GLOBE Surface Temperature Field Campaign Final Report

The GLOBE Surface Temperature Field Campaign was a success once again this year. Thank you to all of the students and teachers who make this field campaign possible. And, thank you to GLOBE for supporting this type of scientific investigation. A total of 17 schools have entered data so far as of January 17, 2013 and I know that several others took observations and are working on getting their observations in. This is a smaller number of participants than the last several years when between 40 and 60 schools participated. I suspect that the change over to the new GLOBE website may have caused extra confusion and challenges. The amount of errors in the reported data seemed low which shows the diligence of the students and teachers in taking these observations.

Here are the schools that have posted observations so far.

Crestwood High School, Daerborn Heights, Michigan

Taaksi Basic School, Estonia, Thanks for participating again.

Kilingi-Nomme Gymnasium, Estonia, Thanks for participating again.

Alexander von Humbolt Gymnasium, Konstanz, Germany

The University of Toledo, This is me and my children.

Westchester Area School, Hi Trenton, it is good to see your data.

Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School, Good to see you Mr. Pop.

Burlington County Institute Of Technology, New Jersey

West Union High School, Ohio

Birchwood School, Ohio – Hi Mrs. Brown.

Lakewood Catholic Academy, Ohio – Great that you got on Mrs. McGuire

Roswell-Kent Middle School, Ohio – Hi Mr. Frantz.

Mohican School in the Out of Doors, Ohio – Hi Susan and Steve

Brazil School, Trinidad and Tobago

Main Street School, Norwalk, Ohio – Hi Mrs. Burns.

The Morton Arboretum Youth Education Department, Illinois

John Marshall High School, Glen Dale, West Virginia – Hi Mrs. Clark. Thank you for having your students participate.

Here is a view of the Eastern United States from the GLOBE visualization page showing the observations on December 13, 2012. The surface temperature was coldest near Cleveland in eastern Ohio and warmest in southern West Virginia.

The school that was most diligent was Lakewood Catholic Academy near Cleveland, Ohio. The students and teacher took surface temperature observations on every day in December including Christmas and New Years Eve. That is dedication. Please look at the time series plot below that I made from the GLOBE visualization page.

There are many things that can be done with the observations. Now that the field observations are over, students can use the observations to develop inquiry-based research projects. I want to outline some examples.

In the past, students have looked at the difference in surface temperature under different cloud conditions, between schools at different elevations and latitude, and between schools in North America vs. Europe. How does land cover affect surface temperature? How does the number of condensation trails affect surface temperature? How does surface temperature change from day to day and season to season.

Dr. C