Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Brunswick Junior High [ ANSWERS ]

1. What are you hoping to gain from this trip?
2. How do you determine the age of clouds?
3. Does ash effect the clouds? If so how?

Chartiers-Houston [ ANSWERS ]

1. Judy, how did you get the opportunity to get to go on this mission?
2. What kind of tools/instruments will you be using?
3. 3. What is your favorite part of the mission so far?
4. Paquita, what kind of classes or schooling did you have to take in college?
5. Have you found out any unusual information about the clouds there?
6. Have you been successful in how to find out the age of clouds that we could use here in PA?
7. What kind of clouds have you seen so far?

Clague Middle School [ ANSWERS ]

1. What is the weather like there? It's very cold and snowing here.
2. What is the craziest looking device on the ship? Could you describe it and tell us what it does?
3. Are the cloud formations different over the ocean than they are on land? If so, how are they different? Are there any new kinds of clouds there that we don't know about?
4. What are they doing in the submersible now? Is Mrs. Malley going to get to go down in it? How does it take pictures at the bottom of the ocean? Isn't it dark far below sea level?
5. Have you seen any marine life yet? Please tell us about any interesting fish, birds or other animals, you've seen.

Conifer High School [ ANSWERS ]

1. Joey Henessey: What is the most important part of your research?
2. Andy West: What kinds of computers do you use to analyze the data?
3. Carissa Myers: Would the information you are getting be different if you were on some other ocean?
4. Cody Daigneault: Does the North Atlantic current have anything to do with your research?
5. Lauren and Mollie: How long are your work days? What do you get done during a day? How much time do you get to relax?
6. Jeff and Spencer: Is there a difference in the amount of carbon dioxide by land than out in the ocean?
7. Laurel: About what is the average cost for everything (equipment, boat, food, etc...)?
8. Rachel: What does your research tell you about global warming?

Estes Park Middle School [ ANSWERS ]

1. Why are there low clouds and high clouds in the atmosphere?
2. Is there a lot of lightning in the rain clouds where you are? What happens when lightning hits the ocean from the rain clouds?
3. How cold does a cloud have to get in order to rain?
4. Do the trade winds and current vary a great deal during the year? How do you predict cloud formation, weather, and climate from wind and currents?
5. Why do you only travel in an 8km long path to study the rain clouds?

James Monroe Elementary [ ANSWERS ]

Judy and Paquita: A student from our class was recently on a Tiger Cruise with his father on the USS Momsen. He got to watch them launch a daily probe to the ocean floor to measure water temperature at different depths, and reported to us that this helped them predict how rain would form.

1. Are you using anything similar to that on this cruise?
2. How does the temperature of the water affect cloud formation and rain?

Medina High School [ ANSWERS ]

1. Judy, what are the scientists on board opinions on global climate shift and can any of the data you're collecting be used towards supporting or refuting global warming?
2. Judy, are there any language barriers to overcome with locals or even other scientists on board?
3. Paquita and other scientists, will there be any opportunities like this for graduating seniors?
4. From Tyler: What is the final objective (or a few of the main objectives) of gathering this data? What are the possible applications of this research? What have you learned?
5. From Cece: How will you incorporate these studies in hot the classroom?
6. From Veronica: Were any of the researchers being paid to participate in this research (through grants, stipends, etc...) And what is the average starting salary for scientist abord a research vessel? Do you need to be independently wealthy to be a research scientist or just have good funding/backing?

Paradise High School [ ANSWERS ]

• 1st period: Are certain types of clouds more indicative of severe weather?
• 1st period: Judy, has your participation made you more informed about the cloud pattern/interactions, or have you been too busy recording data and keeping up with the physical demands (like launching the radiosondes)? In other words, will it take awhile to process everything you have learned?
• 5th period: Do changes in water temperature affect cloud formation?
• 5th period: Judy and Paquita, we see different pictures of clouds and precipitation (visible and infrared). Which types of equipment are taking the different images, and are they on the ship, land or the planes?
• 6th period: Judy and Paquita, what happens to the radiosonde balloons? How long do they transmit info? If they are found by someone, is there contact info on them (besides "Judy Rocks")?
• 6th period: Why is it important to know the age of a cloud?

Rocky Mountain School [ ANSWERS ]

1. How does the boat survive such big waves?
2. What food do you eat on the boat and is it any good?
3. What are the differences in the clouds you see from the boat and the ones in Michigan?
4. How does the amount of cloud coverage affect the results of your experiments?
5. Has using your radar to determine the depth of the ocean floor ever failed with your ship or any other ship you know of?
6. Did you find answers to any of the questions you set out to answer and what were they?
7. Have you discovered any new species?
8. Have you had any problems with insects?

Spearman Elementary School [ ANSWERS ]

1. How does wind make water into waves?
2. Are you using satellites to help you track the clouds and weather for this project?
3. Does your weight change on board the ship?
4. What is the smallest kind of instrument you are using and what does it do?
5. Since there are so many boats that come through the area around the islands, does the air pollution and oil in the water have an effect on the clouds and precipitation?
6. What is a mammatus cloud? What does it look like? Why would it form after the rain?
7. How does lying horizontally keep you from getting seasick?
8. What will the Seward Johnson do after this trip is finished?