Jasmyn Dyer, Priscilla Lin, and Ednaida Cintron

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A STUDY OF DAILY AVERAGE AIR TEMPERATURE DATA
FROM GLOBE SCHOOLS
Jasmyn Dyer, Priscilla Lin, and Ednaida
Cintron High School Scholars, the Timbuktu
Academy Southern University and AM College
Baton Rouge, Louisiana A Presentation at the
15th NAFEO High Tech Student Expo 2001,
Washington, D.C. Acknowledgments Work funded by
NASA, through PIPELINES and NASA Sharp Plus, and
by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval
Research (ONR), through the Timbuktu
Academy Friday March 23, 2001
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• AN OVERVIEW of the Global Learning and
  Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE)
  Program (http//www.globe.gov)
• GLOBE SCIENCE Types of Measurements and Related
  Scientific Protocols that Ensure Data Validity,
  Accuracy, and Reliability
• OBJECTIVES of this Research Project
• OUR METHOD for Data Collection (By GLOBE School)
  and for our Analysis (four-parameter fit to a
  sine curve)
• RESULTS
• DISCUSSIONS, APPLICATIONS, CONCLUSION
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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OVERVIEW

• GLOBE is a hands-on, school-based, international,
  environmental science and education program
  involving students in primary and secondary
  schools throughout the world.
• GLOBE participants
• Take GLOBE environmental measurements
• Report observations
• Study environmental topics in the classroom
• Conduct GLOBE activities under the guidance of
  GLOBE-trained teachers

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GLOBE INITIATIVE

• GLOBE initiative introduced on Earth Day (April
  22) 1994
• Over 10,000 schools involved worldwide
• All US schools and nations invited to participate
• Over 96 partner countries have joined GLOBE
• United Nations GLOBE resolution, December 1994
• GLOBE endorsed and nations encouraged to
  participate
• UN agencies requested to support implementation

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GLOBE SCIENCE

• 
  
• GLOBE has created a worldwide research team to
  generate knowledge about the Earth as an
  interconnected system (i.e., the Earth System)
• GLOBE measurements have been selected and
  designed by the international science community.
• Scientists use GLOBE data in their on-going
  research
• GLOBE scientists interact with teachers and
  students involved in GLOBE to provide feedback,
  encouragement and advice
• GLOBE activities strengthen the links between
  leading research scientists and students at
  schools around the world

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WHY ARE GLOBE DATA
SCIENTIFIC DATA?

• They are collected following scientifically
  designed, developed, field-tested, and
  peer-reviewed protocols (comprehensive
  procedures).
• These protocols address (a) requisite equipment
  specifications, (b) instrument calibration, (c)
  how, when, and where to measure, and (d) safety
  precautions, if applicable.
• They ensure data (a) validity, (b) accuracy, and
  (c) reliability.

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WHY ARE GLOBE DATA VALUABLE
Their scientific nature Their Prospective
Scope of Coverage (planet) Their long-term
value The critical need for local data for
studies of the Earth system (i.e., environment)
The non-linear dynamics that governs global
circulation (air and oceans in particular)
dictates detailed and complete data from
thousands of specific localities (properly
distributed around the world) for the
development, testing, and validation of global
computer models.
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GLOBE ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENTS

• ATMOSPHERE/CLIMATE STUDIES

• HYDROLOGY STUDIES

• SOILS STUDIES

• LAND COVER/BIOLOGY STUDIES

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OBJECTIVES OF OUR WORK

• The objectives of this research project were
• To utilize GLOBE data in a manner similar to the
  way in which scientists, around the world, are
  using these data, i.e.,
• To analyze average daily temperatures in search
  of useful patterns
• To provide an example of the kinds of studies
  our colleagues could perform around the world
• To explore possible extensions of the resulting
  findings in relation to environmental research

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METHOD

• By selecting GLOBE data, we adopted GLOBE
  equipment, experimental set-up, and measurement
  protocols or procedures as the core of our
  experimental method for data collection.
• Daily Average Air Temperature Data are selected
  due in part to the fact that they are regularly
  collected by the chosen schools.
• Four-parameter Fitting with MS Excel and with
  Prism software.
• The following results show that a four-parameter
  sine curve fits all the data from any given
  schoolwith the differences in the parameters
  reflecting differences of temperatures between
  schools.
• For schools at comparable latitudes, differences
  due to elevation (altitude) and/or local Earth
  sub-system are clearly visible.

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RESULTS

• The first three (3) graphs clearly show that
  the daily average air temperature data from the
  selected GLOBE schools can be fitted with a
  four-parameter sine curve. The goodness of the
  fit, as per the three first graphs, is the same
  for the more than 10 schools considered.
• The fourth graph clearly illustrates the impact
  of elevation (altitude) when other variables are
  held constant Lower daily average air
  temperature with higher altitude.
• The fifth and last graph clearly illustrates the
  importance of the local Earth subsystem Even
  though the Arizona school (desert) is at a higher
  altitude than the one in California (water
  proximity), its daily average air temperatures
  are mostly higher!

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SUMMARY
We found a sinusoidal behavior of the GLOBE daily
average temperatures at specific locations in the
US, Germany, Japan, and Greece. This finding
validates the scientific soundness of the data
from the selected GLOBE schools as it agrees with
sinusoidal behavior reported in the Journal of
Geophysical Research. This finding adds to the
body of knowledge in the scientific
literaturegiven that the four parameters, far
from being the same all over the planet, vary
with locations (i.e., latitude, altitude, and
the constituents and dynamics of the local Earth
subsystem (land versus ocean/lake, desert versus
proximity of a large body of water, presence or
absence of a mountain to affect atmospheric
circulation, etc.)
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CONCLUSION AND APPLICATIONS
We successfully obtained a four-parameter fit of
daily average air temperature data from GLOBE
schools. The four parameters of the fit to a
sine function vary with latitude, altitude, and
the dynamics of the local Earth sub-system.
These variations partly underscore the
importance of GLOBE and the need for
participating schools to collect data regularly.
Our method and results hopefully provide a means
for rigorous and easy studies of local
temperature changes from year to year and for
long-term studies that are pertinent to global
climate change research, i.e., for the
validation of complex models. THANK YOU VERY MUCH
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• My colleagues Priscilla Lin, Ednaida Cintron, and
  I wish to express our profound appreciation to
• the funding agencies identified early (NASA and
  ONR) and to Quality Education for Minority (QEM)
  Network
• The GLOBE students and their teachers for
  providing the scientific data that made this work
  possible
• GLOBE for making said data readily available on
  the Internet
• The Timbuktu Academy and our mentors Dr. Diola
  Bagayoko, Dr. Saleem Hasan, and Prof. Norma
  Lewis and to
• Our loving and supportive parents.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ms. Jasmyn Dyer is a high school student in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. She performed her portion of
the reported research in the spring of 2001. She
made the presentation at the NAFEO High
Technology Student Expo in Washington, D.C. Ms.
Priscilla Lin and Ms. Ednaida Cintron are high
school students in California and Puerto Rico,
respectively. They performed their portion of the
reported research in the summer of 2000, while
they were NASA Sharp Plus summer research
scholars working with Dr. Bagayoko at the
Timbuktu Academy, SUBR. The NASA Sharp Plus
program at SUBR is administered by Professor
Norma Lewis, in the Department of Mathematics.
The Program is nationally run by the Quality
Education for Minority (QEM) Network in
Washington, D.C.