Hello, my name is Marilé Colón Robles.
I'm the project scientist for NASA GLOBE Clouds at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
I am with Madison and Elizabeth and we're gonna be doing an experiment. We're going to be doing a dust storm.
We're going to be doing a dust storm. So, first thing is, first, we need goggles.
Or safety glasses because safety is first and then we're going to make a dust storm using this as wind,
And then we're going to take a satellite picture as well.
Now why are we talking about this?
Well, no matter where you live, you can make observations of clouds and also of dust or smoke using the GLOBE Observer app.
You can do it from inside a vehicle or building because we always want you to be safe when a dust storm is occurring.
Your pictures let scientists know exactly where those dust storm are starting,
which is something that is kind of tricky sometimes when looking at just satellite data.
So what do we have here, girls? We have
Dust and soil.
We have soil like wet soil that we packed up and then some dust, that's really dry.
Yeah, it won't stick together.
That's right.
Let's see, let's get our satellite ready.
We have a balloon that we're going to stick to a straw and then we have a line here.
And then when we say satellite, we're going to release it. Okay, so let's fill this up!
That might be enough. Ready?
Let's stick it to the straw. We already have some tape here.
I have a satellite technician with me, who's going to help me out.
He's our associate.
And then Elizabeth, you're are in charge of the satellite.
Madison, you are going to make the wind, but make it on the side, not up and down, okay?
Yeah, because up and down it will just blow the bottom of it.
So are we ready? Okay, make that dust storm!
Keep going. OK, satellite, satellite!
Keep going, make some dust.
Notes at home: Wrap it on tighter, and more secure than us.
Oh, the balloon? Yes, definitely. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about dust.
Dust events, like a dust storm, big or small, can occur anywhere
You don't have to live in a desert area to see a dust storm.
It can occur in cold places, like in Iceland there are a lot of dust storms happening.
It can occur in a place where the land cover is changing.
Maybe the land is getting drier and it's a new source of dust
like an old farm area or a dried up riverbed.
A lot of people are starting to see that.
No matter where you live, there could be a dust storm or a dust event occurring in your area
We would love to see your photographs of those areas.
One of the reasons why it's so important to have your pictures, your photographs of these dust events
is that we cannot always detect them with satellite data.
When we get an observation like this one that we received in 2019 from Australia of a haboob
it was remarkable because if you notice in the picture from the observer
the sky is completely covered by clouds, yet you can see the dust layer, that brownish color on the bottom.
When we look at the satellite data, we see it's completely covered by clouds where they're at.
So this situation, this particular example, is a reason why your observations are so important.
These are the steps on how you can make a dust storm observation.
So it doesn't have to be super big. And again, it can happen in cold places or dried up farm or riverbed that's nice and dry now.
All those, the land cover has changed so now they're new sources of dust.
First step is? Getting the GLOBE Observer app. Okay, so here's the app and you can download it, you can change the language. So it's in different languages and but it does require an email address for for registration. So the girls you see up under my email registration. What is step two?
Get the GLOBE Observer app.
Get the GLOBE Observer app. Okay, so here's the app and you can download it, you can change the language so it's in different languages.
It does require an email address for registration. So the girls you see up under my email registration. What is step two?
Select clouds.
Select clouds. So when you go to the app, you'll see different types of observations, you can do.
First, just click on clouds, there'll be some instructions on how to do the observations overall.
Parents help you with these activities.
Yes, and then click on new observation.
t will read your latitude and longitude, your location, which is really important for those photographs that you're going to take.
And then what is step three?
Click on obsc...
Obscuration. It's a weird word. So obscuration means that something is blocking your sky but we're not talking about buildings or trees.
We are talking about storms, smoke, and haze.
Haze, right. So, all those things are obscurations.
When you go to clouds, you'll see, do you see clouds, is it a clear sky or obscuration.
You click there and then you look for dust and you click on dust.
If you scroll, you'll see the bottom next and then it will ask you for some surface observations, you just say yes or no.
To every question they asks you. You have to answer every question, you just say yes or no. It's quite simple.
Yes. Now, what is the last step?
Picture, manually.
Add a picture manually. Okay, so this is going to be a little bit different than when you usually do cloud observations.
You say, "take picture." Now if you click on that green button, it'll just take a picture of the sky at an angle,
but we want a picture of the actual dust storm and we want it from the horizon.
So you have to click on, "add picture manually," that gray, and then these will pop up.
Now we're standing by a window. And let's say that we see a dust storm out there.
I'm going to click on the cardinal direction that I think I'm looking at which I think we're looking at north
then I click on the camera, and it will say, "take photo or choose from existing."
So the GLOBE Observer app is really cool, it works even without WiFi connection so it can save your observations.
But you can also take the picture right there and it'll open up your camera and then you can take the picture of the storm.
Again, always be safe and be inside either a vehicle or a
Like a car or a building, house.
Or a building.
Something to make sure that you're safe, like a structure or something.
That's right and always take the picture of the horizon. We want to see the ground that land cover type and then that event coming your way.
Again, always be safe, be very, very safe.
And when you do this and there is a real dust storm outside, you need to make sure that a grown-up is with you.
And make sure you have safety stuff on.
That's right. So here's a photo submitted, not too long ago from New Mexico of a dust storm.
So always be safe, and we hope that you have some fun making observations. Bye guys.