See a dust storm? Submit your photos with the GLOBE Observer App
2019-08-05
Do you live in an area that has dust storms? We would like for you to
photograph the dust event and submit your photos using the GLOBE
Observer app. Have you already been reporting dust storms? We noticed
and what to say THANK YOU! Now we want to get the word out that anyone
can report dust storms with the app following the steps below.
Meet the Scientists
Daniel Tong is a dust forecaster with the NOAA
National Air Quality Forecast Capability Program (https://airquality.weather.gov),
and the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Science Team (https://haqast.org).
His research focuses on predicting air pollutants and their impacts on
human health.
Kerstin Schepanski is a researcher on dust based at
the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS,
https://www.tropos.de/en/) in Leipzig, Germany. In her work, she
combines satellite data and computer models to examine dust sources
and the dust
life cycle.
Why is it important?
Dust
observations made by GLOBE can help scientists in several ways.
Your observations provide direct evidence of a dust
storm in your area. Scientists can use YOUR OBSERVATIONS to check if their models have
done a good job to predict these dust storms. In addition, your data
will be used to verify satellite observations. Dust
products from satellites are often compared to other independent data
sources, such as ground monitors and aircraft measurements. Your GLOBE
observations can be part of the “ground truth” data set.
This is VERY IMPORTANT to help communities prepare and avoid harmful
impacts of dust storms. Your observations with scientists help alert
or tell students or people with
asthma when to stay indoors or even
let farmers and ranchers know which days would be
better to till their land. Your observations also help
warn construction workers when to wear protective
equipment to reduce risks of Valley
fever infection. Truck drivers can plan their
trips to avoid roadblocks and costly detours. Even music
concerts, sports teams, and weddings can best plan their
outdoor events.
How to report your dust observations using the GLOBE Observer app
Step 1. Download the GLOBE Observer app
Download from the Google Play Store for Android [link]
Download from the Apple App Store for iPhone [link]
Register with your email address or use your existing GLOBE sign-in
information to log in to the app.
Step 2. Open the app and select "GLOBE Clouds"
Then select "New Cloud Observation"
Step 3. Time and place
Your latitude,
longitude, and time of day with be filled in automatically by the
app! Just scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Next
Step 4. Select "Obscured"
Step 5. Check the box for "Dust"
Step 6. Is the ground parched?
The app will prompt
you to record the surface conditions. You are required to answer
“Yes” or “No” for each category. For Dry Ground, answer “Yes” if
the ground under your feet is dusty, dry, or parched. Answer “No” if
the ground under your feet is muddy, moist, squishy, or there’s
standing water.
Step 7. Select "Add pictures manually"
Step 8. Take pictures of the dust storm
Make your best
guess at the direction of the dust storm. In this example, the dust
storm is to the north. Click on the grey camera icon under North. Click on Take Photo. Point your camera
at the horizon and take a photo of the dust storm.
Step 9. Submit your observations to GLOBE
Click Send Observations Now. Check the box
next to your observation. Click “Send 1 Observation to GLOBE”.
You’re done! Thank you!
You can check out
your dust storm photos on vis.globe.gov after you submit!
This dust
observation is from Marilé Colón Robles, Project Scientist for NASA
GLOBE Clouds, on 21 June 2019. She was at a NASA citizen science
meeting in Tucson, Arizona and saw a dust storm approaching in the distance!
