Surface Temperature Field Campaign - Day 4

29 November 2007

The first week of the GLOBE Surface Temperature field campaign is coming to a close. It is great to see so many schools represented that have participated in previous years. I have been in email contact with many teachers who are getting their students involved.

Taking a quick look at the data on the GLOBE Web site, I’ve noticed that, for the most part, the data are being entered without problems. One of the typical errors that students in the United States make is they put the temperature into the GLOBE Web site as degrees Fahrenheit instead of degrees Celsius. No one has done that yet for this field campaign.

The highest temperature so far has been in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania of 14.6° C. The lowest temperature has been at –5.7° C at Whitehall High School in Whitehall, Michigan. I suspect that the lowest temperature will be a lot lower if some of the teachers and students in Alaska start entering data. They have participated in the past but there aren’t any data on the GLOBE Web site from them yet.

Incorrect Universal Time on Some Observations

I have noticed, though, that a couple of the observations have the incorrect universal time. Please be careful when you or your students enter the data that you use universal time. If you need help with converting your time to universal time, see the UT/UTC conversion page.

Major Winter Storm in the United States

The big story is the major winter storm that is forecast to move out of Colorado on Friday up towards the Great Lakes and East Coast of the United States over the weekend. The big question is, “Who will get the snow?” Winter storm watches are posted all the way from New Mexico to Minnesota to Illinois. In Toledo, Ohio where I am, the storm may bring only rain. Bummer!

On a related note, Friday morning (tomorrow) I will be going to Akron, Ohio, to be part of a program to honor GLOBE students. Four students from Roswell Kent Middle School will be personally honored with a commendation by the state of Ohio during a school assembly. The four eighth graders — Julia Moyer, Elizabeth Price, Ashley Falls, Katelyn Jefferys and teacher Steven Frantz are one of five groups chosen to represent the United States at the GLOBE Learning Expedition to be held at in South Africa in June, 2008. These students participated in last year’s surface temperature field campaign. Their research project that they entered into the competition looked at the effect of land cover on the surface temperatures of six different schools.

Map of the USA

Map of the USA, to locate the states mentioned in the blog.

Students from more schools have entered data onto the GLOBE Web site for the surface temperature field campaign:

Roswell Kent Middle School, Akron, Ohio, USA
Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School, Houston, Pennsylvania, USA
Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Parnumaa, Estonia
Polaris Career Center, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, USA
White Cloud Public, White Cloud, Michigan, USA
Blue Valley High School, Stilwell, Kansas, USA
Ingomar Middle School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Lorain Community College Early College High School, Elyria, Ohio, USA
Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Parnumaa, Estonia
White Cloud Public, White Cloud, Michigan, USA
Blue Valley High School, Stilwell, Kansas, USA
Roxboro Middle School, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
Ida Elementary School, Ida, Michigan, USA
Whitehall High School, Whitehall, Michigan, USA
Birchwood School, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Gimnazium in Toszek, Toszek, Poland
Waynesboro Senior High School, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, USA
Eastwood Middle School, Pemberville, Ohio, USA
Orange Elementary School, Waterloo, Iowa, USA

Have a good weekend everyone.

Dr. C

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.