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The CERES S'COOL Project: Development and Operational PhasesAs part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, the first Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument will be launched on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft from the Tanegashima launch site in Japan in November 1997. The instrument will measure the radiation budget incoming and outgoing radiant energy - of the Earth. The major feature of interest is clouds, which play a very strong role in regulating our climate. CERES will identify clear and cloudy regions and determine cloud physical and microphysical properties using imager data from a companion instrument. Validation efforts for the remote sensing algorithms will be intensive. As one component of the validation, the S'COOL (Students' Cloud Observations On-Line) project will involve school children around the globe in making ground truth measurements at the time of a CERES overpass. They will report cloud type, height, fraction, and opacity, as well as the local surface conditions. Their observations will be collected at the NASA Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) and made available over the Internet for educational purposes as well as for use by the CERES Science Team in validation efforts. Pilot testing of the S'COOL project began in January 1997 with two local schools in Southeastern Virginia and one remote site in Montana. National testing in April 1997 involved 8 schools (grades 3 to high school) across the United States. Global testing will be carried out in October 1997. Details of the S'COOL project, which is mainly Internet-based, are being developed in each of these phases according to feedback received from participants. In 1998, when the CERES instrument is operational, a global observer network should be in place providing useful information to the scientists and learning opportunities to the students. Broad participation in the S'COOL project is planned, both to obtain data from a wide range of geographic areas, and to involve as many students as possible in learning about clouds and atmospheric science. This paper reports on the development phase of the S'COOL project, including the reaction of the teachers and students who have been involved. It describes the operational state of the S'COOL network, and identifies opportunities for additional participants.
Document ID
19980037414
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Chambers, Lin H. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Young, David F. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Racel, Anne M. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Publication Information
Publication: Seventh Symposium on Education
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
NASA/TM-1998-207569
NAS 1.15:207569
Meeting Information
Meeting: Symposium on Education
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Country: United States
Start Date: January 11, 1998
End Date: January 16, 1998
Sponsors: American Meteorological Society
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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