84th AMS Annual Meeting

Sunday, 11 January 2004
NASA missions CloudSat and CALIPSO join with the GLOBE Program: Student opportunities involving data collection and problem-based learning to support scientists researching climate change
Hall 4AB
Debra K. Krumm, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; and D. Q. Robinson and B. Maggi
NASA places strong emphasis on education and involvement of students and teachers in their missions. CloudSat and CALIPSO are two satellite-based research missions co-manifested for launch in late 2004 and included in the “A-Train” satellite formation. The A-Train will consist of six missions flying in close proximity, providing combined detailed observations about the Earth’s atmosphere that will allow scientists to make better predictions related to climate change. CloudSat will use radar and provide a global survey of cloud properties to aid with improving cloud models and the accuracy of weather forecasts (http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu). CALIPSO will use Lidar to detect size and distribution of aerosols to aid in improving our understanding of the role aerosols and clouds play in Earth’s climate system (http://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov/).

Each of the A-Train missions has a unique education and outreach program for students and teachers. Included in the CloudSat and CALIPSO outreach is a partnership with the GLOBE Program aimed at involving students worldwide in mission observations and data collection. The GLOBE program is a network of over 12,000 K-14 schools, science centers, after school programs, environmental clubs etc. from over 100 countries where students collect scientific data according to precise protocols and enter the data into a central database allowing both scientists and students to utilize the data (http://www.globe.gov).

CloudSat and CALIPSO will partner with GLOBE schools worldwide to enlist student assistance with testing the data collected by both satellites. Students will use the existing GLOBE protocols on aerosols and clouds to collect data as the satellites pass over their schools. For example, because of the size of the “footprint” of the radar on the Earth’s surface, the polar-orbiting CloudSat satellite will pass over an individual school every 16th day. CloudSat scientists will have students on that day at a set time make visual observations related to cloud cover, cloud type and precipitation. This information will be compared to the CloudSat radar data to determine the accuracy of the satellite radar unit. CALIPSO will have students collect and report on aerosol measurements taken with a hand-held sun photometer. Climate change and the effects aerosols have on climate are current topics in schools today. It now appears likely that anthropogenic aerosols resulting from industrial activities and agricultural burning are affecting weather and climate in some regions of the world.

The data collected by students internationally for CALIPSO and CloudSat will allow them to better understand the impacts made by humans on Earth’s atmosphere and how these impacts are global in scope. In return, scientists gain a valuable resource giving them ground-based data in many more locations than would be possible using established weather stations and research laboratories. Across the United States, national science education standards include data collection as a necessary learning activity for all students. CALIPSO and CloudSat will provide students with an opportunity to not only participate in data collection on a global level, but also to do research with near-real time data from the satellite instruments.

In return for providing valuable data to the missions, students will be able to utilize educational resources created by the CloudSat and CALIPSO outreach teams. These include a NASA CONNECT video on the two missions and the electromagnetic spectrum, problem-based learning modules that allow the students to use inquiry to research and answer questions involving real-life situations, educational interactive websites, information packets available at parks and museums and master teacher workshops.

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