September 2014 LTTC

Letter to the Community

September 2014

Hello Everyone,

Greetings from the GLOBE Implementation Office (GIO) in Boulder, Colorado. This is the first of my "Letters to the Community" and is being sent to everyone on the GLOBE mailing list. It replaces the mid-month News Brief, delivering the news in what I hope you will find to be a more personal style, during the middle of every month.

I hope you will take time to read this monthly letter, as it will alert you to the community events, issues and opportunities that are of great importance each month. Separate news items for individual groups such as Partners or Teachers may be included. Be sure to scan the lower section of each letter for the highlights relevant to you. Our regular News Brief, in newsletter format, will continue to reach you on, or about, the first of every month.

Dr. Tony Murphy

It has been six weeks since the conclusion of the 2014 GLOBE Learning Expedition (GLE) in New Delhi and yet memories of that amazing time still linger. Providing a rich experience for our wonderful GLOBE community is the challenge of any GLE and, in the traditions of GLEs that have come before, this event did not disappoint. A very full schedule or student presentations, posters exhibition, guest speakers, field studies and cultural presentations kept everyone busy from morning til night. The much-acclaimed India hospitality was ever-present, in the form of our Delhi staff and generous master trainers eager to share their knowledge of GLOBE. The kaleidoscopic backdrop of India was amazing to glimpse en route to our field studies and extracurricular tours. The only thing that failed to deliver was the monsoon: it hardly rained at all! The only deluge I have experienced has been the recurring flood of memories that remind me what an amazing world and wonderful GLOBE community we are a part of. If you have not yet seen the video/slideshow of the 2014 GLE, be sure to have a look.

TEACHERS:

Many of you are part of the annual migration back to school, this time of year. The 2014-15 school year promises to be particularly exciting time for your classroom with GLOBE due to several unique opportunities to become part of NASA satellite partnerships.

The Global Precipitation Measurement Field Campaign

Through July 2015, schools worldwide are encouraged to take precipitation measurements during the first week of every month. Find more information on the GLOBE website about GPM and GLOBE. Your students may want to consider research questions concerning water availability, droughts, storms and floods. Encourage them to compare their measurements to the data collected by data precipitation measuring sensors onboard the GPM satellites.

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission and Campaign

The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission has been rescheduled from November to a new target launch date of 29 January 2015. This will allow more time for you to prepare to be a part of this exciting NASA Mission. Learn more about how your school can become a SMAP Partner on the GLOBE SMAP webpage and return often, as more information will be forthcoming.

We will keep you apprized of opportunities to join other Field Campaigns in the months ahead. These may include the following:

  • Aerosols Field Campaign - expanded from GLOBE Europe and Eurasia to GLOBE students worldwide;
  • Surface Temperature Field Campaign in December 2014;  
  • Mosquito Investigation (in the planning stage) in December 2014; and  
  • El Niño Field Campaign (currently in the planning stages led by Claudia Caro Vera of Peru).

GLOBE Student Art Competition

It's time for our third annual student art competition! To illustrate the 2015 GLOBE calendar, the theme is See Globally, Act Locally: How GLOBE Connects to Earth Observing Satellites. We invite GLOBE students to submit original art that demonstrates the benefits of Earth observing satellite missions to their school and/or community. For more information, click here. Entries are due by 17 October 2014.

Online Tutorials

New video tutorials have just been released to help you understand and work with the various parts of the GLOBE website. Have a look!

SCIENTISTS:

Scientists will take the lead on the campaigns outlined above.  In addition, GIO and Raytheon Web Solutions have been working to refine the data retrieval and visualization system based feedback from the GLOBE community. You'll find a new video tutorial, Retrieve and Visualize Your Data, just released on the GLOBE website.

COUNTRY COORDINATORS:

Bermuda joined the Program in August, we want to welcome this new country to the GLOBE family and the Latin America and Caribbean Region.  
 
If you will be attending your regional annual meeting in 2015, you will need to complete the Annual Partner Survey and an annual report template that will be distributed to you by your Region Office Coordinators. 

U.S. PARTNERS:

The Discovery Center, under the leadership of Anne Lewis, joined the Program in September. We want to welcome this new partner to the GLOBE family.  
 
The U.S. Partner Forum formed over the summer will have its initial meeting in Washington D.C., from 13-14 October. The draft Terms of Reference for the group will be finalized at the meeting.  
 
Also, keep an eye out for invitations from Jen Bourgeault, the U.S. Country Coordinator for her regular 'Water Cooler' meetings. Jen uses this venue to highlight topics of interest to the US GLOBE Community. 

In closing, I would like to thank you for the work you do for GLOBE.  
You can be proud of your efforts to make our Program a vital force for student engagement with real-world issues, in increasingly complex times.
 
If you would like this monthly letter to reach others, encourage them to Opt-In to receive this and other communications from the GLOBE Implementation Office.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 Sincerely,

 

Tony Murphy signature
 
 
 
 
Dr. Tony Murphy  
Director, GLOBE Implementation Office
tmurphy@ucar.edu