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All GLOBE Protocols Now Open to Citizen Scientists

2025-12-23

A blue banner with a drawing of a magnifying glass on the right side. Inside the magnifying glass are a water drop, a mound of soil, a cloud, and a leaf. Large text in the center of the banner reads “data entry.” Small text across the top of the banner reads atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, pedosphere.
 

The GLOBE Program is excited to announce that GLOBE Observers now have access to all GLOBE protocols. The 23rd of December 2025 GLOBE Observer app update adds the GLOBE Data Entry button for all GLOBE members. Through this button, you will be able to share many different environmental observations, from atmosphere to soil, to support a wider range of science needs. For example, GLOBE atmosphere data is ingested into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Meterological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS), making it available to a broad community of researchers.

A group of three people kneel around a rectangular basin on the rocky bank of a waterbody. A small sampling net is next to the basin, and bits of dirt and rock and potentially other materials are visible in the basin. One person is photographing the sample in the basin with a cell phone.

GLOBE members are measuring freshwater macroinvertebrates – an indicator of water quality - by examining materials scooped from a stream.

Protocol Training

The change is possible because of a new training system. The original GLOBE Observer tools – Clouds, Mosquito Habitat Mapper, Land Cover, and Trees – were designed to guide volunteers through data collection without prior training. All other GLOBE protocols required an application process and additional training. Now, GLOBE has eliminated the application process and has made training available online, making it easier for all to participate.

To get started, open GLOBE eTraining on the GLOBE website.

GLOBE protocols are organized by spheres: atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and pedosphere (soil). So, if you wanted to track air temperature, you would click “atmosphere” then “air temperature.”

A panel of four images overlaid with icons representing GLOBE’s four spheres, atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and pedosphere. The first image shows puffy clouds in a blue sky. A circular cloud icon is over the center of the photo, above which is the word “atmosphere.” The second photo is looking into a leafy tree canopy. It is overlaid with a leaf icon and the word “biosphere.” The third photo shows clear lake or stream water over a rocky bed. It is overlaid with a water drop icon and the word “hydrosphere.” The fourth photo shows soil. It is overlaid with a icon of a mound of soil and the word “pedosphere.”
 

GLOBE offers four training options: review the field guide, data collection eTraining, protocol eTraining, and virtual or in-person workshops. You can review the field guide as a training option, but we encourage you to take an eTraining to better understand the protocols. Data collection eTraining focuses on how to collect data for that protocol, while protocol eTraining includes more in-depth background including tips for teaching. Most GLOBE Observers will prefer data collection eTraining, though any option is acceptable. Data collection eTraining is only available for select protocols.

Once you are trained and ready to collect data, click Data Entry in the GLOBE Observer app, select “atmosphere” and then “air temperature.” You will be asked if you completed training. Click yes, and then you will have access to the data entry forms for air temperature. If there is a change in the protocol or training, the GLOBE Observer app will prompt you to be trained again.

Four screenshots from the GLOBE Observer app shows the protocols available under each sphere through GLOBE Data Entry. The first shows atmosphere protocols: aerosols, air temperature, barometric pressue, clouds, precipitation, relative humidity, surface temperature, water vapor, and wind. The second screenshot shows a selector list of biosphere protocols: biometry: graminoid biomasses, biometry trees, biometry vegetative covers, carbon cycle, greening green down, greening green up, phenological gardens autumn, phenological gardens spring. The third screenshot shows the selector list for hydrosphere protocols: alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, freshwater macroinvertebrates, nitrate, pH, salinity, water temperature, water transparency. The fourth screenshot shows the selector list for pedosphere protocols divided into three categories. Under the first category, soil characterization is soil bulk density, soil infiltration, soil particle size distribution, soil fertility, soil particle density, and soil pH. Under the second category, soil moisture and temperature is the selector list for soil moisture gravimetric, soil moisture SMAP, and soil temperature. Under the third category, frost tube, is the selector for the frost tube protocol.

These screenshots show all GLOBE protocols available through the Data Entry button in the GLOBE Observer app. To submit observations for any of these protocols, tap the box next to the protocol, then tap continue. You may select multiple protocols in this step.

Preparing to Collect Data

After you select the protocol, you will be prompted to define the measurement location. GLOBE measurements entered through data entry are different from GLOBE Observer tools in that you can set up a permanent observation site to record where you are collecting data. If you collect data at the same location routinely, you will only need to set up the site once. The permanent observation site also makes it easier to collect observations at the site, then return inside to enter the data.

We encourage you to review Establish a Study Site (sign in with your GLOBE user name and password) to learn how to select and set up an observation site. Each sphere has a separate training to show you how to set up a site for that collection of protocols including step-by-step instructions about how to set up the site in the GLOBE Observer app. An inaccurate location is the most common error in GLOBE data, so it is critical that you take care in establishing your study site.

Most GLOBE protocols also require additional equipment ranging from a simple low-cost thermometer to a more expensive soil moisture probe. Each protocol training will include a list of required equipment along with instructions on how to calibrate and use the equipment to collect valid data.

A panel of three photos. In the first photo, a person holds a scoop of soil in both hands cupped together over a long measuring tape. The in center photo, a boy in a canoe dips a sampling container in a lake. In the third photo, a group of young students stand along a measuring tape. One holds a surface temperature thermometer at arm length pointed at the ground to measure its temperature.

GLOBE equipment includes materials needed for sampling and materials needed to make a variety of measurements.

Learn More

We encourage to explore the training page to identify protocols you might be interested in adding to your GLOBE data collection. Your data will be added to GLOBE’s 30-year record of environmental data that is freely available to communities and scientists, enabling science now and into the future.

If you have questions as you explore the new system, please contact us. We are also responding to frequent questions under 2025-26 Changes to GLOBE FAQs. Additionally, GLOBE will host a GLOBE Learning Session on the 13th of January 2026 at 11 am ET about the new data collection eTraining system. 

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A graphic showing silhouettes of two people taking observations with their phones. They are standing between water with mosquito larvae in it, grass, trees, and clouds, which represent the tools within the GLOBE Observer app.

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