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GISN & STEM Professional's Blog
The GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN) and STEM Professional's Blog is an online collaborative effort where scientists associated with GLOBE post their thoughts, comments, and philosophies about a variety of science topics.
GLOBE strongly encourages positive and productive discussions to further advance the scientific understanding of all involved with The GLOBE Program.
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The weather has been really kicking up quite a bit of whacky weather in November. On November 2, 2021, the town of Kikonai in northern Japan’s Kokkaido prefecture set a record amount of rainfall of 2.2 inches (5.5 centimeters) in 10 minutes. Wow!! That’s a lot of rain in a short amount of time! You can see where the rainfall fell on the image below!
(credit: Extreme weather around the world amid COP26 - The Washington Post )
Meanwhile in Uzbekistan, it saw the worst dust storm in about 50 years! The dust finally settled on November 4, 2021 but ...
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Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Image Credit: Jenn Glaser, ScribeArts
If the last mosquito season felt longer, or if mosquito bites seemed to hurt more than you remembered, you didn’t imagine it! Mosquitoes respond sensitively to changes in heat, humidity, and precipitation, and serve as buzzy, annoying sentinels of our changing climate. Here’s how mosquitoes are letting us know our climate is changing.
With climate change comes an increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events -- think of this summer’s historic heat dome in the Pacific Northwest, the wildfires in the western ...
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Coming into the NASA SEES Internship, I had only ever experienced science through a
one-dimensional lens. I always knew the results, experimenting just to prove existing
knowledge. This internship taught me to look outside the box and challenge my preconceived
notions to discover new relationships that exist on our earth.
Through our weekly meetings, I got to interact with guest speakers and my mentors who were
taking on various projects in the field of epidemiology. Inspired by one such meeting where Dr.
Chellappan used machine learning to predict the mosquito species in an ...
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Stratus clouds are one of the three main types of clouds. Remember that there are many types of clouds that fall into three main categories: cumulus, stratus, and cirrus. Using hand-motions , we would stretch out our hands as far out as we could to mimic a stratus cloud. There are stratus-type clouds at all three basic altitude levels. These are: stratus clouds (low level), altostratus clouds (mid level), and cirrostratus clouds (high level). When stratus-type clouds are present, your skies will most likely be overcast or the cloud cover is 90% or more. Note, there is a ...
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Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
Have you ever wondered how NASA develops accurate models of the earth's surface from space? How do we know the topography of the planet, the behavior of the water cycle, or the changes to sea level? My experience with the NASA SEES Earth System Explorers virtual internship this summer gave me a glimpse into the process of how such data is collected, analyzed, and ultimately presented: remote sensing. The internship allowed me to empirically learn about the world around me through a combination of coursework, literature review, hands-on science, and collaborative research.
In ...
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Have you heard there is a new clouds project? It is called NASA GLOBE CLOUD GAZE. It is a merger of GLOBE Clouds and The Zooniverse online citizen science platform. A one-week pacing guide is now available!
Sky photographs are one of the most requested portions of a GLOBE Clouds observation. This is because there is so much you can do with them. Photographs give scientists the opportunity to be right there with you. Details within a photograph can be used to compare with satellite data, confirm dust or haze observations, and give insight to unique cloud types like ...
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Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
News Topics:
NEWS BRIEFS
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
After digging through my sea of emails, I remember the thrill I felt when I received my acceptance into the NASA SEES Internship Earth Explorers- Mosquito Mappers. Realizing this would be the first time I experienced a program remotely, my mind raced with questions. What will it be like, being part of a research team? What if I mess up the registration process? What would research look like? Although I wasn’t sure what to expect of the program, I was eager to discover what experiences and challenges await.
The first task was to collect mosquito samples. Never did I expect such a ...
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Investigation Areas:
MOSQUITOES
Background
Remote working and remote learning presented challenges to us all. As a Master Trainer in Colombia, Juan Felipe Restrepo Mesa faced and overcame his share of challenges when working with a new group of educators from rural areas. Most of the training material and the tests that need to be answered were in English. This, of course, means that citizen scientists who do not speak English were prevented from making their contributions living in those areas where GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper's contributions are essential.
Juan Felipe had to set up a MEET ...
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
I was excited when I heard that I got a second opportunity to participate in the NASA SEES internship. I was fortunate to be selected last year too. But when I found out that I was placed on the Mosquito Mapper team, initially I was a bit disappointed that I did not get my preferred choice. But I went in with an open mind.
In both years, the internship falls during my school year because in India summer break ends in May. But what made it more challenging this year compared to last year is that I had exams, I was selected to represent India in the prestigious International Linguistics ...
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Co-author and GLOBE Observer scientist Dr. Rusty Low (right) with co-author, Anita Schiller (left), Director, Biological Control Initiative, Harris County, TX, Precinct 4. “We encourage you to conduct your own local mosquito “expedition” and submit photos during the Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge.“ More details on the challenge are further below. Rusty: When we told our friends we were going to Tucson, Arizona to look for a specific mosquito, they didn’t believe us. How could mosquitoes thrive in a hot, dry desert? Well, they can’t, but not all of southeastern Arizona is ...
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The GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge kicked off Sunday, July 25 and continues through August 25, 2021. This challenge combines Mosquito Habitat Mapper and Land Cover (two GLOBE Observer app tools) to document areas with and without mosquito breeding habitats using only photos. A picture could be worth a thousand words. But can we use computers to tell us which words describe the content of photos? Your photo contributions could help us answer this question while supporting new NASA research projects. A Computer Must Be Trained To See There has ...
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Have you ever wondered what happens after you submit your GLOBE Observer data? Citizen science data has many applications and is also incredibly important for scientists who are working in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). This is because citizen science observations are an effective way to obtain the tens of thousands of photos needed to train, validate, and test predictive models developed using machine learning. This puts the photos that you upload using the Mosquito Habitat Mapper and Land Cover tools at the cutting edge of computational science research. There ...
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At the start of the month, i was invited by SAASTA, a body in South Africa that promotes science in schools to train teachers in 4 districts in 4 days in Mpumalanga. It took me 5hrs of drive from Pretoria to my first venue of training where 40 teachers from different schools welcomed us. Later on we proceeded to two other districts where at least 40 teachers at each venue were introduced to GLOBE, trained in two Atmospheric protocols, how to navigate the website, enter data and shown how to use the GLOBE observer App. The six hour day training empahasised the importance of intergrating ...
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GLOBE Working Groups:
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
Hi! My name is Om, and I'm a high school junior. This summer, I participated in the SEES Internship Program a partnership with UT Austin and NASA, and worked with the Mosquito Mapper cohort. The goal of the Mosquito Mappers is to collect mosquito larva, analyze this data, and draw conclusions about mosquitoes and their land cover habitats. I started the internship in early June with an introductory webinar where I met scientists, mentors, peer mentors, and more. I gained an overview of the expectations and outcomes that I would strive for during the following months. The goal of the ...
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Many protocol-trained GLOBE members may have noticed a recent update to the GLOBE Program’s GLOBE Observer app. The change brings a new look and a new way to submit GLOBE atmospheric measurements. If you were used to entering meteorological conditions in the Cloud Tool, you’ll see this option is no longer there. Don’t worry, you can still submit these observations through the Atmosphere Data Entry section. You just need to do a few extra steps to get it all set up. The new update gives you the opportunity to save your favorite or go to observations as a bundle, a step you ...
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GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
Hello, I’m Prayag Sreenivasan, and I’m a student in the NASA SEES 2021 MosquitoMappers internship. A big part of the internship is doing hands-on research projects ourselves. With the Mosquito Mappers team, we were to utilize land cover data and mosquito mapper data with GLOBE to study mosquito populations with our projects. The first project we were assigned was to cultivate mosquitoes in about five different traps and observe how a difference in the trap environment would affect the growth and development of the mosquito population for each trap. I have a large backyard, with a very ...
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Investigation Areas:
MOSQUITOES
Aseel, a SEES 2021 Earth System Explorer/Mosquito Mapper shares this research.
This summer, I am delighted to have a unique opportunity to dig deeper and learn more about mosquitoes, trends in larval habitats, and environmental satellite data. It's giving me a chance to expand my knowledge about mosquitoes. Last year, I researched and developed a low-cost and environmentally sustainable mosquito larvicide for use in large-scale vector control.
Because vaccines and specific treatments for most MBDs are not widely available, vector control, or the preemptive reduction of disease ...
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Paxton C, spent the summer of 2021 involved with a virtual NASA internship, the STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) Program, through the Texas Space Grant Consortium. More specifically, I am working on the GLOBE Mosquito Mappers Earth Explorers Project, where I am studying mosquito habitats and vector-borne disease alongside mentors and fellow interns from all over the nation. To get going with the internship, our mentors directed us to set up our own local ovitrap experiment. I decided to investigate the effect of natural bait type on the oviposition preferences of Central ...
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Ali Rospond, Museum Education Coordinator, American Philosophical Society.
Imagine Philadelphia in 1793. The growing city had a population of 50,000 of which around 2,000 were black Philadelphians, 310 of whom were enslaved. The city was the center of government, trade, science, and medicine. The country was still trying to find its footing; the U.S. Constitution was signed only six years prior in 1787. Then, tragedy strikes as yellow fever breaks out in 1793, killing 5,000 people, 10% of Philadelphia’s population.
Philadelphia’s doctors were debating throughout ...
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Please join us on July 22 @ 6EDT/3PDT! GLOBE Partner, Los Angeles Public Library, is hosting this family-friendly webinar for ages 8 and up on the upcoming Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge. The webinar is open to all-share with family, friends, and networks. Register at: bit.ly/july22mosquito For more information about the challenge: https://observer.globe.gov/mosquito-challenge Or watch this short (5min) video: https://youtu.be/1nmAdLdxzLE
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