AMNH will use NOAA weather satellite data to annotate 72 high definition (HD) video time-series global cloud cover visualizations using thermal infrared brightness temperature data acquired by five geostationary satellites and joined into global mosaics at half-hourly intervals. The HD visualizations will be used in informal and formal education activities and will be made available on the Web. These media pieces will be used for informal education activities at AMNH and 28 other informal science institutions (ISI) around the United States . The target population of visitors to subscribing ISIs is currently ten million and is projected to be over 15 million by the end of the grant. The HD visualizations will be used in formal settings, as well. Fifteen schools throughout New York City with large numbers of new English Language Learners will be targeted and professional development for teachers of ELL students will be provided through programs at AMNH as well. AMNH s effort focuses on weather and climate patterns that will be visible in the cloud-data visualizations. All viewers of the media will learn about general circulation patterns and changes in phase of water associated with the hydrologic cycle.
Project BudBurst engages people from across the United States in the collection of important climate change data based on the timing of leafing and flowering of trees and flowers. Project BudBurst participants take careful observations of the phenological events such as the first leafing, first flower, and first fruit ripening for a variety of plant species including trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, weeds and ornamentals. Project BudBurst is particularly interested in observations of native plant species. The citizen science observations are reported online to a national database. As a result valuable environmental and climate change information is being collected in a consistent way across the country. Scientists can use this data to learn about the responses of individual plant species to climatic variation locally, regionally, and nationally, and to detect longer-term impacts of climate change by comparing with historical data.
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University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Office of Outreach and EducationChicago Botanic GardenUniversity of MontanaSandra Henderson
This project will produce an educational 30-minute DVD/TV film and interactive website with classroom materials about climate change and its effects on biota by presenting past and current research on the Adelie penguin, Antarctica's most accessible indicator species. The project will target students in grades 5-8. Each component of "Penguin Science" will present an engaging case study to teach students about ecology, the complex science of climate change and its impacts, both positive and negative. It will not only feature the work of David Ainley and co-PI's Grant Ballard and Katie Dugger, but also William Sladen who began the first NSF-sponsored penguin studies 48 years ago during the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Archival film clips of Sladen and his work from the 1970 documentary, "Penguin City" (CBS), will convey the value of long-term research and show biotic changes during just one professional lifetime. The project will be completed in 2007 to coincide with the International Polar Year.