Thank you to Mrs. Susan James, 5th and 6th grade science teacher, who sent this explanation of photos we took this past Friday.
“The fifth and sixth grade students at St. Peter’s Elementary are citizen scientists this year, participating in an international program called GLOBE (www.globe.gov). The GLOBE program was launched in 1995, in an effort “to promote the teaching and learning of science, enhance environmental literacy and stewardship, and promote scientific discovery.” Funded and supported by NASA, NOAA, and The National Science Foundation, over 31,000 schools in over 117 countries collect data in the areas of atmosphere, hydrosphere (water), pedosphere (soil) and biosphere (land cover), and the data is used by scientists worldwide.
St. Peter’s students have started learning to collect cloud data, evaluating cloud type and cover, sky color, and the number of contrails. In upcoming weeks, we will learn to enter our data, so that it can be used by scientists, and we will learn to collect temperature data, both air and surface. We will practice these protocols in anticipation of participating in a data collection campaign in early December, when we will collect cloud and surface temperature data daily for two weeks.”