This year NASA and the National Park Service encourage the public to follow in these explorers’ footsteps through a new citizen science challenge from June 1 to Sept. 2. Use your smart phone and the NASA GLOBE Observer (GO) app to map land cover along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and elsewhere to assist scientists studying environmental changes.  >>

Our first GLOBE Observer Mosquito Blitz kicks off on Sunday, April 7 and ends on Citizen Science Day, April 13. We invite you, your family and friends to join us in this focused effort to gather observations of mosquito breeding sites.  >>

Healthy forests play a crucial role in Earth’s ecosystem as growing trees take up carbon from the atmosphere. NASA satellites and airborne missions study forests to see how carbon moves through ecosystems – and now citizen scientists can help investigate this key question as well by using their smartphone to measure tree height.  >>

Join GLOBE Observer for a special Facebook Live event all about Trees on 26 March 2018 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.  >>

tarting this month, you can be part of a project to create more detailed satellite-based global maps of land cover by sharing photos of the world around you in a new NASA citizen science project. The project is a part of GLOBE Observer, a citizen science program that lets you contribute meaningful data to NASA and the science community. The GLOBE Observer app, introduced in 2016, includes a new “Land Cover: Adopt a Pixel” module that enables citizen scientists to photograph with their smartphones the landscape, identify the kinds of land cover they see (trees, grass, etc.), and then match their observations to satellite data. Users can also share their knowledge of the land and how it has changed. “Adopt a Pixel” is designed to fill in details of the landscape that are too small for global land-mapping satellites to see.  >>

GLOBE’s Spring Cloud Challenge is reaching the half way mark, and we are seeing widespread participation. Observations from more than 24,000 locations have come in since March 15, providing thousands of cloud photos for NASA scientists. You still have two weeks to participate. The individuals who submit the most photos will be recognized on video by a NASA scientist. Want to join the challenge? Just download the GLOBE Observer app and start observing clouds. Here are some tips for taking the perfect GLOBE Observer cloud photo.  >>

Celebrate #CitSciDay2018 with us all this week and learn about a few other citizen science projects that you can do with NASA. This and more in this week's edition of the roundup. 1. CITIZEN SCIENCE: The Citizen Science Association, SciStarter, and the Citizen Science Day Working Group are excited to present Citizen Science Day on Saturday April 14th, 2018! 2018 marks the third annual Citizen Science Day celebration. "Citizen Science Day celebrates the work of citizen scientists and the diversity of citizen science projects across the world, encourages the public to get involved, and connects people to the power of citizen science."  >>

The GLOBE Observer app is now enhanced with a number of new features and fixes.The recent update fixed several bugs, and reduced the download size of the app by about 50%. Additions included an "Opt-in" feature, new information links, an instruction graphic, and links that take you directly to the GLOBE Observer website and social media accounts.  >>

Give yourselves a pat on the back, citizen scientists! If the results from the GLOBE Cloud Observation Challenge between March 15 and April 15 are any indication, you certainly earned it. The number of observations the program received from cloud gazers around the world is staggering. During the month-long challenge period, GLOBE received just over 56,000 cloud observations from more than 15,000 locations in 99 countries on every continent, including icy Antarctica. This far surpassed GLOBE's last major influx of 19,000 cloud observations received for the Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse.  >>

Citizen scientists from around the world submitted nearly 4,000 photos by the end of the 2018 Land Cover Challenge. The challenge took place from National Public Lands Day on September 22 to NASA’s 60th Anniversary on October 1. People from 25 countries, representing all of the GLOBE regions, contributed their land cover observations. Land scientists gathered together to thank the participants and congratulate the top observers in the video above. Because of a six-way tie, there were 11 top observers, who will each receive a certificate recognizing their contributions to citizen science. Everyone who participated in the challenge will receive a badge in the GLOBE Observer app.  >>