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...

The newest satellite to monitor global sea level is ready for its journey into space. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, the latest in a series of spacecraft designed to monitor the global ocean, is scheduled to launch on Saturday, Nov. 21. Will you be watching?  Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, the latest in a series of spacecraft designed to monitor our oceans, is scheduled to launch from...

Did you know that very soon, a new Earth-observing satellite will join the fleet of satellites that are monitoring the health of our home planet? The launch of the joint U.S.- European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is set for November 10! Right now it is undergoing final testing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and will be sent aloft on a Falcon 9 rocket. Once it is in...

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...

  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...

The GLOBE Mission Mosquito campaign was delighted to have 23 IVSS projects submitted that used the Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool in their research. These projects came from students in elementary school through graduate students in college and were submitted from 15 different countries.  You can view an interactive map of these projects here.  During the GLOBE Mission...

This month, the GLOBE Mission Mosquito team is shining our "Spotlight" on the work that Diouf Birane and his students are doing in Senegal.   Birane Diouf and his students at the Lycee Seydina Limamoulaye are proud members of GLOBE’s “Zika Education and Prevention Project.”  In some areas in West Africa, certain insects carry and spread diseases like African trypanosomiasis...

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....

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...

The ENSO Phase III Field Measurement Campaign is focusing on “Water in Our Environment” during the 2017-2018 school year. Each month we have a webinar using Zoom, and we like to spotlight a different region each time. Our Feb. 8th spotlight will shine on the Near East and Africa. On February 8th, we would like to shine this spotlight on the wonderful GLOBE scientists, teachers, and students...

  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...

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...