In response to an Announcement of Opportunity for the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment Program (GLOBE) this project is designed to meet GLOBE goals and objectives of linking scientists and schoolchildren in a global information network with the ultimate goal of better understanding Earth's environment and changes that take place within it. This project will design a new observation protocol for use at GLOBE schools in order to detect the annual waves of plant green-up and senescence that occur as photosynthesis becomes active and then dormant with the cycling of the seasons. These waves are important because they can be directly related to global carbon fixation, and they are observed to respond to long-term global change. It is expected that they also respond to shorter-term phenomena such as El Ni=F1o. The greenness index measures reflectance related to photosynthesis and plant cellular structure, and is derived from satellite data. Each satellite sensor is calibrated for spectral reflectance before launch, but these calibrations drift with time, and therefore the measurements lose accuracy as the instrument ages. Combined with changes in viewing angle and sun-angle, the index estimates have low precision. Ground-based observations of spring green-up and fall senescence can therefore contribute greatly to the validation of satellite estimates of growing seasons. The goal of the project is to improve math, science, and technology in K-12 classrooms by providing an opportunity for scientists and students to collaborate in a research project of real significance to scientists who are tracking plant phenological changes as indicators of global change. Students, teachers and scientists will benefit from this project. Students will take part in an authentic learning project where they will have the chance to apply what they are learning to create new knowledge. Teachers will have a new and interesting tool with which to teach basic principles of math and science. Scientists will have access to global plant phenology data -- data which are currently very rare and are needed for validation of global remotely sensed estimates of plant phenology. %%% In response to an Announcement of Opportunity for the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment Program (GLOBE) this project is designed to meet GLOBE goals and objectives of linking scientists and schoolchildren in a global information network with the ultimate goal of better understanding Earth's environment and changes that take place within it. This project will design a new observation protocol for use at GLOBE schools in order to detect the annual waves of plant green-up and senescence that occur as photosynthesis becomes active and then dormant with the cycling of the seasons. These waves are important because they can be directly related to global carbon fixation, and they are observed to respond to long-term global change. It is expected that they also respond to shorter-term phenomena such as El Ni=F1o. The greenness index measures reflectance related to photosynthesis and plant cellular structure, and is derived from satellite data. Each satellite sensor is calibrated for spectral reflectance before launch, but these calibrations drift with time, and therefore the measurements lose accuracy as the instrument ages. Combined with changes in viewing angle and sun-angle, the index estimates have low precision. Ground-based observations of spring green-up and fall senescence can therefore contribute greatly to the validation of satellite estimates of growing seasons. The goal of the project is to improve math, science, and technology in K-12 classrooms by providing an opportunity for scientists and students to collaborate in a research project of real significance to scientists who are tracking plant phenological changes as indicators of global change. Students, teachers and scientists will benefit from this project. Students will take part in an authentic learning project where they will have the chance to apply what they are learning to create new knowledge. Teachers will have a new and interesting tool with which to teach basic principles of math and science. Scientists will have access to global plant phenology data -- data which are currently very rare and are needed for validation of global remotely sensed estimates of plant phenology.
