July 2019 News Brief

July 2019 GLOBE News Brief

July Trees Around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign Intensive Observation Period

Has Begun!

Trees Around the GLOBE shareable for the July IOP

The next Intensive Observation Period (IOP) for the Trees Around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign takes place during the month of July (01-31). The focus will be on tree height.

IOPs are focused periods of time where participants are encouraged to collect data and enter them in the GLOBE database. Data that is collected during an IOP will provide other GLOBE students, scientists, researchers, and educators large amounts of concentrated data over a short period of time. This can also be referred to as "Data Density." Ground-based data density can serve as way to help validate data coming from satellites and airborne instruments.

Each IOP participant will receive a Virtual Tree Height IOP Badge. The GLOBE school with the most collected tree height data and additional protocol data will receive a virtual one-on-one Q&A session with a NASA scientist, researcher, or engineer; and a Virtual Tree Height IOP Winner Badge. The major goal here is to have students compare their measurements seasonally and with other GLOBE school measurements from around the world.

To learn more about the Trees Around the GLOBE campaign, click here .

To learn more about the Trees Around the July GLOBE IOP, click here .

News

Participating in Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign?

Read this Blog: “ICESat-2 Tree Height Data is Now Available...BUT”

Are you participating in the Trees Around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign? Then you may want to read the latest GLOBE Community Blog, ““ICESat-2 Tree Height Data is Now Available...BUT,” written by Brian Campbell, NASA Senior Earth Science Education Specialist.

“On May 28, 2019, NASA released ICESat-2 data through the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC),” Campbell explains in the blog, “This height data shows the elevation of ice sheets, sea ice, bodies of water, trees and forests, and much more. What we want for this campaign is to be able to compare student and citizen science tree height data to the ICESat-2 mission tree height data. Although the data are now public, it may not be in a form that is easily used for our comparisons, yet. We will be working with ICESat-2 scientists to determine the best way for us to use the data. Check out some of the tree height and canopy height data at NSIDC .”

You can explore the ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2) tree height and canopy data through the Open Altimetry Site . “I have created a short introductory video that shows you how to access the tree height data on GLOBE and the height data from ICESat-2,” Campbell said.

(NOTE: A few caveats...1) The ICESat-2 data available right now is slightly delayed. This is called data latency. Once all the data processing catches up, the normal latency for ICESat-2 data from measurement to public release is 45 days. Right now, it is a bit longer, since the satellite is relatively new; 2) Since the satellite is relatively new, we do not have ground tracks that cover everything. There will areas that only receive a nearby ICESat-2 track every so often. All I want to say is to have fun and explore the data.)

“Beginning this Fall, the second year of the Trees Around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign will commence. At this time, we will work with the students and teachers to help them compare their data to that of ICESat-2.”

To learn more about the Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign and ICESat-2, click here .

GLOBE Congratulates Top May 2019 Trees Around the GLOBE

Campaign Measurement Champions

T he GLOBE Program would like to congratulate the top most active Trees Around the Globe Student Research Campaign participants taking at least 10 measurements for tree height, greenings, and land cover measurements for the campaign in May!

Tree Height:

A. Majkut (Poland)
A. Edwards (United States)

Greenings (Green-Up/Green-Down):

O. Movchan (Ukraine)
B. Vasylchyshyn (Ukraine)
O. Danyliuk (Ukraine)
N. Boyko (Ukraine)
V. Badai (Ukraine)
I. Zakatiuk (Ukraine)
N. Borsuk (Ukraine)
L. Tyshchenko (Ukraine)
T. Mohylevska (Ukraine)
A. Dendyk (Ukraine)
T. Voltarnist (Ukraine)
Y. Postryhach (Ukraine)
N. Vol'nova (Ukraine)
B. Чичикало (Ukraine)
M. Dobrzycka (Poland)
V. Serpenskiene (Lithuania)
R. Gaidiene (Lithuania)
B. Noreikiene (Lithuania)
R. Ivanauskiene (Lithuania)
S. Balcarova (Czech Republic)
E. Lindsey (United States)
M. Vollebregt (Netherlands)

Land Cover:

J. Bowman (United States)
A. Majkut (Poland)
J. Szypryt (Poland)
V. Lorenzo (Japan)

Join the July GLOBE Mission Mosquito

Education and Citizen Science Webinars

GLOBE educators and citizen scientists (of all ages) – you are invited to join the following GLOBE Mission Mosquito (GMM) July webinars:

GMM Education Webinar #9 “Using NASA Earth Observations for Mosquito-borne Disease Applications – Tuesday, 09 July (2:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. UTC): Every wonder how and why NASA Earth observations might be used to predict, monitor, and respond to mosquito-transmitted disease? During this webinar, Dr. Ben Zaitchik will explain how and why he uses NASA Earth observations to conduct research on mosquito-related diseases. Participants will learn how to layer NASA data sets for their own use.

To register for the webinar, click here.

GMM Citizen Science Webinar #7 “What to Do About Data? “How Can Mosquito Citizen Science Data Protect Communities from Disease?” – Wednesday, 24 July (2:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. UTC): This webinar will discuss how the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool, and other mosquito apps, are working to reduce the risk of disease in communities. GMM team member Liz Burck (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies) will present a new educational resource.

To register for the webinar, click here .

To learn more about the GLOBE Mission Mosquito campaign, and to view archived webinars, click here .

South American Eclipse 2019 – 04 July Webinar:

“Share Your Eclipse Experiences”

On 02 July 2019, a total solar eclipse will pass across the southern part of South America. The eclipse will begin over the Pacific Ocean, and the lunar shadow will enter South America near La Serena, Chile, and will end near Chascomús, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Outside this path, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in the rest of Chile and Argentina, as well as in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay; and in parts of Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Panama.

On Thursday, 04 July (9:30 a.m. EDT/13:30 UTC), the webinar “Share Your Eclipse Experiences” will be presented. Taking place right after the eclipse, this webinar provides the opportunity for teachers and students to share experiences with a NASA and GLOBE audience. What did you observe in general during the eclipse? Was the experience what you expected?

This is Webinar #3 in a series of webinars that are intended for GLOBE teachers and students in South America (especially Argentina and Chile; however, they are open to anyone who is interested) to learn about eclipses, to prepare to collect GLOBE data, and to get some tips for analyzing the data they collect. The webinars will be held in Spanish.

To register for the webinar, click here .

To view the main page for webinars, click here .

GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project June Update

Spotlight on the GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project:

Latin America and the Caribbean Region

GLOBE would like to thank the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Region for their work on the GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention project. Over the last year, LAC has organized 54 Country Mosquito Trainings (CMTs) and Local Mosquito Workshops (LMWs); trained over 900 individuals; and added almost 11,300 data points to the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper (GO MHM) tool.

Students using the GO MHM tool

LAC facilitated two “Triple Frontier Mosquito Trainings,” which were collaborative regional trainings amongst project countries that share borders. Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay organized the first Triple Frontier in the summer of 2018; Colombia, Brazil, and Peru organized the second Triple Frontier in the spring of 2019. Most project countries in the region have completed CMTs and LMWs.

Students examining mosquito larvae

To watch student community mosquito stories from these events, click here .

To learn more about the GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention project, click here .

To follow along, and share your project updates on social media, use #GLOBEZika

GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project Presents Comic-style Book “Zika Zine”

The GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention project is happy to present, “Zika Zine.” Developed by UCAR SciEd, Zika Zine is a comic-style book that follows the story of three fictional mosquitos through their developmental life cycles in order to teach readers about the Aedes aegypti mosquito and the Zika virus.

The Zika Zine story shows students collecting mosquito larvae, using the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper (GO MHM) tool, to correctly identify mosquito species and to safely eliminate mosquito breeding sites. Zika Zine is a great resource for teachers, public health officials, citizen scientists, and community members; and to use at mosquito trainings.

Currently, Zika Zine is available online in English and Spanish (and will be available in Dutch, Filipino, French, Hindi, Nepali, Portuguese, Thai, and Vietnamese).

To read Zika Zine (in English or Spanish), click here .

To learn more about the Zika Education and Prevention project, click here . To download the GLOBE Observer App , click here .

Tech Update

In May and June 2019, GLOBE completed development on, and launched, the following:

GLOBE Teams – A GLOBE Team is a group of citizen scientists working together as an organization. Teams can be used to set up a competition, coordinate a community’s citizen science efforts, support an educational or corporate initiative, or simply enable a group of people to work together. Anyone can create or join a ‘team’ organization. For more information, click here .

Join a GLOBE School – Users also now have the ability to join a GLOBE school by using a referral code. Students, parents, and citizen scientists can now easily join a school in order to associate their data by using a private referral code. For new members, a school referral code can be entered when creating an account. Existing members simply need to navigate to a school page, click the “Join” button and enter the referral code. For more information on using referral codes for schools, contact GLOBE at help@globe.gov .

Check Out the Most Recent GLOBE Publication – See GLOBE

Data in Action!

GLOBE has a long history of sharing impact and science findings through peer-reviewed publications on the GLOBE website. The peer-review process ensures that published articles represent the best scholarship currently available. Each article that is submitted to a peer-reviewed journal is sent to other scholars in the same field in order to get their opinion on the quality of research, the relevance to the field, and its appropriateness for inclusion in the journal.

To see the list of publications , click here .

Have you published about GLOBE? If so, please let us know. We will add your publications to our list and share them with the community!

Simply contact us a t help@globe.gov – and see your data in action!

GISN Member? Have You Read the May 2019 Newsletter Yet?

Are you a member of the GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN)? If so, and if you haven’t had a chance already, take a minute and catch up on the latest GISN information – read the May 2019 GISN Newsletter by clicking here .

The GISN is an international network of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals who contribute meaningfully to GLOBE students around the world involved in scientific field investigations and research projects.

To learn more about the GISN is, and how you as a STEM professional

can participate, click here .

Keeping Up With GLOBE Star Stories? Read About Our Latest Stars!

Have you been keeping up with the latest GLOBE Star Stories? GLOBE Stars are stories of projects, people, and extraordinary activities being conducted around the world in connection to GLOBE. GLOBE Stars are the bright lights that spark our imagination and inspire us with news of GLOBE at work in the world.

Teachers from Every Region in the Philippines Participate in Crucial GLOBE Zika Mosquito Protocol Training and Community Science Fair – From 29-30 September 2018, teachers from all 16 regions in the Philippines to participate in the GLOBE Zika Mosquito Protocol Training and the GLOBE Community Science Fair – making it a nationwide training event.
Students Across Ireland Measure Air Quality as Part of GLOBE Air Quality Campaign 2019 – As part of the GLOBE Air Quality Campaign 2019, students from 30 schools across Ireland measured air quality at locations around their schools. Students measured nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a principal pollutant from car exhaust emissions – during the month of February, and investigated the results and potential impacts on their health and well-being.
GLOBE Thailand Engages in Series of 2018-2019 Trainings to “Shut Down Mosquito Population” and Reduce Threat of Mosquito-borne Disease – GLOBE Thailand engaged in a focused two-day training designed to teach more than 500 participants about the increasing threat of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases – and how to engage in data collection to help reduce that threat. This training, in turn, led to several additional trainings that took place throughout the country in 2018-2019.

Are you a GLOBE Star? Share Your Story!

Are you a GLOBE Star? If so, GLOBE wants to hear all about it! Send your story of people, projects, or activities to share on the GLOBE website. To learn more about GLOBE Stars, and to use the Star template for submitting your GLOBE Star Story , click here .

Now a GLOBE Teacher, Former GLOBE Poland Student Magdalena Przyluska “Transmits” Passion for Science and Nature to

Her GLOBE Students

“My adventure with GLOBE started 2000, when I was a student in the high school in Przysucha, in Central Poland,” Magdalena Pryzluska said. “I got interested in GLOBE as far back as at the beginning of my education there, because it concerned both the nature in the surroundings of our school, and the global environmental issues.”

After a year of participating in The GLOBE Program, Magdalena became the president of GLOBE activities at her school. “That is how my interests in geography and natural science started to grow.” In September 2002, she took part in GLOBE GAMES in Norway. “The wonderful impressions I had during my stay there, the unusual tasks and field games, will remain in my memory forever. It was a very stimulating experience, and a chance to meet people at my age from all around Europe.”

“The results of our measurements and investigations tuned out to be interesting for television. In January 2004, for the purposes of a Polish TV production, GLOBE participants joined in meteorology exercises in the geography laboratory. The TV program was later broadcast on the nationwide TV channel. The transmission of the program caused a great interest among headmasters and geography teachers. Many people phoned, asking us to speak about GLOBE to teachers and students.”

In 2011, Magdalena became a geography teacher in the Complex of Upper Secondary Schools No. 4 in Łowicz. “I participated in the training program for teachers from the schools that wanted to join The GLOBE Program. At present I teach in the High School No. 2 in Łowicz, and I cannot imagine our school not participating in the program. My students make atmospheric observations enthusiastically. They keep learning new things and they attend Polish GLOBE youth meetings”

From the very beginning of her teaching career, Magdalena participated in national conferences for teachers working with The GLOBE Program. “Those meetings are great opportunities to exchange many interesting experiences from our work at school. I hope that my school will be a part of The GLOBE Program for many more years, and that I will be able to transmit my passion for geography and nature to another generations of students, just like my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Daniela Maj, did for me.”

To read more about Magdalena’s story, click here .

Do you have a STEM Story to share with the GLOBE community?

Were you a GLOBE student and now you’re working in a STEM field? GLOBE is gathering stories of GLOBE students who have been influenced by their GLOBE experiences to either pursue STEM education or who are now working in a STEM-related career.

GLOBE would also like to hear from teachers who have sought further training in STEM subjects, either through GLOBE training or through other professional development training, in order to enhance their capabilities as teachers or for new careers in STEM.

Share your story today – inspire others to dive into STEM!

Download the template here . If you need assistance, send an email to help@globe.gov .

Opportunities for Teachers

(U.S. opportunities are often highlighted in the News Brief simply because we are more aware of them through our local media; however, if there are opportunities for GLOBE students and/or teachers in your region that you would like us to highlight in the coming months, please send the information to: communications@globe.gov . Thank you!)

NASA STEM Educator Webinars

The NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC) is presenting a series of webinars open to all educators. All pre-service, K-12, and informal educators, as well as university faculty, are invited to join NASA education specialists to learn about NASA missions, activities, lesson plans, educator guides, and online resources that integrate NASA and STEM into the classroom.

An upcoming webinar, “ Human Spaceflight: Train Like an Astronaut ,” is geared toward educators in grades 5-12. On Wednesday, 24 July, (5:00 p.m. ET), the NASA EPDC at Texas State University is providing a one-hour webinar. Join NASA in a variety of exciting STEM engagement activities to encourage students to participate in physical activities modeled after the real-life physical requirements of humans traveling in space. The “Train like an Astronaut” activities are a physical and inquiry-based approach to human health and fitness on Earth and in space.

Upcoming 2019 GLOBE Teacher Training Workshops

Some of the upcoming GLOBE teacher training workshops include:

Watsonville, California, USA (Elementary GLOBE Workshop): 11-12 July (open to all)
Institute, West Virginia, USA (West Virginia State University): 11 July (open to all)
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA (Integrating STEM in the Environment): 23-26 July (open to all)
Lelydorp, Suriname (GLOBE Zika Local Mosquito Workshop): 14 September (open to all)

No training workshops in your area? Check out GLOBE’s protocol eTraining . (In order to enter GLOBE data, GLOBE users must complete the necessary training either by attending a GLOBE workshop or by completing the required online eTraining modules. Once your training is complete, you will be ready to start entering your measurements – and will be joining a community of thousands of teachers around the world!)