GLOBE News Brief – October 2025 | | |
Dear GLOBE community,
The U.S. government shutdown over funding legislation will disrupt non-essential government services and programs, including GLOBE, until Congress is able to agree on new legislation or a continuing resolution to continue government funding. Starting 1 October and throughout the shutdown, the GLOBE websites and app will not be updated with new content and communications will be limited. However, your observations can still be submitted and the current content on the site will be available! The GLOBE Data and Information System (DIS) will continue to automatically back up all GLOBE data, files, and source code daily.
Due to the U.S. federal government's shifting priorities in 2025 and related funding decisions, GLOBE has had to reduce staffing. Please continue to contact us at help@nasaglobe.org with any questions or concerns, but we ask that you be patient with updates to the website and/or app and expect slower than average replies.
We also had to abbreviate the 2025–26 GLOBE Student Vlogger program but encourage you to watch the fantastic biome videos they created and stay tuned for an upcoming series on ecological disruptions.
Despite reductions in staffing, we continue to work diligently to host community events, provide robust communications, simplify and update training materials for selected protocols, and determine ways to make it easier for participants and scientists to use GLOBE’s archived data.
We will do our best to address your questions in upcoming information sessions (dates/times to be announced) after the shutdown is over. Please know that we are committed to “Doing GLOBE” and keeping things running as long as we can!
We have a lot of exciting collaborations happening right now—with the NASA (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation) GEDI mission, NASA Response Mappers, Business Professionals of America, and more in the works—in addition to the amazing work happening in and out of schools and communities in all six of GLOBE’s regions. Let’s keep the momentum going and enjoy what GLOBE offers for as long as we can.
Best,
| Rebecca Lewis and Becky Boger, GIO Co-Directors | | NASA Response Mappers Pilot | | |
The NASA Disasters Response Coordination System (DRCS) team led a webinar in September (view recording) to share a mid-season glimpse at the data collected to date for the NASA Response Mapper pilot.
They encouraged the GLOBE community to take Land Cover observations and asked for members in the southeastern United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands to join the NASA Response Mapper team and take reqular observations using the GLOBE Observer app this hurricane season (1 August–31 October).
| | Building Workforce Skills | |
Join us for a Business Professionals of America (BPA)-hosted webinar on 23 October at 7 pm ET (23:00 UTC) as BPA highlights an opportunity to use GLOBE skills in a 2026 Workforce Skills Assessment Program (WSAP) competition for middle, secondary, and post-secondary students in the US.
The competition topic will be Smart Solutions for a Healthier Planet: A GLOBE Community Journey with IoT. Competitors will be tasked with creating a 2–3-minute 2D animation that showcases a diverse group of students or citizens scientists from different parts of the world using Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart technology—such as sensors—to observe, collect, and share environmental data through the GLOBE Program.
Learn more about the competition and register for the webinar.
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These virtual sessions are designed to support the community by fostering collaboration, advancing scientific knowledge, and sharing innovative strategies.
Upcoming Sessions: Register Today!
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Training on Recent GLOBE Website Updates for Regions | 14–30 October: Join Cornell Lewis of GLOBE’s Data and Information System (DIS) team for an overview of the new content management tools available for site managers. The sessions are region-specific. Register.
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Connecting GLOBE Observations with X-Snow and Blowing Snow | 23 October, 11 am ET (15:00 UTC): Join us to hear from Marco Tedesco and Bill Line, who lead efforts to advance understandings of snow on the ground and lofted high in the air. Learn how ground-based measurements using GLOBE protocols can fill gaps in snow measurements and weather warnings. Register.
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Member Recognition (Lifetime Achievement) | 6 November, 10 am ET (15:00 UTC): Celebrate the GLOBE Lifetime Achievement Award honorees—Elena Bautista Sparrow, Ines Maria Mauad, Patchara Pongmanawut, Diana Garsic, and Ylliass Destin Lawani—whose long-standing contributions have helped shape the GLOBE community worldwide. Register.
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Highlights from GLOBE Science Activation (SciAct) Projects | 13 November, 10 am ET (15:00 UTC): Learn about how five NASA-funded initiatives expand the use of GLOBE protocols through varied partnerships that include librarians, informal educators, and rural and Indigenous communities. Register.
Additional Learning Sessions on topics such as Lake Observations from Citizen Scientists and Satellites (LOCSS) will be announced in the coming months.
Session Materials and Recordings
2025 GLOBE Annual Meeting
Previous Learning Sessions
| | October Technology Update |
New Data Entry Forms
GLOBE’s new desktop forms for data entry now include fields for all GLOBE spheres! With this update, we recommend that all users switch to the new data entry forms. Learn more.
Overview of Updated Website Management Tools
Join Cornell Lewis of the DIS team for an overview of the new content management tools available for regional site managers in upcoming GLOBE Learning Sessions. Register.
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30 Years of GLOBE: Comparing GLOBE Data Past and Present
The 30 Years of GLOBE Campaign has been extended as we continue to celebrate GLOBE’s 30th Anniversary in 2025! Start participating today by collecting and submitting GLOBE data, incorporating data from the GLOBE database into a project, or watching a past campaign webinar. Be sure to fill out the Campaign Participation Form to receive your official 30 Years of GLOBE Campaign badge.
View the 30 Years of GLOBE Campaign YouTube playlist for an archive of the campaign's webinars.
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Mission Mosquito
Upcoming Webinar
Around the World with the Mosquito Habitat Mapper App | 16 October at 3 pm ET (19:00 UTC). Join GLOBE Mission Mosquito Lead Scientist Dr. Rusty Low to learn about the new practice mode in GLOBE Observer and how you can use it. Register.
Webinar Series Recordings
Teaching with EMERGE and GLOBE Mission Mosquito
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Session 1: Participants learned how students can collect mosquito habitat and land cover data with the free GLOBE Observer app, then completed a guided coding assignment to visualize those observations on maps and explore connections with NASA satellite data.
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Session 2: Participants regrouped to review the coding assignment—troubleshoot issues, share sample outputs, and discuss strategies for adapting the lesson in classrooms, afterschool programs, and libraries.
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GLOBE Observer Connect
Practice Mode | October Webinar
Tucked away under “settings” is an exciting new feature of the GLOBE Observer app: practice mode. On 23 October at 12 pm ET (16:00 UTC), the app’s lead developer, Joseph Wieclawek, will join Holli Kohl and Kristen Weaver from the GLOBE Observer team to introduce practice mode. Learn more and register.
Impacts of NASA Response Mappers | November Webinar
The NASA Response Mappers pilot was meant to test how well citizen science observations can fill gaps in satellite data after a disaster strikes. Join us on 13 November at 12 pm ET (17:00 UTC) for a GLOBE Observer Connect conversation with members of the NASA Disaster’s Program. They will share what they learned from the NASA Response Mappers pilot project and how the project impacted disaster impact mapping. Learn more.
Matching Land Observations with Satellite Data | September Webinar Recording
In this webinar, participants learned about how GLOBE Observer matches your data to satellite data, where to find satellite comparison information for any new GLOBE land cover observation, and how to interpret the comparisons. Watch the GO Connect webinar recording.
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Biome Videos
Our GLOBE student vloggers have been creating videos about the biomes in which they live. In these videos, they discuss how these biomes are shaped by local factors such as temperature, rainfall, elevation, and soil type. View their videos.
| Regional Campaigns and Highlights | |
Africa
GLOBE Africa Tree Measurement IOP
This IOP has been extended! All regions are invited to collect tree measurements (height, diameter, and species) from 1 September through 31 October to support research by University of Northern Arizona scientists. The data collected will provide ground validation to improve NASA’s Earth Systems Monitoring GEDI L4a biomass product. Learn more.
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Latin America and Caribbean (LAC)
Trees Within LAC Campaign
The GLOBE community in Latin America and Caribbean successfully completed the July–August 2025 IOP, reporting a total of 69,577 measurements to the GLOBE database, with 18 countries participating. Read more.
A recent Trees Within LAC webinar, Tools for the Classroom, offered activities in Spanish, English, and Portuguese on surface temperature, mangroves, and mosquitoes.
Mangroves Workshop
The Mangroves Workshop in Latin America and Caribbean successfully concluded. The first session saw record participation with 141 teachers from 14 countries attending. Watch a recording of the final session.
Upcoming Event
Learning with Clouds: from Playful to Technological | 16 October at 7 pm ART (19:00 UTC). Marilé Colón Robles, NASA GLOBE Clouds project scientist and education outreach coordinator at NASA Langley Research Center, is the invited speaker.
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Near East and North Africa
Event
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2025 NENA Regional Meeting | 9–10 November Stay tuned for more information.
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North America
North American Phenology Campaign
Join the North America Phenology Campaign to monitor trees as they change color throughout fall and record your Green-down observations. Visit the campaign webpage for more information.
News
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Find more events and opportunities on the Events page of the GLOBE website. Read more Stars Stories under News and Events.
| | Additional News and Information | |
Reminders
Upcoming My NASA Data Events
Are you interested in using authentic NASA Earth and/or environmental data to engage students with scientific practices and enhance their data literacy? Consider registering for the upcoming My NASA Data webinars. Learn more and register.
GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN)
If you're not already a member, the GISN welcomes scientists and STEM professionals to increase participation across all six GLOBE regions. Visit the GISN webpage to learn more and apply for membership.
GLOBE Publications
Have you written a GLOBE-related paper? Submit your publication(s) and browse the collection of recent and past submissions.
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