Did you know that your pace is a vital part of taking observations of tree height and land cover? A pace is a unit of length consisting either of one normal walking step, or of a double step, returning to the same foot, your dominant foot.
Pacing Image above courtesy of Rothwell-Osnabruch K-12 School - Ontario, Canada
The NASA GLOBE Observer Trees Tool uses your height to estimate your step length, which it then uses to estimate the distance to the tree, but you can also measure your pace directly, which will make your tree height measurements more accurate. Want to learn how to figure out your pace? Please take a look at the NASA GLOBE Observer 'Find Your Pace' Activity
You can also take a deeper diving into pacing and why it is also important for NASA GLOBE Observer Land Cover Tool users by checking out the GLOBE Investigation Instruments 'Pacing Activity.' The citizen scientists will need to identify a space for observation that has 50 meters of clearance in each direction. When implementing the protocol observation, they may not always have an opportunity to measure the 50 m area with a tape measure. Becoming familiar with how far 50 m is by pacing can help them in successful implementation of the protocol.
Example of pacing from the GLOBE Investigations Instruments 'Pacing Activity'
Pacing is vital to making sure that you get an accurate tree height measurement and that you are able to accurately measure the 50m area when taking land cover observations.
