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Connecting GLOBE with a Wider Meteorological Community Through NOAA MADIS
Engaging in authentic, purposeful data collection with real-world applications is one of the best ways to learn and make meaningful contributions to the world. The GLOBE Program is very pleased to establish a connection with MADIS through Synoptic Data, through which our participants’ (K to grey) meteorological observations are part of the broader dataset that support a wide range of research, applications, and decisions. —Amy P. Chen, NASA HQ GLOBE program manager
The GLOBE Program Office at NASA HQ and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Education are pleased to announce that the GLOBE community’s weather observations have just become more impactful now that GLOBE data are being shared with the wider meteorological community through the Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System, or MADIS for short. MADIS was jointly developed by NOAA’s Office of Atmospheric Research and the National Weather Service. It is a comprehensive system that passes data through various quality checks before making them widely available to universities and research institutions, federal and local government agencies, the public, and more. Hundreds of important observations collected following GLOBE protocols are now part of a continuously evolving dataset that a wide range of end users can use to undertake research and make informed decisions.
Fourteen different GLOBE meteorological parameters including precipitation, barometric pressure, and relative humidity have been added to MADIS. As of October 2024, data from 266 different locations from GLOBE’s worldwide network have been uploaded to MADIS. If you would like to explore the database, you can visit the Synoptic Data Viewer, and GLOBE data can be filtered by the “NGLO Mesonet,” which is short for NASA GLOBE. Explore the data available in this database to learn more about weather in different regions and countries or to see how weather patterns vary in your area by filtering the data for local stations.
Screenshot of Synaptic Data Viewer
Stay tuned for information on a future webinar that will demo the exploration of the GLOBE data using the Synoptic Data Viewer and offer examples of how data viewer users are using MADIS data for real-world applications.
Why are GLOBE weather observations needed?
Weather monitoring across the globe is often done by governments and academic organizations using sophisticated and highly technical equipment. This equipment provides valuable, high-precision, and accurate observations, but it is sparse and can be expensive to operate and maintain. One of the ongoing challenges faced by the meteorological community is the availability of sustained, high-density observations at the local level. The GLOBE Program is uniquely positioned to capture fine-scale observations, and the GLOBE community of educators, students, citizen scientists, and scientists is encouraged to continue measuring, recording, and submitting valuable observations to the GLOBE database. (Not part of GLOBE? Join today!) GLOBE observations can help plug knowledge gaps to address how meteorological conditions vary across complex terrain, guide societally important decisions, inform policies, and improve GLOBE’s collective knowledge. Examples of the practical use of these data include informing farmers on conditions for planting, identifying community flood risk areas, and informing disaster management.
GLOBE and NOAA are excited to partner in order to share GLOBE
observations with a broader community for research and
exploration.