Collaboration with schools at home and in other countries is helping the GLOBE students at Viitaniemen ylaaste in Jyvaskyla, Finland to increase their knowledge of both local and global environmental conditions.

With a GLOBE data-reporting record which extends over three years, these students use the GLOBE Student Data Archive and other Internet based databases to analyze atmospheric and hydrology data from all over the world, transferring the information into spreadsheets to count averages, create diagrams, and compare the environmental situations in different parts of the world.

In conducting their own GLOBE measurements, the students have learned that certain plants in certain parts of the world need different levels of warmth to initiate growth. Beginning a few months before the onset of spring, the students count the thermal sun - a process for measuring the amount of warmth a plant is exposed to prior to budburst. In cooperation with the Upper Level Comprehensive Schools of Palokka and Saynatsalo, Viitaniemi School, the students have also used lichens as bioindicators.

In order to carry out their research, the students are sharing equipment with scientists at the Department of Biology at the University of Jyvaskyla and performing chemical analysis in the laboratories of Jyvaskyla Vocational Institute of Technology. They have also found support from the Department of Education, the Office of Environment of Jyvaskyla, and the Park and Forest Services.

Learn more about the work of the GLOBE students of Viitaniemi School at: http://kala.jyu.fi/vkoulu/jyvaskyla/viitanya/viitan05.htm