News - NASA Langley Research Center

NASA's DISCOVER-AQ airborne campaign will be flying over the Houston area this September 2013, collecting data on air quality. In collaboration with this mission NASA Langley will be hosting a Train-the-Trainer for Texas GLOBE Partners. These Partners will in-turn, provide a local GLOBE workshop to teachers in Texas. The GLOBE Partnership at NASA Langley is looking to collaborate with GLOBE Partners in Texas to provide teacher training surrounding NASA's DISCOVER-AQ Mission. DISCOVER-AQ, a NASA Earth Venture program funded mission, stands for Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. DISCOVER-AQ is taking a closer look at the air quality near the surface of the Earth, helping us better understand the ingredients that make up the air we breathe. The mission will be collecting data in Houston, Texas this September. Learn more about the campaign at http://discover-aq.larc.nasa.gov/. NASA's Langley Research Center would like to collaborate with local Partners to provide GLOBE teacher workshops and help inform the community about the upcoming airborne campaigns. If your Partnership is interested in this collaboration, please contact: Jessica Taylor, NASA Langley jessica.e.taylor@nasa.gov  >>

The GLOBE Surface Temperature Train-the-Trainer workshop will be held on Friday, April 12, 2013 at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Trainers, Partners, and Teachers certified in Surf Temp are invited to attend a FREE Surface Temperature training by Master Trainer & Lead Scientist for this protocol, Dr. Kevin Czajkowski. Training will run from 9am - 2pm. Please be prepared to submit information for a visitor security badge, and plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early to pick up badge. Participants should bring a laptop. Participants should bring cash for lunch, or pack a lunch. Dr. Czajkowski leads a Surface Temperature field campaign every December to investigate issues related to how surface temperature changes with cloud cover, how land cover affects surface temperature, and how surface temperature observations can help interpret satellite imagery. Surface temperature is an important measurement related to Earth's radiation budget. Learn more at: http://satellitesk12.org/ Register at: http://www.globe.gov/news-events/globe-events/workshops  >>

On April 12 and 13 educators from across Virginia and North Carolina participated in GLOBE Surface Temperature workshops. Twenty-four educators participated in workshops with GLOBE Master Trainer Dr. Kevin Czajkowski, from the University of Toledo. The workshops were organized by the GLOBE Partnership at NASA Langley Research Center and sponsored by CALIPSO. Teachers and Trainers received hands-on training in using Infrared Thermometers to identify surface temperature. Participants collected and compared surface temperature readings from various surfaces, such as asphalt, grass, gravel, and water. The workshops challenged participants to identify a scientific question that their students could investigate using the GLOBE Surface Temperature protocol.  >>

On Monday, March 11 a teacher from Williamsburg Montessori School visited with scientists at NASA Langley Research Center to learn how her class can research ozone. The teacher received training in GLOBE's Surface Ozone, Clouds, Relative Humidity, and Air Temperature Protocols. The school is borrowing instrumentation through the GLOBE Equipment Check-out Program, established by the CALIPSO mission. GLOBE Master Trainers, Margaret Pippin and Jessica Taylor provided hands-on training to the teacher. Her class will begin collecting ozone measurements in mid-April.  >>

In the summer of 2012 the Principal at Northeastern High School contacted the GLOBE Partnership and NASA Langley Research Center about becoming a GLOBE school. One of his teachers came to NASA Langley for a one-week GLOBE workshop, but unfortunately, that teacher switched schools just a few months later. Northeastern High School didn't want those instruments to go to waste, so the Principal again contacted NASA Langley for support. On January 18, 2013, during a teacher work-day, Jessica Taylor traveled to Elizabeth City, NC to train a couple of Northeastern High School's Earth Science Teachers. As Taylor entered the teachers' classroom she saw the big blue binder- the GLOBE Teacher's Guide. One of the teachers had been trained in 1996 and wanted to start taking data again. During this focused GLOBE Workshop, Taylor worked with the teachers to set up their Atmosphere Study Sites and trained the teachers in several Atmosphere Protocols, including: Clouds & Contrails, Air & Soil Temperature, Relative Humidity, Surface Temperature, Barometric Pressure, and Precipitation. Over the next month Taylor will meet the students through a Virtual Classroom Visit. She will be tracking their progress and help the teachers and students investigate their data. We welcome Northeastern High School into the GLOBE community! Northeastern High School is supported by the CALIPSO Mission through the GLOBE Atmosphere Investigations Program.  >>

The 2012 Virginia Association of Science Teacher's (VAST) conference hosted three sessions focused on GLOBE. NASA Langley Research Center presented these sessions in the hopes of inspiring teachers to join the GLOBE program. Jessica Taylor, a GLOBE Trainer since 2004, showcased GLOBE resources focused on Elementary GLOBE, the Student Climate Research Campaign, and Temperature Investigation. In total, approximately 80 teachers attended at least one GLOBE session during the annual VAST conference. To access materials from the sessions, visit: http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/GLOBE/training-2.php .  >>

Each October, NASA joins forces with the American Geological Institute and their partners for Earth Science Week (ESW). It's a chance to give people of all ages the opportunity to explore the natural world and learn about the geosciences. NASA Langley researchers and staff celebrated this year's ESW, from October 14 to 20, in the local community through a storybook event. They visited about 50 Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms in Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson and York County this week to read stories about the Earth and talk to the children about how NASA studies our home planet. Volunteers gave a copy of the book to each teacher along with a folder of NASA Langley Science Directorate education resources and ESW packets. Read more about this event: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/researchernews/ScienceStorybook.html View more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larc-science/sets/72157632022342653  >>

Alec Weisman, a student at Baldwin Wallace University, recently completed an internship at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. During his summer internship, Alec worked with Dr. Margaret Pippin and Dr. Ali Omar to study aerosol optical depth (AOD). Alec used GLOBE's Aerosol Sunphotometer and compared observations using this hand-held device with AERONET (NASA's Aerosol Robotic Network) AOD and Department of Environmental Quality PM2.5 measurements. Alec found strong correlation between GLOBE sunphotometer 505 nm and AERONET level 1.5 AOD at 500nm. By graphing the data, Alec found the corresponding slope to be 0.9446, indicating that the correlation is nearly 1:1. He also concluded that for AOD values less than 0.4 the correlation is the strongest. During this summer experience Alec not only conducted research using GLOBE protocols, but he became GLOBE certified as a pre-service teacher. "I've been fortunate," Alec says, "to fall under the guidance of some great people throughout my life and because of their help I've been able to do some great things." Alec was selected for the internship after applying through NASA's One Stop Shopping Initiative: Student Online Application a for Recruiting Interns, Fellows, and Scholars (OSSI:SOLAR) program, found online at: https://intern.nasa.gov/solar/web/public/main/ .  >>

NASA Langley Research Center trained 20 teachers on GLOBE's Carbon Cycle project on August 7, 2012. The training was part of a two-week workshop for Virginia teachers in conjunction with the MODSIM World Conference. Teachers learned about earth systems and used modeling software to project climate impacts due to changes in carbon.  >>

Teachers engage in atmospheric investigations during week-long training at NASA Langley Research Center. During a recent GLOBE workshop at NASA Langley Research Center, teachers worked side-by-side with NASA scientists and educators to develop meaningful atmosphere investigations by using NASA's unique resources, including observations from advanced satellite systems and real-time measurements using GLOBE instrumentation and protocols. Throughout the week teachers learned about various atmosphere indicators including: Clouds & Contrails, Temperature, Surface Temperature, Relative Humidity, Precipitation, Barometric Pressure, Aerosols, and Surface Ozone. Teachers met with guest speakers from the Science Directorate and had the opportunity to ask scientists questions about NASA latest research, missions, and what it's like to be a scientist.  >>