Balloons, Raindrops and Streaming Media: Meteorological Fun and Fact for All Ages

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and its managing consortium of universities, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), just celebrated their 40th anniversary. Using this milestone to communicate with many constituents, a multi-pronged effort to reach the public at all age levels was undertaken. Building on weather-related scientific content from NCAR, the laboratory's popular informal science education activities were enhanced significantly in a manner that has strengthened the ongoing outreach program. The strategy has been two-fold:

1) to draw the curious-but-uninvolved public to atmospheric science through light-hearted, sometimes amusing, and always accessible activities; and 2) to involve the interested and somewhat scientifically literate public through multi-layered presentations of scientific content.

This session will review the manner in which the history of the laboratory and the research of the atmospheric sciences community is being presented through special events, new exhibits, visualizations of weather models, and new web sites that make public lectures and scientific briefings accessible through streaming media. The presentation will demonstrate how NCAR and UCAR have intrigued, involved and informed the public at all age levels through means as diverse as a bubble and balloon festival, a raindrop that guides children through weather-related experiments, and a web-based scientific forum.