Museum Education in Atmospheric and Oceanic Hazards

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Museum Education in Atmospheric and Oceanic
Hazards

• Jon M. Nese
• Chief Meteorologist
• Franklin Institute Science Museum
• Philadelphia, PA

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Science Centers Museums

• Contacted 100 members of ASTC, Association of
  Science and Technology Centers. 40 replied
  searched 200 web sites.
• Very few have meteorologist or oceanographer
  (notable exceptions Franklin Institute,
  Carnegie Science Center, Fairbanks Museum, The
  Weather Museum - HOU).
• But most science centers/museums have some
  weather-related exhibits or programs.

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Exhibits

• Permanent -vs- traveling
• Collectives exist to share exhibits (Science
  Museum Exhibit Collective (SMEC)
• Mix of high tech and low tech
• Not just panels on a wall Interactive,
  Interactive, Interactive

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Traveling Powers of Nature

• NSF-sponsored, developed 1998 at TFI (PHL) with
  assistance from NOAA.
• Features real-time data (from WSI and Global
  Atmospherics)
• Visited other large science centers in LA, Ft.
  Worth, Boston, Columbus, Minneapolis.

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Permanent Natures Fury (OMSI)

• The Wave Tank Watch rhythmic movement of
  waves on a sandy beach within a 12 ft long
  aquarium.
• Tornado Chamber Pass your hands through a
  twisting vortex of air that simulates the wind
  dynamics of a tornado - safely.
• Wind Tunnel Place model buildings or yourself
  in a wind tunnel, whose speed you control up to
  30 mph.
• Earthquake Room Puts you in the middle of an
  earthquake of magnitude 5.5 (common to mix) .

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Midwest Wild Weather Project

• collaboration among nine science centers in IL,
  IN, IA, and MI. Each site has a set of eleven
  weather-related interactives which also travel to
  schools for weeklong visits

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Lightning

• Boston Museum of Science - worlds largest
  air-insulated Van de Graaff.

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Hurricanes and Tornadoes
Exploratorium (San Francisco)
Gulf Coast Hurricane MOSI, Tampa FL
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Flooding
Erosion or stream tables popular
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Museums and TV / Radio / NWS

• Weather instrumentation often linked to local TV
  (Weathernet, from AWS, in at least two dozen
  museums).
• Local TV station in Portland, OR, broadcasts
  weather live from Oregon Museum of Science and
  Industry.
• Carnegie Science Center (PIT) forecasts for
  local TV TFI, Fairbanks Museum (St. Johnsbury,
  VT), Weather Museum (HOU) provide forecasts to
  local NPR.
• TFI does one-minute weather features for local
  PBS.
• NWS Coop sites TFI, Fairbanks, STL Science
  Center

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Weathernet
Live Weather
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Stormy Weather Workshops (TFI)

• Museum/TV partnership
• NWS Project Safeside
• Topics Winter storms, Tornadoes, Hurricanes

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Ocean Exhibits

• Extreme Deep BBH Exhibits in collaboration
  with Woods Hole. Highlights deep-sea exploration
  and discovery
• Oceans Alive! Boston Museum of Science
• Poseidens Realm Center of Science and
  Industry (Columbus)
• Ocean Planet Smithsonian (travelling)

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In the Works

• The Weather Museum -- project of the Weather
  Research Center (Houston). Devoted entirely to
  weather, with emphasis on hazards.
• MOSI Tampa -- Partnering with Institute for
  Business Home Safety to create "Disasterville,
  an exhibit that features wind and water hazards
  and how to prepare for them (hurricanes
  tornadoes, floods)

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To Think About

• Weather is hot topic in science centers,
  especially hazards and extremes.
• Increasingly taking interpretation beyond their
  walls (web, TV)
• Museums always looking for funding opportunities
  and partnerships.
• Real-time data-driven interactives

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To Think About

• Theres been some museum/university,
  museum/professional society, and
  museum/government partnerships, but mostly
  consulting and transitory.
• Holes to fill Exhibit on cycles (ENSO,
  sunspots, NAO??), Omni films on weather.

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Museum Education in Atmospheric and Oceanic
Hazards

• Jon M. Nese
• Chief Meteorologist
• Franklin Institute Science Museum
• Philadelphia, PA

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-- By no means exhaustive or complete, from the
perspective of someone whos been in museum world
for only 3 years, might come out different if
done by career museum person. -- Became
increasingly clear to me as I prepared this talk
that it would be primarily about how museums
spread the word about atmospheric, as opposed to
oceanic, hazards -- El Nino in most cases is
closest museum come to oceanic hazard.
Actually allows me to emphasize one of my
conclusions, if theres a topic out there waiting
to be thoroughly, thoughtfully, and accurately
covered in a museum exhibit, I believe its El
Nino (might be part of a larger exhibit called
Atmosphere and Ocean cycles or something like
that). -- Also this talk weighted toward TFI
meteo because thats where I work and thats my
expertise. -- ASTC numbers about 550 members,
zoos, Mus Nat history, botanical
gardens. WEATHER HAZARDS OFTEN LUMPED INTO SAME
EXHIBIT AS EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES - ROOM FOR
MISINTERPRETATION.
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Great Lakes Science Center Sick Earth Sick
Earth is a whimsical yet pointed exhibit,
depicting our planet in a hospital bed. A
thermometer checks for global warming. A Band-Aid
covers the Amazon Rainforest. Sunglasses protect
the Antarctic from a hole in the ozone layer.
The hospital bed is surrounded by monitoring
equipment, allowing visitors to learn more about
what ails the Earth. Near the bed are get-well
cards from the other planets. Designed to raise
awareness of past and present environmental
problems, this exhibit encourages visitors to
personally help in the healing process. Great
Lakes Haunted House This house isn't haunted by
ghosts and goblins, it's haunted by hands-on
exhibits about toxic chemicals and pollutants.
Detergents, motor oil, fertilizers -- many common
household items can pollute our homes, as well as
the outdoor environment. Now that's spooky!
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http//www.lsc.org/lsc_info/press_releases/current
/extreme_deeppr.html (extreme deep) http//www.m
os.org/oceans/ (oceans alive Boston)
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The weather operations at the Fairbanks Museum
and Planetarium owe their tradition to the
Museum's founder, Franklin Fairbanks. An avid
amateur naturalist, Fairbanks kept meticulous
weather records at his family home in St.
Johnsbury, Vermont during the 1850's and 1860's.
Shortly after the Fairbanks Museum was built in
1891, the Museum started recording daily weather
statistics for the newly formed Weather
Bureau. Today, serving five commercial and
public radio stations (including Vermont Public
Radio), with a listener base of over three
million, plus regional ski resorts, public
utility corporations and private professional
firms, the Northern New England Weather Center,
located at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium,
is one of St. Johnsbury's most well-known and
important assets. Meteorologists Mark Breen and
Steve Maleski have coordinated improvements in
gather information with Lyndon State College's
Meteorology Department, Level Nine, Inc., and the
Connecticut River Valley Network
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Permanent Natures Fury (OMSI)

• The Wave Tank Watch and listen to the rhythmic
  movement of waves on a sandy beach within a 12
  foot long aquarium.
• Tornado Chamber Pass your hands through a
  twisting vortex of air that simulates the wind
  dynamics of a tornado - safely.
• Wind Tunnel Place model buildings or yourself
  in the path of a wind tunnel, whose speed you
  control up to thirty miles per hour.
• Earthquake Room Puts you in the middle of an
  earthquake of magnitude 5.5 (common to mix .