Questions Submitted by Chartiers-Houston Students
Questions from 7th grade Accelerated Science Class
Judy, how did you get the opportunity to get to go on this mission?
The opportunity came from an e-mail that I received while at work one day. Our school district forwarded the invitation to apply from the CIRES program in Boulder, CO. CIRES stands for the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. The funding for this program is through NSF (National Science Foundation). Jeff Hare piloted the program on a trip on the NOAA vessel The Ronald Brown. You can see the application online! -Judy
What kind of tools/instruments will you be using?
I brought with me a sling psychrometer, and a barometer, and I can get temperature and wind information from the ship. I also have 2 cameras, a video camera, a lap top computer, a compass, and binoculars. -Judy
What is your favorite part of the mission so far?
Well I'm a people person so that's an easy question. It's wonderful to meet so many interesting people! The first person I met when I got to the Operation Center in Antigua was Olga Mayol-Bracero, a Chemistry Professor from the University of Puerto Rico. Olga was hard at work analyzing data and preparing for an upcoming lecture. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk with me about her research. Her willingness to meet and talk with me made me feel very welcome. (Thanks Olga!) I also enjoyed meeting Jennifer Davison who is from the University of Illinois. She is a graduate student who is working with Bob Rauber. My first night in Antigua I was alone, so by the second night I really appreciated having dinner with Jennifer and Bob. I came to understand early on that this project is BIG. Bob Rauber and Harry Ochs are the two scientists who wanted to do research on clouds that develop in the Easterly Trade Winds. Clouds in this area are unique because of lack of pollution, the convection is over the ocean, and these fair weather cumulous clouds haven't been studied that much. Once they developed the initial plan, they got the word out to other people. A lot of other scientists were interested in this kind of study, so right from the beginning the plan grew to include several Universities and Organizations. I'm fortunate to be able to observe the people and the work that is being done! -Judy
Paquita, what kind of classes or schooling did you have to take in college?
I got a physics degree in college. Most meteorologists seem to have undergrad degrees in something other than meteorology, usually a basic science. This is not a bad way to prepare. –Paquita
Have you found out any unusual information about the clouds there?
One thing I personally found unusual is that the weather we experienced seemed very much influenced by cold fronts coming south from the US. I heard the weather in NE US was pretty ferocious while we were out on the boat. I don't know if cold fronts reaching towards the Caribbean are typical for January, or if this was a strange year. I also don't know how much it altered the clouds we saw from what they are normally. – Paquita
Have you been successful in how to find out the age of clouds that we could use here in PA?
We still need to analyze the data, so I can't answer yet if we have learned more about how to decide on the age of a cloud, and how you could apply that in PA. –Paquita
What kind of clouds have you seen so far?
The majority of clouds here are Trade Wind Cumulous. One day on the beach of Antigua I saw this huge field of Mammatus clouds. My first day in Antigua when Chief Scientist for Land Ops (Bob Rauber) was explaining things to me, he said that one day a huge flock of Albatross caught the leading edge of a gust front. This group of birds were using the winds to travel with and it was so huge Bob said that the flock was picked up on radar. It spanned a width larger than the whole island of Antigua! - Judy
|
