The GLOBE Program, launched on Earth Day 1995, celebrated Earth Day 2012 by engaging GLOBE students in a video competition.  58 short videos were submitted by students from 19 countries showing themselves and their colleagues engaged in exploring their local climate through GLOBE protocols.  Each video featured students explaining, either in their native language or English, what they were doing and how that related to their climate research projects.

The following images are screen captures from the winning videos from the 2012 competition.  Clicking on the image will take you to The GLOBE Program’s YouTube Channel where you will be able to watch the video in its entirety.  You will also find the second and third place videos from each region in the Student Climate Research Campaign Video Competition YouTube Channel.

2012 Winning Video from Africa Region

2012 Winning Video from Asia and Pacific Region

2012 Winning Video from Europe and Eurasia Region

2012 Winning Video from Latin America and Caribbean Region

2012 Winning Video from Near East and North Africa Region

2012 Winning Video from North America Region

The GLOBE Program is once again hosting a video competition for Earth Day 2013, This year, the theme is: “How has doing GLOBE improved our local community?”  Videos, which should be no more than two minutes in length, should be uploaded to your favorite video sharing website and sent to The GLOBE Program.  Winners will be announced starting on 16 April 2013, with the top overall video announced on Earth Day 2013.

For more information, such as judging criteria and video submission information, please see the Earth Day Video Competition page on the GLOBE website.  We look forward to receiving your videos and witnessing  how The GLOBE Program is impacting communities all over the world!

-Jessica Mackaro

Surface temperature map of the United States, from the RUC analysis at 1800 UTC on 13 January 2013; Image courtesy of RAL Real-Time Weather Data

When we looked at the weather map, we were amazed to see such a strong temperature gradient, which is how quickly temperature changes over a given distance.  This was the result of a very strong cold front that moved across the country bringing chilling Arctic air into the heart of the U.S., where you can see some temperatures fell well below -17.8 °C (0 °F).  Ahead of the cold front, temperatures soared, however only until the cold front passed.  If you examine hourly observations from the Southeast U.S., you’ll find some dramatic temperature drops.  For example, in Memphis, TN, the temperature fell nearly 8°C (18°F) in only one hour and fifteen minutes.

Outside of the United States, there are many other countries experiencing extreme weather.  Thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes in Russia after a pipeline burst in the extreme and record cold and Jerusalem, Israel experienced a very rare snowfall last week.  Conversely, Australia is experiencing raging brush fires as the country is gripped by a record-breaking heat wave.  This heat wave has been so intense that road tar has melted and the Bureau of Meteorology had to add two new colors to its temperature maps.

Children play in front of the Dome on the Rock during the recent snowstorm in Israel; Photo from Reuters/Ammar Awad

A map from space showing hotspots from brushfires (red dots) in Tasmania; from NASA

While these are examples of weather extremes, they are not necessarily indicators of climate.  It is important to reiterate the difference between weather and climate, as these kinds of weather extremes often get people talking about how it relates to climate and climate change.  Weather is the current state of the atmosphere, the temperatures and weather systems that sweep through a nation over the course of a day or a week, while climate is the long-term average and trend of weather events over many years.  Thus, while these weather extremes are dramatic on both ends of the spectrum, they may not affect a location’s climate unless they occur repeatedly, for many years to come.  It is also important to realize that weather extremes are not uncommon; cold fronts often create sharp temperature gradients and weather patterns can set up to create heat waves or cold spells.  However these extremes may be occurring more frequently and at record-breaking levels due to climate change.

In order to document extreme weather and if it is occurring frequently enough to impact climate, it is important to collect data on a daily basis for many years.  Over time, these data help identify if any long-term trends are occurring.  The GLOBE Program sponsors the Great Global Investigation of Climate project to encourage GLOBE schools to collect regular, daily temperature and precipitation data for this very reason.  The data collection efforts of GLOBE schools help contribute valuable data to monitor weather and climate across the planet.  Just look at this example from Fayetteville High School in Arkansas.  The daily temperature observations of maximum temperature at their school over the past two weeks illustrate the warm up and then extreme cool down that occurred as the cold front passed on January 13th.   These kinds of weather data, recorded over long periods of time, are the key pieces of evidence needed to help decipher if these tales of weather extremes are leading us toward a change in climate.

Maximum daily air temperature (degrees C) recorded by Fayetteville High School in Arkansas between 1-14 January 2013.

Suggested activity: Have you been affected by this recent extreme weather?  Let us know about it by leaving a comment or sending us an email.  Also, use the recent extreme weather to develop and carryout a research topic, then email it to us at science@globe.gov.  And don’t forget to collect data for the Great Global Investigation of Climate, which repeats again in March!

- Jessica Mackaro and Sarah Tessendorf

It continues to be really hot in the central part of the US. The thermometer at our house says 98 F (37 C) today which is July 4, 2012. The number of 90 F (32 C) plus days this year has been high as well. There have been 8 days about 90 F (32 C) a my house in Temperance, MI so far this June and July. Toledo has had 12 days 90 F (32 C).

Last week I took some surface temperature observations using the GLOBE protocol for infrared thermometer. I measured the temperature of a parking lot with a cover of asphalt, a grassy area and an area with bare soil where the ground had been dug up. Which one do you think was the hottest? The grass was 34 C (94 F), the asphalt was 52 C (126 F) and the bare soil was 64 C (148 F). I didn’t expect the bare soil to be so hot.
NASA has produced a temperature anomaly image from satellite imagery (see below). The red shows areas where the temperature was above average and the blue shows temperatures below average for June 28, 2012. You can see that a large part of the US was red, above average.

Temperature anomaly image of the United States from satellite imagery. From NASA

This heat has dried things out as well. I have been watering my garden every day. I really enjoy growing our own food. I knew it was dry because there was an area of the garden that the sprinkler missed watering. In that spot, even the weeds were dried up.

The Palmer Drought Severity Index in the image below shows that large parts of the United States are in drought right now. In fact, in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan where I live, we have severe to extreme drought conditions.

Palmer Drought Severity Index from 26 June 2012. From NOAA

Yesterday, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he saw a fire in the forest near his house in Michigan. In this dry, hot weather, brush fires can easily start anywhere. He called 911 for the fire department to put it out. That was a wise thing to do. If you come upon a similar situation, tell an adult and/or call 911.
The fires in Colorado are related to this dry weather. The satellite image below from the MODIS sensor on the Terra satellite shows the current fires out west from NASA. Colorado has clouds over the mountains so the smoke from the fires is not visible.

MODIS satellite image of fires in the western United States. From NASA

Why is it so hot? The upper atmosphere has been stuck in a pattern with a ridge over the center part of the US (see image below). This is a common summer time pattern with troughs over the western and eastern US. But, this summer it has been particularly persistent and hot. The troughs on the east and west coasts have kept those locations relatively cool. This image is the 500 mb map that is about 10 km (6 miles) above sea level. It is made by the National Weather Service using balloon observations at 0 UTM and 12 UTM.

500 mb map showing persistent ridging over the United States

Today was one of the hotter days that we have had in Toledo in a long time. The maximum temperature was 97 F (36 C). It is hot from the Rockies all the way to the east coast of the United States. On Sunday and Monday of this week, I was in Boulder, Colorado. The temperature reached 104 F (40 C) on Monday. What was interesting was that people were still out exercising or talking on the street. I had a really hard time believe that they could do it. But, to be honest, although it was hot, it did not seem oppressively hot. The reason was that the relative humidity was about 10%. The relative humidity is the ratio of the actual amount of water vapor in the air to the amount of water vapor the air can hold given its temperature. Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air with the amount increasing exponentially as temperatures get warmer. No wonder the relative humidity was so low. It was partly due to the temperature being so high and partly due to the low amount of water vapor in the air. Today in Toledo, the temperature was 95 F (35 C) but it felt much hotter. The relative humidity was about 40%. That means there was quite a bit of water vapor in the atmosphere. 40% relative humidity would still be considered pretty dry.

Below are the warnings on Friday, June 29, from the National Weather Service. You can see that there are large areas that are red in the image are heat warnings or fire warnings over large areas of the central US.

Watches and warnings for the United States from 29 June 2012. From NOAA

In Toledo, it is quite dry as well. The grass is all brown. In fact, the National Weather Service office has issued a fire warning for the area. This area is not known for its wildfires. You probably have heard by now of the devastating wild fires that are going on in Colorado. They have gotten worse since I came back.

The forecast is for the heat wave to continue. Stay cool. Stay in the shade if you are outside and drink lots of water. Heat stroke is very serious.

Dr. C

More information about Dr. Czajkowski: Dr. Czajkowski spent three years developing remote sensing research at the University of Maryland. Upon arrival at the University of Toledo, he established a research program in remote sensing and the Geographic Information Science and Applied Geographics (GISAG) Lab. His main areas of interest are remote sensing, climate change and K-12 outreach. His research includes the use of remote sensing to investigate water quality, i.e., assessing the source regions and destinations of contaminants in the Lake Erie watershed. He has developed a K-12 educational outreach program called Studnets and Teachers Exploring Local Landscapes to Investigate the Earth from Space (SATELLITES) that brings geospatial technology to K-12 students through teacher professional development and an annual student conference. He developed the surface temperature protocol through GLOBE so that students can investigate how land use where they live affects the energy budget. Each year he organizes the surface temperature field campaign.  Dr. Czajkowski is a blogger on his own, and this post comes from his blog, which you can find here.

The annual State of the Climate is a record of the conditions around the globe and provides an excellent reference for beginning studies of climate. If you are participating in the GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign [www.globe.gov/scrc], you might consider using the most recent report – or bits of information from it relevant to your location or region – as a resource in the classroom or as baseline knowledge.

The full report is rather long and provides detailed summaries of: Global climate, Global Oceans, Tropics, The Arctic, Antarctica, Seasonal Summaries and Regional Climates. The Regional climates map very closely to the six GLOBE Regions. [http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/cmb/bams-sotc/2010/bams-sotc-2010-chapter7-regional-climates-lo-rez.pdf] If you were to read the full report, the main thing that you would note is that all of the statements and summaries are based on data. As you are aware, scientists base their claims and hypotheses on data – if you have ever conducted a research investigation as part of GLOBE, you collected data through protocols or acquired data through the GLOBE dataset or another dataset.

Datasets that are comprehensive, meaning they have a high density of observations both spatially (distance) and temporally (time), are critical for the ability to fully analyze the state of the Earth. The scientific community has identified several variables that are very important to the study of climate. These Essential Climate Variables – or ECVs – are defined by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). They have identified certain variables as being the most critical pieces of information to building a complete picture of Earth’s climate.
[GCOS ECV: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/gcos/index.php?name=EssentialClimateVariables]

A sub-set of the Essential Climate Variables included in the 2011 State of the Climate report are considered “fully monitored”. This means that across much of the world they are monitored and analyzed and are documented in a long-term dataset. The atmospheric surface variables are many of the same variables GLOBE students have been collecting for 1.5 decades! They include: air temperature, precipitation, air pressure, and water vapor.

Much more data is required to fully monitor climate. If you visit the GCOS Essential Climate Variables website you will see the full listing. The NOAA State of the Climate report identifies several other climate variables that are very important and considered in their report – again, many linking directly to GLOBE protocols: soils moisture, permafrost, biomass, surface ground temperature, and land cover.

By participating in GLOBE and in the Student Climate Research Campaign, you can assist this global effort of monitoring Earth’s climate by collecting and entering data using GLOBE protocols. The starting point for data collection using GLOBE protocols for the SCRC includes air temperature, precipitation, soil temperature and land cover. Which Essential Climate Variables do you currently collect and report? Which ones would you consider adding to help monitor Mother Earth? Share with us on Facebook (GLOBE Science Network) or Twitter (@GLOBE_Program) or post a comment here!

BAMS State of the Climate Report (2010 – 2005)
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-the-climate/

NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate Global Analysis – July 2011
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2011/7

-dc

I wanted to write a wrap-up for the surface temperature field campaign. Dr. LeMone posted a great discussion of the relationship between surface temperature and air temperature (scroll down to 6 January blog). I felt cold just reading about temperatures of –27 C.

Many of the observations from the field campaign have been posted but not all have yet. If you still need to get your data online, please do so soon, as students from around the world will be working on their inquiry-based research projects. They may want to use your data. Also, several schools were not able to participate in December so they took observations in January and some schools are still taking observations now.

Thus far, 58 schools have entered data for the field campaign and there have been a total of 1584 observations. If you add up all of the surface temperature, snow, clouds and contrail observations, there have been 36,432 observations taken during the field campaign. Could you image trying to take all of those observations by yourself? I couldn’t.

I am really impressed with some of the schools that had many observations submitted. The school with the most observations was John Marshall High School in Glendale, West Virginia, USA with 122. Other notable schools are: Peebles High School, Peebles, Ohio, USA (94), Dalton High School, Dalton, Ohio, USA (77), and Oak Glen High School, New Cumberland, West Virginia, USA (81), elementary schools Main Street School, Norwalk, Ohio, USA (90) and St. Joseph School, Sylvania, Ohio, USA (84). In addition, a couple of schools in Poland took a large number of observations, Gimnazium No 1, Sochaczew, Poland (72) and Gimnazjum No 7 Jana III Sobieskiego, Rzeszow, Poland (62).

This year the weather cooperated pretty well and many of you were able to observe the surface temperature with snow on the ground. The deepest snow depth (288 mm) was measured by students at Nordonia Middle School, Northfield, Ohio, USA. Fifteen of the lowest 20 surface temperatures recorded were observed by students from Moosewood Farm Home School, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. The lowest surface temperature that they recorded was –32 degrees Celsius. Another cold surface temperature (-26 degrees Celsius) was noted by Gimnazium No 1, Sochaczew, Poland. All of the warmest surface temperatures were recorded by students at Brazil High, Brazil Village, in Trinidad and Tobago with temperatures of +35-50 degrees C.

Figure 1: Schools in GLOBE that participated in the surface temperature field campaign. Many are in Ohio because that is where I have funding for professional development.

Figures 2 and 3 show the relationship between surface temperature and snow in an area mainly covering Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. These observations were not separated on the basis of water in the water.

Figure 2. Student observations of snow depth, 8 December, 2009.

Figure 3: Surface temperature as recorded by students on 8 December, 2008.

There is one thing to notice about the satellite imagery during this time period. Clouds obscured the ground most of the time. The image below, 7 December 2008, was the clearest image we could obtain of the Great Lakes regions. It seems that the observations in eastern Europe were cloud covered even more. The MODIS image depicts the surface temperature as the satellite went over and took observations on , 7 December 2008. The orange depicts part of Lake Huron that was ice covered.

Figure 4. MODIS Surface temperature product (MOD11), 7 December, 2008.

Here is the list of all of the schools that participated.
Roswell Kent Middle School, Akron, OH, US [37 rows]
OHDELA, AKRON, OH, US
Capital High School, Charleston, WV, US [6 rows]
Dalton High School, Dalton, OH, US [77 rows]
Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School, Houston, PA, US [28 rows]
Lakewood Middle School, Hebron, OH, US [10 rows]
Cloverleaf High School, Lodi, OH, US [60 rows]
The Morton Arboretum Youth Education Dept., Lisle, IL, US [9 rows]
Peebles High School, Peebles, OH, US [94 rows]
North Marion High School, Farmington, WV, US
Christensen Middle School, Livermore, CA, US [2 rows]
Gimnazjum No 7 Jana III Sobieskiego, Rzeszow, PL [62 rows]
Gateway Middle School, Maumee, OH, US [9 rows]
Penta Career Center, Perrysburg, OH, US [8 rows]
Canaan Middle School, Plain City, OH, US [28 rows]
Mill Creek Middle School, Comstock Park, MI, US [24 rows]
Brazil High, Brazil Village, TT [30 rows]
Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Parnumaa, EE [42 rows]
Montague Elementary School, Montague, NJ, US [2 rows]
Swift Creek Middle School, Tallahassee, FL, US [19 rows]
National Presbyterian School, Washington, DC, US [15 rows]
The Bryan Center, Bryan, OH, US [16 rows]
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore, MD, US [2 rows]
Reams Home School, Wellington, OH, US [36 rows]
Maumee High School, Maumee, OH, US [16 rows]
Whittier Elementary School, Toledo, OH, US [6 rows]
Huntington High School, Huntington, WV, US [29 rows]
St. Joseph School, Sylvania, OH, US [84 rows]
Russia Local School, Russia, OH, US [24 rows]
Warrensville Heights High School, Warrensville Heights, OH, US [2 rows]
WayPoint Academy, Muskegon, MI, US
Gimnazium No 1, Sochaczew, PL [72 rows]
Moosewood Farm Home School, Fairbanks, AK, US [27 rows]
St. Michael Parish School, Wheeling, WV, US [14 rows]
Anthony Wayne High School, Whitehouse, OH, US [13 rows]
Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, OH, US [36 rows]
Oak Glen High School, New Cumberland, WV, US [81 rows]
Barberton High School, Barberton, OH, US [37 rows]
Nordonia Middle School, Northfield, OH, US [34 rows]
Aurora Elementary School, Aurora, WV, US [13 rows]
Orrville High School, Orrville, OH, US [15 rows]
Bowling Green Christian Academy, Bowling Green, OH, US [26 rows]
Polly Fox Academy, Toledo, OH, US [18 rows]
McTigue Middle School, Toledo, OH, US [9 rows]
Highlands Elementary School, Naperville, IL, US [8 rows]
South Suburban Montessori School, Brecksville, OH, US [34 rows]
NASA IV&V Educator Resource Center, Fairmont, WV, US
John Marshall High School, Glendale, WV, US [122 rows]
Boys’ Village School, Wooster, OH, US [9 rows]
Birchwood School, Cleveland, OH, US [43 rows]
Lebanon High School, Lebanon, OH, US [9 rows]
Central Catholic High School, Toledo, OH, US [4 rows]
Eastwood Middle School, Pemberville, OH, US [18 rows]
Orange Elementary School, Waterloo, IA, US
Hudsonville High School, Hudsonville, MI, US [27 rows]
The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, US [32 rows]
O. W. Holmes Elementary School, Detroit, MI, US [11 rows]
Main Street School, Norwalk, OH, US [90 rows]

That is all from this year’s surface temperature field campaign. Maps were prepared by Nancy Cochran and Timothy Ault of the University of Toledo.
Dr. C.

Thank you, Dr. C., and all the students and teachers who participated in this field campaign! – PL

Figure 1. Map showing location of Boulder and CASES-99. The colors represent contours. The Rocky Mountains are yellow, orange, and red on this map. The colors denote elevation, with yellows, oranges and reds indicating higher terrain.

How does the air temperature relate to the surface temperatures that the students measured during Dr. C.’s field campaign? To answer this question, I looked at how the surface temperature related to the air temperature at our house.

The air temperature at our house was measured at 1-1.5 meters in our carport, and also on a thermometer I carried with me on our early-morning walk around the top of our mesa. That temperature, as noted above, was -21 degrees Celsius. To get the surface temperature, I put the thermometer I was carrying on the surface after I finished my walk. I am assuming that this temperature is close to the temperature that would be measured by a radiometer like the one used in GLOBE. I took the reading ten minutes later.

Just for fun, I also measured the temperature at the bottom of our snow (now 10 cm deep) and at the top of the last snow (about in the middle of the snow layer). At these two places, I put the snow back on top of the thermometer, waited ten minutes, and then uncovered the thermometer and read the temperature. The new snow was soft and fluffy, while the old snow was crusty; so it was easy to find the top of the old snow.

All of the measurements were taken close to sunrise, when the minimum temperature is normally reached, and the area where I took the measurements was in the shade.

Figure 2 shows the temperatures that I measured.

Figure 2. Temperature measurements at the snow surface, between the old and new snow, at the base of the snow layer, and at 1-1.5 meters above the surface at 7:30 in the morning, local time.

That is, the temperature was coolest right at the top of the snow. The temperature was warmer at the top of the old snow, and warmest at the base of the snow. As noted in earlier blogs, the snow keeps the ground warm.

The temperature at the top of the snow was also cooler than the air temperature. The surface temperature is often cooler than the air temperature in the morning, especially on cold, clear, snowy mornings like this one. However, on hot, clear, days in the summertime, the ground is warmer than the air.

Here are two sets of measurements taken in the Midwestern United States in October of 1999. Could you guess which measurements were taken at night, and which measurements were taken during the day even if the times weren’t on the labels? The first plot is from data taken after sunset, while the second plot was from data taken at noon.

Figure 3. Data from the 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere Exchange Study (CASES-99) program in the central United States, courtesy of J. Sun, NCAR.

Today I am blogging from San Francisco, California. I am attending the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco, California. It is a meeting that I try to come to every year. AGU is a professional organization made up of scientists who study the Earth and our solar system.

A conference like this one is a way for scientists to share information. The picture below shows how the scientists show each other the research they have performed. You might be thinking, “Dr. C, that looks a lot like a science fair that my school has.” You would be right. Poster presentations are very similar to science fair projects that students do.

Figure 1. Poster session at the AGU meeting.

Coming to the AGU meeting gives me a chance to see my scientist friends. My friend Claudia Alexander is the lead scientist on the Casini-Huygen project and Rosetta mission for NASA. The Casini-Huygen project is a satellite that is studying Saturn and its moon Titan. The Rosetta mission is going to study what makes up comets.

I presented a poster on an Earth System Science education course that I teach. Teachers take the course to continue their learning. You may have not known that either. Below is a picture of Gary Popiolkowski. He is a seventh and eighth grade science teacher at Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School in Houston, Pennsylvania. His students made the poster for him. It is a great poster as you can see from the picture. He mentioned to me how proud he was of his students for designing and making the poster.

Figure 2. Teacher Gary Popiolkowski

Figure 3. It’s me, Dr. C in front of my poster at AGU.

Dr. C

Wow, the weather around the Northern Hemisphere sure has been active. It looks like in the United States we are going to have a good old-fashioned winter with cold temperatures and stormy conditions.

Can you tell that I like winter?

I started to take an interest in weather when I was 10 years old growing up in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. Buffalo is at the eastern end of Lake Erie. The area receives significant snowfall each year called lake-effect snow. This is caused by cold air from Canada passing over the warm water in fall and winter. The air collects water vapor from Lake Erie as it crosses the lake and deposits in on the downwind side. In 1977, there was an incredible blizzard in Buffalo called the Blizzard of ‘77. School was cancelled for 5 days straight. I thought it was the best thing going. Funny, though, that my love of missing school has turned into a love for winter weather and led to my career as a professor.

Here is a recap of what has happened over the last week. There has been flooding in Hawaii as well as in Italy.

Figure 1. Location of Buffalo (New York) and Toledo (Ohio) on map of the United States.

New England Ice Storm
New England received a terrible ice storm. The storm slowly moved up the east coast of the United States and produced up to an inch of ice on tree limbs and power lines. Many trees were damaged and power lines were brought down, knocking out electricity to over a million people.
Rare snow in Texas and Louisiana
The same system that caused the ice storm produced measurable snow as far south as Houston, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana. See the snow cover map below to see where the snowfall occurred. Kids had a lot of fun making snowmen and throwing snow balls.

Figure 2. Snow depth map for 12 December 2008.

Blizzard in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota
The weather pattern has changed dramatically. When the ice storm occurred, there was cold air and storminess in the eastern United States. The western United States was warm and calm. That has now changed. A significant winter storm has moved into the western United States. This has given much needed snow and rain to Washington, Oregon and California. This system has been accompanied by extreme cold temperatures in the Canadian plains and northern United States. High temperatures were in the –15º C range. That’s cold by anybody’s standard. The strong high pressure system in Canada that brought the cold air along with the storm system (low pressure system) produced very strong winds in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. This produced dangerous conditions, white-out snow conditions, drifting snow and dangerous wind chills. I have experienced four real blizzards in my lifetime. To be a blizzard, the wind speed has to be greater than 35 mph (16 m/s), visibility has to be below a ¼ mile (0.4 km), and temperatures have to be cold for three hours straight. The blizzard of ’77 in Buffalo was by far the worst blizzard I was ever in. Blizzard conditions lasted for three days straight.

Cold temperatures in Toledo, Ohio produced early ice
Where I live near Toledo, Ohio, most of November and thus far in December have been colder than the long-term average. In fact, so far in December, temperatures have averaged 4º C (7º F) below the long-term average. Ice has formed on ponds, lakes and rivers. My students and I are studying the Ottawa River that flows through the University of Toledo campus. We are doing this as part of GLOBE’s Seasons and Biomes Project. We are studying the way in which the river freezes and thaws. The observations were taken from a foot bridge and an attempt was made to keep the same part of the river in the frame. You can see in the images below that the river was ice free on 3 December 2008. By 8 December 2008, ice extended out from the banks of the Ottawa River about 4/10 of the way out on both sides of the river. There was a small area of open water down the middle of the river. Lastly, the ice started to melt on 9 December 2008 and then was completely gone by 10 December 2008 when there was quite a bit of rain. This week-long freeze up and thaw down pattern is common in Toledo, Ohio due to the changeable weather.

Figure 3. Ice on the Ottawa River, Toledo, Ohio, 3 December 2008

Figure 4. Ottawa River, 8 December 2008.

Figure 5. Ottawa River, 9 December 2008.

Figure 6. Ottawa River, 10 December 2008.

Here are schools that have entered data so far in the field campaign:
There have been 592 observations from 40 schools now recorded for the surface temperature field campaign. John Marshall High School in Glendale, WV has the most by far with 80 observations. Thanks Mrs. Clark, GO Monarchs! Peebles High School in Peebles, Ohio has logged 56 observations, thanks Mrs. Sheppard, and Dalton High School in Dalton, Ohio has reported 54, Thanks Mr. Witmer. And, thank you to all of the students from these schools.

Roswell Kent Middle School, Akron, OH, US [26 rows]
Dalton High School, Dalton, OH, US [54 rows]
Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School, Houston, PA, US [2 rows]
Lakewood Middle School, Hebron, OH, US [3 rows]
The Morton Arboretum Youth Education Dept., Lisle, IL, US [3 rows]
Peebles High School, Peebles, OH, US [56 rows]
Gimnazjum No 7 Jana III Sobieskiego, Rzeszow, PL [13 rows]
Penta Career Center, Perrysburg, OH, US [6 rows]
Canaan Middle School, Plain City, OH, US [20 rows]
Mill Creek Middle School, Comstock Park, MI, US [10 rows]
Brazil High, Brazil Village, TT [15 rows]
Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Parnumaa, EE [16 rows]
Swift Creek Middle School, Tallahassee, FL, US [12 rows]
National Presbyterian School, Washington, DC, US [3 rows]
The Bryan Center, Bryan, OH, US [3 rows]
Maumee High School, Maumee, OH, US [12 rows]
Whittier Elementary School, Toledo, OH, US [4 rows]
Huntington High School, Huntington, WV, US [8 rows]
St. Joseph School, Sylvania, OH, US
Warrensville Heights High School, Warrensville Heights, OH, US [2 rows]
WayPoint Academy, Muskegon, MI, US
Gimnazium No 1, Sochaczew, PL [17 rows]
St. Michael Parish School, Wheeling, WV, US [4 rows]
Anthony Wayne High School, Whitehouse, OH, US [4 rows]
Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, OH, US [20 rows]
Oak Glen High School, New Cumberland, WV, US [12 rows]
Nordonia Middle School, Northfield, OH, US [11 rows]
Orrville High School, Orrville, OH, US [6 rows]
Bowling Green Christian Academy, Bowling Green, OH, US [23 rows]
Polly Fox Academy, Toledo, OH, US [10 rows]
McTigue Middle School, Toledo, OH, US [3 rows]
Highlands Elementary School, Naperville, IL, US [8 rows]
South Suburban Montessori School, Brecksville, OH, US [20 rows]
NASA IV&V Educator Resource Center, Fairmont, WV, US
John Marshall High School, Glendale, WV, US [80 rows]
Birchwood School, Cleveland, OH, US [21 rows]
Orange Elementary School, Waterloo, IA, US
Hudsonville High School, Hudsonville, MI, US [19 rows]
The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, US [25 rows]
Main Street School, Norwalk, OH, US [37 rows]

Dr. C

Hi All,

Things are continuing to go well with the surface temperature field campaign. As of December 8, 2008, there were 317 surface temperature observations from 31 schools were added to the GLOBE website.

Major Winter Storm in the United States

There is a major winter storm in the center of the United States this Tuesday, 9 December, 2008. This map is for 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time which is 1800 UTC. This low pressure system with its associated warm front and cold front is producing a lot of rain, “wintry mix” (rain and snow, pink shades in figure 1), and some snow in the Midwest. You can also see that there is a cold high pressure system in Nevada and Idaho.

Figure1: Surface weather map 9 December 2008, The radar shows snow in the blue shades and the heaviest rain is shown in black. Figure from http://www.rap.ucar.edu/

There have been some pretty extensive snowfall in the United States this fall and early winter. But, you can see from the figures below that there was actually more extensive snowfall cover in 2007. By the weekend the weather pattern in the United States is going to change to have a storm in the western United States and warm weather in the eastern United States. This storm should give significant snow out west and to the Rocky Mountains. This will make the weather in the Great Lakes warmer.

Figure 2: Snow cover and depth from NOAA for 9 December, 2008 .

Figure 3: Snow Cover in the United States for 8 December 2007 from NOAA.

Here are schools that have entered data so far in the field campaign:

More and more schools are participating and getting their data on the GLOBE website. Keep up the good work.

Roswell Kent Middle School, Akron, OH, US [9 rows]
Dalton High School, Dalton, OH, US [8 rows]
Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School, Houston, PA, US [2 rows]
Lakewood Middle School, Hebron, OH, US
The Morton Arboretum Youth Education Dept., Lisle, IL, US
Peebles High School, Peebles, OH, US [25 rows]
Gimnazjum No 7 Jana III Sobieskiego, Rzeszow, PL [6 rows]
Penta Career Center, Perrysburg, OH, US [3 rows]
Canaan Middle School, Plain City, OH, US [2 rows]
Mill Creek Middle School, Comstock Park, MI, US [8 rows]
Brazil High, Brazil Village, TT [9 rows]
Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Parnumaa, EE [10 rows]
Swift Creek Middle School, Tallahassee, FL, US [3 rows]
National Presbyterian School, Washington, DC, US
Maumee High School, Maumee, OH, US [5 rows]
Whittier Elementary School, Toledo, OH, US [2 rows]
Huntington High School, Huntington, WV, US [8 rows]
Warrensville Heights High School, Warrensville Heights, OH, US
Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, OH, US [6 rows]
Oak Glen High School, New Cumberland, WV, US [12 rows]
Nordonia Middle School, Northfield, OH, US [4 rows]
Orrville High School, Orrville, OH, US
Bowling Green Christian Academy, Bowling Green, OH, US [6 rows]
McTigue Middle School, Toledo, OH, US [3 rows]
Highlands Elementary School, Naperville, IL, US [2 rows]
South Suburban Montessori School, Brecksville, OH, US [3 rows]
John Marshall High School, Glendale, WV, US [30 rows]
Birchwood School, Cleveland, OH, US [9 rows]
Hudsonville High School, Hudsonville, MI, US [7 rows]
The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, US [4 rows]
Main Street School, Norwalk, OH, US [16 rows]

Stay Dry.
Dr. C

Hi All,

As of December 4, 2008, there were 207 surface temperature observations from 27 schools added to the GLOBE website. Go Team! This is great.

Here are schools that have entered data so far in the field campaign:

Roswell Kent Middle School, Akron, OH, US [12 rows]
Dalton High School, Dalton, OH, US [12 rows]
The Morton Arboretum Youth Education Dept., Lisle, IL, US
Peebles High School, Peebles, OH, US [32 rows]
Gimnazjum No 7 Jana III Sobieskiego, Rzeszow, PL [6 rows]
Penta Career Center, Perrysburg, OH, US
Canaan Middle School, Plain City, OH, US [2 rows]
Brazil High, Brazil Village, Trinidad and Tobago [6 rows]
Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Parnumaa, EE [12 rows]
Swift Creek Middle School, Tallahassee, FL, US [2 rows]
National Presbyterian School, Washington, DC, US
Maumee High School, Maumee, OH, US [4 rows]
Whittier Elementary School, Toledo, OH, US [2 rows]
Huntington High School, Huntington, WV, US [8 rows]
Warrensville Heights High School, Warrensville Heights, OH, US [2 rows]
Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, OH, US [8 rows]
Oak Glen High School, New Cumberland, WV, US [12 rows]
Nordonia Middle School, Northfield, OH, US [5 rows]
Orrville High School, Orrville, OH, US
Bowling Green Christian Academy, Bowling Green, OH, US [3 rows]
Highlands Elementary School, Naperville, IL, US [4 rows]
South Suburban Montessori School, Brecksville, OH, US [4 rows]
John Marshall High School, Glendale, WV, US [28 rows]
Birchwood School, Cleveland, OH, US [10 rows]
Hudsonville High School, Hudsonville, MI, US [9 rows]
The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, US [4 rows]
Main Street School, Norwalk, OH, US [16 rows]

If you have entered data today and do not see your school’s name, do not worry. The database is updated each night. I expect that there will be many more schools involved this year.

I love the comments that the students put with your observations. Here is one from Roswell Kent Middle School, “shoes sunk into mud approx. 40 mm deep.”

Oak Glenn High School, “Buses had recently (past 10 minutes) driven around the perimeter of this surface.”

Peebles High School, “SLIGHLY WINDY AND VERY COLD!!!!!!!!!!!”

Sorry about the cold. That seems to be a theme of everyone’s observations. Field work is sometimes dirty and you have to endure difficult situations. Take a look at this picture of me doing field work in Oklahoma in 1999. I was nervous about the bull.

Figure 1. Dr. C. doing field work on an Oklahoma Pasture.

The cold weather sure has arrived in the Great Lakes. Temperatures are averaging 5-8º C below average for this time of year. I set up an ice rink in the back yard of my house this morning for my kids to skate on. The last two years I was not able to get ice to form until mid January. The cold weather is going to stick around in the eastern United States for a least another week as well as in Estonia. Trinidad and Tobago is in the tropics and stays warm all year long so I would expect it to stay that way.

The forecast in the United States is for a series of “Alberta Clippers” to sweep down out of Canada towards the Great Lakes and eventually off the east coast (see the figure below). Each storm will bring 10-30 mm of snow to most areas near the Great Lakes. These storms are very dry because they have not tapped into any ocean moisture. Once the storms pass, they bring very cold air out of Canada behind them. This is how I know that it will be cold for the next week.

Figure 2. Map showing storm (low pressure area, denoted by the L) coming out of the Canadian Province of Alberta (the letters are partially covered by the “L.” These low pressure areas are called Alberta Clippers because they often come out of Alberta.

Dr. C.