Scientific and educational collaborations between the NASA-SALSA program and the GLOBE environmental education program, Upper San Pedro Basin, AZ A Science and Education Grant Supplement for NRA-95-MTPE-03 in collaboration with the USDA-ARS IDS proposal: Investigating the impacts of seasonal and inter-annual climate variability on the water resources and ecology of the semiarid Southwest and Northern Mexico submitted Nov. 29, 1995 Principle Investigator: David C. Goodrich USDA - ARS 520-670-6481 Co-Investigators: James C. Washburne Univ. of Arizona - HWR 520-621-9944 Jack F. Elliot Univ. of Arizona - Ag Ed 520-621-7173 Thomas Maddock, III Univ. of Arizona - HWR 520-621-7115 Budget: 1st Year: $35,000 2nd Year: $35,834 3rd Year: $36,770 Total: $107,604 Requested Start Date: 7/1/96 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Table of Contents Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Figure 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Project Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Recruitment of schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 GLOBE teacher training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Summer internship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Internet accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Pilot non-aligned sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Wider participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Collaborative research topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Products and Program Evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Personnel and Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Facilities, Equipment and Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Current Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Letters of Institutional Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Curriculum Vitae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Abstract Schools representing grade levels 5-12 located within 100 km of the Upper San Pedro Basin study site will be recruited to join Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Earth (GLOBE), a national and international environmental education program. Ground observations from these schools and approximately six cooperative field sites within the Basin will be used in collaboration with Semi-Arid Land-Surface-Atmosphere (SALSA) Program scientists to develop a richer spatial and temporal account of surface climate, stream chemistry, soil properties and vegetation distributions. These funds will be used primarily to develop specific outreach activities, train teachers, supply limited logistical support to student field activities and to coordinate student-scientist collaborations. Summary This effort will focus on expanding the GLOBE Environmental education program throughout SE Arizona, USA and, possibly, Northern Sonora, Mexico (Figure 1) to provide valuable ground validation support to NASA-sponsored studies of the Upper San Pedro River Basin and to facilitate student-scientist collaborations on the broad range of scientific, socio-economic and management issues that characterize this basin. Existing and proposed GLOBE observation protocols will give scientists a long-term, broad coverage perspective of annual cycles in land cover, soil moisture, water chemistry, precipitation and vegetation. The GLOBE program currently requires schools interested in participating to initiate the application process. Funding of this activity by NASA will allow students and scientists in SE Arizona to collaborate in ways that would not be possible without this special effort. The intent of this program is to support: - the active recruitment of schools throughout SE Arizona, - the training of GLOBE teachers in Arizona and Northern Mexico, - a summer internship for a GLOBE teacher at the Univ. of Arizona, - the establishment of student-scientist study plots in the Basin, - improved internet accessibility in SE Arizona, - sharing these experiences with a broader cross-section of students throughout the country using established GLOBE internet connections. Project Description Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Earth (GLOBE) is an international environmental education program whose goal is to stimulate interest and excellence in science and mathematics based on hands-on studies of Earth's basic atmospheric, botanic and hydrologic systems in collaboration with Earth System Scientists. Other important program elements include remote sensing/image processing, GPS surveying and internet communication. Students make daily climate observations at their schools and weekly to seasonal observations at off-campus sites related to vegetation and water chemistry. GLOBE (USA) is funded jointly by NOAA, NASA, EPA and NSF and will have been introduced in over 2000 US schools over the past year. Funds would be used at several levels to promote student involvement in GLOBE and collaboration with local scientists: Recruitment of schools - the broader focus of the GLOBE program leaves little time to pursue local collaborative efforts such as this, despite the appropriateness and clear benefits that this activity would have to all involved. Funding for a graduate student focused on developing and promoting the GLOBE program and satellite validation in this area would be a major effort under this proposal. GLOBE teacher training - the current GLOBE training paradigm resolves around regional training in groups of 40-60. The University of Arizona will host a specially designed local training session during February 1996 but there are no funds to continue this effort. Local training benefits teachers in several ways: less out of pocket costs, less time away from home and school, a focus on local issues and adaptations to the program, and the chance to develop rapport with local scientists and program experts. We have found great enthusiasm for this program at every grade level and hope to be able to continue to provide specialized staff support and teacher scholarships for local teacher training with a portion of this grant. Summer internship - there is a limit to how much cutting-edge science and technology can be taught and assimilated within the course of a traditional training/participation relationship. We propose a simple competitive proposal solicitation to local teachers who can gain valuable advanced training and research experience through a summer internship. We want to fund a modest summer stipend for one or two local teachers who can devote four to eight weeks working with GLOBE and SALSA scientists both at the University and in the field on a proposal of their own design but which features student data collected in the Upper San Pedro Basin. Internet accessibility - The GLOBE program, indeed much scientific collaboration, is built upon ready internet access. For many outlying areas like SE Arizona, a toll call is still required to get telephone access to the internet. The Arizona Department of Education and US West are developing a statewide internet backbone but this network still requires local routing and switching equipment. We propose to subsidize the cost of a local access router to expedite internet access within the San Pedro Basin. Pilot Non-aligned sites - GLOBE's focus is on school-based, hands- on environmental education. One activity of clear benefit to student-scientist collaborations is to get the students out to common or nearby field sites in the Research Area. It is unrealistic to expect any one school to take on a remote site but very possible if done in conjunction with several schools. We are proposing to GLOBE to pilot this concept of a non-school-aligned or shared field site using the San Pedro Basin as a test case. This effort would be enhanced with some specialized equipment (recording rain gauge and other site specific gear) and a transportation allowance. Wider participation - Whereas the core effort will entail long- term monitoring by students within the Upper San Pedro Basin, there will be ample opportunities to reach a larger student population by coordinating and communicating intensive and special observation events over the internet. There are abundant issues that could be presented for classroom discussion and coupled with carefully selected data sets, virtual experiments on basin water development and data analysis will be made available on a quarterly basis. Collaborative research topics - The basin-wide objectives of this joint investigation brings interdisciplinary issues and the strong interactions between natural components into sharp focus. One goal of this project will be to translate the importance of understanding interconnected systems to GLOBE students and teachers. A recent workshop of scientists interested in participating in this investigation identified the following topics of interest and for which we see significant collaborative research potential with students: - validation of satellite-derived vegetation, temperature and soil moisture, - validation of WSR-88D precipitation estimates, - water chemistry and base flow evolution along the San Pedro River, - relationship between mountain and valley meteorology measurements, - spatial variability of surface soils, vegetation and microclimates, - descriptive ecology of a desert riparian zone, - profiles of transitional and disturbed area vegetation, - LANDSAT and SPOT image classification. Products and Program Evaluation The primary outcome of this activity will be a dedicated and relatively dense network of GLOBE schools in the area of SW Arizona that are making a significant contribution to the long-term monitoring and validation effort of the NASA-SALSA project. This requires extra-ordinary focused efforts to recruit, train and support the schools in this region beyond the traditional GLOBE organizational structure. We expect that the teachers and students in this focus area will be particularly motivated to make and maintain high-quality measurements, research programs and to participate fully in this significant scientific endeavor. An annual report will highlight student research efforts and results as well as summarize some of the points listed below. The success of this effort will be assessed in terms of: - number of teachers trained - number of schools actively collaborating with this research - degree of collaboration (visits, field data, reports, papers) - surveys distributed to teachers covering training effectiveness and educational benefit - surveys distributed to scientists covering value of collaborative projects and outreach results Personnel and Program Management Principle Investigator - David Goodrich - Dr. Goodrich is the chief scientist under which this and its parent proposal ("Investigating the impacts of seasonal and inter- annual climate variability on the water resources and ecology of the semi-arid Southwest and Northern Mexico") are being submitted. He has the responsibility to facilitate communication and involvement between this and other elements of the overall program. Co-Principle Investigator - Jim Washburne - Dr. Washburne in the Department of Hydrology at the University of Arizona is one of a dozen GLOBE scientists overseeing data collection (specifically, soil moisture data) within the GLOBE program. GLOBE scientists are charged with developing new observation protocols, mentoring teachers and students internationally, monitoring student data quality and promoting the use of GLOBE data within the Earth Science and Global Change research communities. He has the responsibility to develop and explore promising avenues of collaboration between students and scientists involved with this effort. Jim is responsible for setting project goals and day-to-day management. Note that this effort extends beyond his soil moisture focus and fully encompasses all of the GLOBE observation components. Education coordinator - Jack Elliot - Dr. Elliot in the Department of Agriculture at the University of Arizona helped prepare the State Standards for K-12 education, is an active member of the University's Science and Mathematics Education Committee, conducts research in science and environmental education and teaches several graduate research methods courses including "Communicating Knowledge in Agriculture". He has the responsibility to develop and explore beneficial links between this effort and other University and State science education programs. Science coordinator - Tom Maddock - Dr. Maddock in the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the UA has been studying methods for the evaluation of conjunctive surface and sub-surface water systems. Besides his graduate teaching, Tom has been active in the University's introductory science and engineering program and is acutely aware of the need to improve the math and science standards of incoming freshman. He expects to be an active team member on both the parent IDS and educational supplement proposals. Graduate Research Assistant - This student will be hired half-time to make personal contacts with schools and teachers throughout the area of interest and to promote GLOBE and NASA educational outreach activities. Facilities, Equipment and Resources This effort will be concentrated within the Colleges of Engineering/Mines and Agriculture at the University of Arizona. Many excellent educational and education outreach facilities and programs exist between the two. The Department of Hydrology and Water Resources supports a mix of PC (DOS/MAC) and SUN (Unix) computer laboratories for its students. These facilities are available for periodic teacher training activities and offer full internet connectivity. The Department has strong ties to the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth and the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research and currently has an NSF award to develop an undergraduate Introduction to Global Change course. Several groups within the department conduct active field operations in the areas of hydroclimatology, hydrochemistry and hydrogeology and basin recharge - their expertise and advise is readily obtained. The Department of Agricultural Education maintains close ties with many vocational and technology development programs in the surrounding area and has been active in leadership and skill training at the K-12 level. Equally important are several campus- and state-wide organizations that the co- investigators regularly use to supplement their own outreach activities: - ISPE: UA Institute for the Study of Planet Earth - SAMEC: UA Science and Math Education Committee - PRIME: Promoting Reform In Mathematics Education - UA Latin America Study Program - ASPIN: AZ State Public Information Network - ASSET: AZ School Services through Educational Technology - NTTI: National Teacher Training Institute