Hi All,
It is exciting that we started a new Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Student Research Campaign that was formally knows as the Surface Temperature Field Campaign. I wanted to get an email out before the campaign started, but I came down with a bad cold. 27 schools have taken observations and entered them on the GLOBE website. I know that many more of you have taken observations or are planning to take observations. If you can, please enter your observations on the GLOBE website sooner than later. I will take a look at the observations. This research campaign is a chance for me to work with teachers, students and schools that I have in the past as well as meet new teachers and students who may be participating for the first time. I hope to wrote several blog posts throughout the month of December and then at least one wrap-up blog in January.
From what I can tell, everyone has entered their data correctly and did not make some of the common mistakes. I encourage you to have your students take 9 samples for each site and time. This is to get a good average. Make sure you use Celsius and include the decimal point. Lastly, to avoid thermal shock, either leave your infrared thermometer outside for an hour or put some kind of cover on it. We have used oven mitts in the past.
If you need some more information about taking surface temperature observations, please look at the Power Point slides near the bottom of this page:
http://www.globe.gov/get-trained/protocol-etraining/etraining-modules/16867642/12267d
Join us at the next webinar Wednesday, December 14, at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time. https://zoom.us/j/4197048033 Susan James from the Mohican School In The Out-of-Doors will talk about student projects that she has worked with and Jennifer Bourgeault (US Country Coordinator) will talk about research symposium at which students can present their research.
I like to talk about the weather some in these blog posts. The weather in the Northern Hemisphere has been building up for a cold outbreak in the United States. That is starting as I write this post with a blizzard in North Dakota. A large area of the contiguous United States will be cooler than average over the next two weeks. As part of the cold weather, snow will change the dynamics of the surface temperature. Snow cover can be affected by and also can affect the urban heat island effect. See how snow affects the temperatures that you observe.
Schools that have participated so far (I put the country the schools are in and the state for the schools in the United States):
Alder Creek Community Forest, Oregon - 1
Al-Fahd Secondary School at Rejal Alma'a, Saudi Arabia - 4
Al Fisaliah Gifted School at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - 1
Ashura Secondary School at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - 3
As-Siddiq Secondary School at Rejal Alma'a, Saudi Arabia - 6
Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School, Pennsylvania -1
Clay High School, Ohio -2
Crestwood High School, Michigan -5
Cumberland Christian Academy, Georgia - 3
Deer Valley Elementary, Alabama - 1
Houjia Junior High School, Taiwan - 5
IES Eusebio Barreto, Spain - 6
John Marshall High School, West Virginia -3
Kg/ Tholangamuwa CC, Sri Lanka - 1
Lake High School, Ohio - 6
Lakewood Catholic Academy, Ohio -12
Mohican School In The Out-of-Doors, Inc., Ohio -2
Monroe Middle School, Michigan-1
Mountain View School, New Jersey - 1
Rochester School, Colombia - 1
Roswell Kent Middle School, Ohio - 2
Rutgers Preparatory School, New Jersey -4
Shumate Middle School, Michigan - 8
South Umpqua School District, Oregon - 3
The University Of Toledo, Ohio - 2
Thomas Edison Energy/Smart Charter School, New Jersey - 1
Wyomissing Area Jr./Sr. High School, Pennsylvania -1
Here is a map of the schools.
Here is some data from Ashura Secondary School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Notice how it got colder there over time. I think that is interesting.
Lastly, here is the snow cover for the Northern Hemisphere. It is pretty extensive and will lead to the cold outbreak that we will have.
