The GLOBE Program, through its various platforms such as the International Virtual Student Symposium (IVSS), Student Research Symposium (SRS), Regional Meetings has always highlighted relevant student research accomplishments and outputs. The GLOBE activities, however, are not just limited to students and teachers. We are pleased to know that retired professionals can also work and contribute meaningfully to the GLOBE database as citizen scientists. Let us get to know one cloud enthusiast from India, Om Prakash Gupta.
Om Prakash Gupta is one of the most active citizen scientists that we are lucky to have as part of our GLOBE community. He is a retired principal and a postgraduate in Geography from Kanpur University, but Om is also a GLOBE Clouds and NASA GLOBE CLOUD GAZE superstar! When citizen scientists make a GLOBE Clouds observation within 15 minutes of a satellite observation, both points of views are matched. The matched data provides a more comprehensive view of what is going on in our atmosphere, and this augmented data set is very useful for scientific research. Well, Om has not just matched satellite observations one or twice. With his GLOBE Clouds observations, Om has matched satellite data more than 9,000 times, contributing greatly to a GLOBE Clouds lifetime goal of reaching a million satellite matches.
When asked about what makes him passionate about clouds, Om has shared he has had a keen interest in cloud gazing since he was a child. He always wants to learn more about our atmosphere and to contribute to the study of our climate. He would like to inspire other citizen scientists to enjoy the natural beauty of clouds in the sky and to help aid in the understanding of climate change.
We hope that Om’s enthusiasm in doing these measurements inspires not just our current GLOBE students and teachers to do more observations and to use GLOBE protocols but also those who are not in the education sector. After all, this is what citizen science is all about - gathering and sharing scientific data and collaborating to produce useful research for the general public. We can see in Om a real citizen scientist at work!
Note: This blog post was written and published by the GLOBE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group
