Cloud Obsession

Photo: L. Weikel

One glance at a compilation of the photos headlining my blog posts (or just a scroll through the photos on my iPhone) will reveal my love affair with clouds. And of course you guys know all about it, having experienced my cloud obsession first-hand. I doubt it’s possible for me to go more than two or three days without emitting a cloud shout-out of some form or another.

So you can imagine how excited I was this morning when I read this article in the Washington Post. The headline itself caught my attention and seemed to be calling my name. My goodness! Including both a reference to NASA and a request that I ‘look into the clouds’ in a single headline? My attention was snagged.

And what a cool program I stumbled upon! I knew I would write about this tonight because as soon as I started reading the links, sharing this coolness with all of you was the first thing that came to mind. That’s because I know there are several cloud watchers among you who are at least equally as smitten with our water vapor overlords as I am.

And besides…SCIENCE!

Similar to the Cicadas

I’m reminded of the tracking app I wrote about when the 17 year cicadas were just starting to emerge from their slumber this past spring (Cicada Safari). I submitted a number of photographs to that data collection effort when I spotted my first several emerging, but I didn’t follow up with many more submissions once the cicadas really started humming along around here.

But I digress.

Photo: L. Weikel

NASA GLOBE Cloud Challenge

The initial ‘citizen scientist’ submissions, should you choose to participate, will be part of the NASA GLOBE Cloud Challenge, which is running from January 15 – February 15, 2022. All it takes for you to become a ‘citizen scientist’ is having access to an iPhone or computer.

Cloud cover above the Earth obviously has a huge impact upon weather and transient warming or cooling of the planet. As climates are changing at a more and more rapid pace, scientists are looking to clouds for insight into how they’re impacting (or being impacted by) these changes.

Of particular interest is for us ‘regular people’ to provide data from below the clouds at the same time scientists are receiving input from satellites flying above those clouds. Once you become a part of the research effort by downloading the GLOBE Observer app, you can choose to be reminded 15 minutes ahead of when specific satellites will be flying above your location. You can choose to be reminded of flyovers on certain days of the week, only once/week, or never. And you you can also opt-in to take a photo of the sky at what’s known as ‘solar noon’ (and receive a reminder of exactly when that occurs in your time zone).

NASA GLOBE Cloud Gaze Project

You don’t even need to have access to the sky itself (oddly enough). That’s because you can instead apply your love of clouds in what’s called the NASA GLOBE Cloud Gaze. In order to move science forward in that project, you look at photos of clouds already in the database and help identify and categorize them.

Beware of Rabbit Holes

I have to give fair warning. There are lots of interesting vignettes on the sites I’ve linked above, as well as on the app itself, that explain the science behind why NASA is gathering this data. It’s easy to go from link to link and lose track of time. This article, for instance.

Personally, I love being a part (even if small) of a global effort to understand climate better. It makes sense that gathering data from as many people and areas around the world as possible will exponentially increase the speed with which scientists can increase their knowledge and draw conclusions that may help us adapt to the changes that are already occurring.

I figure I’m looking up and admiring them anyway, so I might as well contribute in some way, too. And just in case, I thought I’d alert my kindred spirits, too.