Blog - Marile Colon Robles

Each cloud observation submitted using the GLOBE Observer app or through The GLOBE Program is compared to data from multiple satellites. A satellite match is when satellite data is identified that corresponds to a cloud observation. For orbiting satellites the observation must be within 15 minutes before or after a satellite’s overpass. Geostationary satellites, like the GOES satellites, are...

The NASA GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center is working with NASA scientist Dr. Bill Smith to use GLOBE Cloud observations made by people just like you to solve the Terminator Problem! Wait, what? Well, the Solar Terminator or twilight zone is that line that separates the daylit side of a planet from the dark night side. The image on the left is an example. It was taken...

In May 2020, citizen scientist Carmen Mandel met two major milestones: she marked her one-year anniversary of being a GLOBE Observer and she single-handedly expanded the Clouds satellite match data by 36%. Carmen uses GLOBE Observer to record clouds 2-3 times daily every time she gets a notification that a NASA satellite is overhead. She sends her data to GLOBE, but then she...

Images taken by Wilson Bentley and property of the Jericho Historical Society.  Did you know that clouds have names? As the title of the GLOBE Elementary book says, clouds do have names. Those names describe the altitude and the appearance of the cloud. Cumulus means pile in Latin, so the name is used to describe low puffy clouds in the sky. Cirrus means locks of hair, and is used to...

Scientists are wondering what is happening over Antarctica and where are the noctilucent clouds. Noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds are the highest occurring cloud types (form about 50 miles or 80 Km above the Earth's surface). They form in the Mesosphere and are thin clouds made up of ice crystals that form from left over fine dust from meteors. Because they are so high up in the...