Download Atmosphere investigation tests in either Microsoft Word or Adobe pdf formats for high school:

Grade Level	Student Version (formatted to hand out to students)	Teacher Version (includes sample answers)
High School

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(Present problem requiring use of GLOBE data archives) You are a student at La Colina School located in the coastal town of Santa Barbara in Southern California. Your class is planning a beach party and you are on the planning committee. Santa Barbara frequently experiences a great range in cloud cover due to its elevation and proximity to the ocean. You have been asked to report to the committee your recommendations for when the party should be held. Given air temperature and cloud coverage data collected at La Colina, your job is to determine the relationship of cloud coverage and temperature at your sea-level school and report your findings.

1) (Plan Investigations: Pose relevant questions) Look at the GLOBE data provided. Think of two questions you might ask regarding the data. A sample question might be "Is there anything unusual regarding air temperature for this time of year?"

2) (Interpreting GLOBE data: Infer patterns & trends) One of the students on the committee, John, says that the temperature and cloud cover are completely random - it can be hot and sunny one day and cold and overcast the next. What trend do you see regarding the air temperature? What trend do you see regarding the cloud coverage?

The air temperature (both max and min) seem to follow some sort of up and down motion - it slowly goes from hot to cool and to hot again. The cloud coverage one is tough. In a way it follows a type of up and down wave but it is hard to tell.

3) (Take GLOBE Measurements: Use quality assurance procedures) You have observed some of the students at your school collecting the GLOBE data. Are there any data that you suspect might be due to a measurement error? How can you tell? What would you tell these students to insure that this doesn't happen again?

I can't really tell if any of the data have some sort of measurement error in them. If there was a day that had a really high temperature, say like 40 or 50oC, or a really low temperature I would be suspicious.

I would tell these students they need to be very careful when taking measurements and recording the measurements. It might be a good idea for all measurements and recordings to be double-checked by another student. They should also be very careful when entering the data into the GLOBE database. Here they should also have the data double-checked before it is sent to the GLOBE database.

4) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Explain data & relationships) One of the students on the committee, Emma, suggested that it might be helpful to see if there is a relationship between the variables. What is the relationship between maximum temperature and cloud cover? For example, if cloud coverage increases, what happens to the maximum air temperature?

It might be helpful to break the two months into 8 one-week periods and then find the average cloud coverage and average temperature for each of the periods. The general trend that I see after breaking both graphs into one-week segments is that as the cloud coverage increases, temperature drops. This is not exact, but this is the general idea. The opposite is true too (in general.)

5) (Analyze and Interpret Data: Infer patterns & trends) To help in your analysis, use the air temperature graph to create another graph that shows the average air temperature over time. Since there are many data points, break the graph into three-day segments and find the averages per each segment. What trends do you notice?

The trend I see from the graph is a slow up and down motion between January 15th and March 15th. It starts out high, slowly dips down, goes up again, and then finally makes its way downward.

6) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Create multiple formats to represent data) Using the temperature graph, create another graph that shows the range in temperature over time. Again, break the graph into three-day segments and find the average range for each segment. What trends that you notice?

The trend in this one is harder to see, but in general it follows kind of a wave motion - it looks like a sine wave from our math class. It starts out with a large temperature range and then fluctuates back and forth, ending with a shorter range in temperature.

7) (Analyze and Compare GLOBE Data: Identify data components) What does it mean if there is a steep line between two data points on the temperature graph? What does it mean if there is a line that slowly increases over several data points? Do you think an atmospheric scientist would be concerned by a steep line upward (positive slope) and a steep line downward (negative slope) over a three day period? Explain your answer.

A steep line on the temperature graph means that there is a big change in temperature between two days (or data points.) If the line slowly increases over several data points this is just showing a gradual increase in temperature. If there was a steep line upward and then a steep line downward over a three day period, this shows a big change in temperature over these days. If I were an atmospheric scientist I might be concerned that something strange is going on with the weather. For example, this fluctuation might mean that there is a change in barometric pressure and that a storm is on its way.

8) (Planning Investigations: Ask to set up another problem) Using the GLOBE database, choose another school in a town that has the same latitude as La Colina but is on a different coast. Following a similar investigation of this new school, what trends do you see? In other words, how is this school the same and/or different from La Colina? What other atmosphere variables might you look at to tell you more about the environmental factors at each school? Why did you choose these variables?

9) (Communicate: Compose reports to explain or persuade) Using the data analysis you have done, write a short report (1-2 pages) that summarizes your findings and explains when you think the beach party should take place. Be sure to support your conclusions with data you have analyzed and suggest other data that might be helpful for further study of the coastal weather.