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Spotlight on the October 2023 Annular Eclipse

11/03/2023

Thank you to everyone who participated in data collection during the annular solar eclipse on 14 October 2023! Our team is working on a more detailed analysis of the data (stay tuned for more on that later), but we wanted to share a few preliminary stats and highlight some images from volunteer scientists and GLOBE Observer team members. If you are looking for your own eclipse data, tap on "My Observations" on the home screen of the GLOBE Observer app, or click on "View My Observations" at the upper right when logged in to observer.globe.gov.

In the area experiencing the eclipse (at any level of obscuration), we received over 17,000 air temperature measurements - many of those are from automated weather stations connected to the GLOBE database, but we estimate about 5,000 measurements were related to the eclipse directly. (See a video of the measurements over the course of the day below, or explore the animation of the data at five minute increments yourself.)


We also received over 2,100 clouds observations from nearly 400 individual users at over 600 distinct locations and 122 land cover observations (over 100 users and distinct sites), as seen in these screenshots from the GLOBE Visualization System.

Two maps showing the region of North America, Central America, and the northern part of South America. On the left is a display of circles showing total cloud cover percentages for 14 October 2023, and on the right thumbnail images of photos submitted with land cover observations on the same day.

Here is a video showcasing just a few of the many graphs of air temperature and clouds data that were collected on 14 October.

 

And enjoy some of these images of eclipse events that took place around the country!

Left: A table with materials about GLOBE Eclipse and a part of a paper chart with temperature data on it, in front of a large crowd. People are sitting and standing, and many are holding solar viewing glasses up to their face, looking at the Sun. The sky is clear of clouds. The right image is a close-up of the temperature measurements, showing an increase, then decrease, and increase again. A hand holds a card with three holes in it casting a shadow with three crescents of a partial eclipse on the chart paper.

Left: GLOBE Observer graphic designer Heather Mortimer (blue jacket) enjoys the annular eclipse with a crowd at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico. Right: Close-up of the paper graph of data collected during the eclipse in Albuquerque. Credits: GLOBE/NASA (Holli Kohl)

 

The graph shows a starting temperature of about 54 degrees Fahrenheit at 9:46, dropping to about 46 degrees at about 10:45 before increasing again.

Graph of data from Albuquerque collected in the GLOBE Eclipse tool in the app.

 

NASA GLOBE Clouds project scientist Marilé Colón Robles (at right in pink jacket) awes a crowd at the Balloon Fiesta with a Cloud in a Bottle demonstration. Credit: GLOBE/NASA (Holli Kohl)

 

A dark background with the golden ring of an annular eclipse in the upper right corner. (Taken with a filter on a camera.)

The “ring of fire” from Albuquerque. Credit GLOBE/NASA (Heather Mortimer)

 

Left: Dorian Janney holds a microphone and a digital thermometer standing in front of a crowd of adults listening. Right: Dorian wears solar viewing glasses as she angles her neck up to look at the Sun during the eclipse. She has a happy smile on her face.

Left: Dorian Janney, GLOBE Observer team member, explains to a group of Texas Master Naturalists at El Sauz Ranch near Port Mansfield, Texas, how to use a digital thermometer. Right: Dorian enjoys the eclipse experience. Credits: Jonathan Vail

Left: A layer of clouds with a small gap allowing the crescent of a partial eclipse to be visible. Right: Many overlapping crescents of a partial eclipse filtering through leaves and visible on a walkway of herringbone pattern bricks.

Left: The partial eclipse peeks through the clouds at the San Antonio Zoo. Right: Also at the zoo, a tree’s leaves create a multitude of Sun crescents during the eclipse. Credits: Joan Ingram

 

Did you participate in the October annular eclipse with GLOBE or host an eclipse event? Or are you interested in observing the total solar eclipse on 8 April with GLOBE? If so, we want to hear from you! Join us on 9 November at 12:00 pm ET (17:00 UTC) for November’s GLOBE Observer Connect event for an informal conversation about what worked well during the October annular eclipse and what you would recommend doing differently in April. We want to learn from your experience!  Register for the session.

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