Student Research Campaign- "What...

Sometimes, actually most of the time, I forget to be grateful for the fact that I have easy access to clean freshwater. When Thanksgiving rolls around each year, I try to step back and consider the many things I have to be thankful for. Day after day I work with the amazing science team behind the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, and I never cease to be completely amazed at how...

Many of us are so used to having clean freshwater that is easily accessible that we don't often stop to marvel at the fact that we are incredibly fortunate. The majority of our freshwater comes from our water cycle, and precipitation is unevenly distributed across the globe. You can learn more about the importance of clean freshwater resources in this "one-pager" entitled "Precious...

One way to teach students about water quality and/or how scientists go about their work is to share articles with them. Here is a great article entitled "Study Maps Hidden Water Pollution in U.S. Coastal Areas". This research shows a great example of the use of both NASA satellite data and ground-based data. In this study, the researchers used U.S. topographic data as well...

It is pretty neat when you can get two for the price of one- as most teachers can attest to with regard to trying to get everything into their curriculum. Did you know that this year, the FIRST LEGO League's challenge is focused on water. And what could be better, as that water is also the theme of this year's ENSO Student Research Campaign!  The LEGO Challenge Project states: "People use...

There will be a special Google hangout for GLOBE teachers and scientists on Feb 15 at 7pm (ET).  During this event, we will learn about the results of the research from several scientists who were onboard the research vessel, and will have a chance to ask questions about this work and results.  http://bit.ly/2lL4Kgd No registration required- open to any GLOBE teacher and/or...

One of NASA's scientists, Dr. Stephanie Uz, has been working closely with the GLOBE ENSO Campaign throughout its beginning. She is an oceanographer who studies the response of ocean biology to physical forcing through remotely sensed satellite data, in situ measurements, model output and statistical reconstructions using proxies. Her research focuses on variability in global ocean color or...