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Cloudwatch 2000 contact messages 04 Cloudwatch booklet & BBC weather site 05 How to use the Cloudwatch database 09 Interesting clouds - Edinburgh
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Cloudwatch 2000 contact messages 04 Cloudwatch booklet & BBC weather site 05 How to use the Cloudwatch database 09 Interesting clouds - Edinburgh
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Message 1: Cloudwatch introduction 3 March 2000
At this moment, the number of schools taking part is 63. The breakdown by country is as follows: UK 23, including two groups of sea cadets (Oldham and Ilfracombe) Germany 2 Norway 1 Sweden 2 Finland 1 Netherlands 1 France 1 Malta 1 Jersey 1 Switzerland 1 Spain 1 Italy 28, of which 27 are in the Turin area and their involvement co-ordinated by a meteorological society. The participating body in France is not exactly a school. It's an educational establishment called The Eagle's Nest and it is located at 1350m on the south face of Mount Lozere (1699m), the highest peak in the Cevennes National Park. This should provide some interesting cloud observations, as the station will sometimes be above the clouds. We do not know exactly how many pupils will take part, but if we assume 20 per participant (which may be on the low side), we arrive at a figure of about 1,250. As stated in the media release, observations will be entered in an on-line database. http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cloudwatch/clouddata00.html Schools and, indeed, anyone with Web access, can search the database by visiting: http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cloudwatch/cgi-bin/cloudfind00.cgi Observations in the database can be blocked and exported and dropped into a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. This is a feature which most Internet-based projects do not possess. We have also used this facility in our recent MetLinkInternational project. See: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/MetNetEur/MetNetEur.html and http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cgi-bin/metlinkfind00.cgi The aims of CloudWatch are basically to encourage observation and learn more about cloud and precipitation processes. In the UK, the project supports national science and geography curricula. Abroad, it supports the same subjects, but meteorology abroad tends to be taught more in science courses than geography, which is a contrast to the UK, where meteorology is almost exclusively in geography. Atmospheric topics such as condensation and radiation have to be taught in science courses in the UK, but most teachers do not enliven their teaching by referring to cloud and precipitation processes. In secondary-level meteorology courses in the UK and abroad, pupils have to learn about weather systems and the cloud and precipitation patterns in them. We feel that our project provides an interesting and enjoyable way of learning about these aspects of the weather. Besides meteorology, the project helps develop information and communication technology skills and also provides opportunities for pupils to use databases and spreadsheets. Pupils also learn something of the physical geography of other places by considering the effects of local topography/orography on clouds. As we have found with our MetLinkInternational project, a social element of projects like CloudWatch is that schools make contacts with teachers and pupils in other schools. Thus, links with schools develop, some of them international links. We feel there is educational benefit in this. Why are we doing the project? Well ..... I have touched upon some of the answers to that question. We decided to run CloudWatch again this year -- a UK-only version of CloudWatch ran in 1996 -- because our Society celebrates its 150th anniversary this year and we thought CloudWatch an appropriate activity. The 1996 project was not Internet-based. Observations were collected by post. Each participating school receives a copy of a booklet written by Dr Geoff Jenkins, a stalwart of our Society's educational activities and by profession a senior meteorologist in the Met.Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Research. This booklet contains basic information about clouds (how they form, how they are named, etc), as well as something about precipitation. Participants also receive a cloud recognition card called 'Know your cloud types'. The pictures from this card are on-line on the CloudWatch home page: http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cloudwatch/cloudwatch00.html What do we expect to get out of the project? Our Society exists to advance meteorological science. It has endeavoured to do this ever since it was formed 150 years ago. One way we advance meteorological science is through education. Whenever I run a workshop, project, or whatever I learn more about the needs of teachers. Thus, I am better able to target the material I produce for schools. I trust this answer is helpful to you. If not, I shall be pleased to supply more information. Regards Malcolm Walker
Message 2: Special Clouds 12 March, 2000 Dear CloudWatch participants On the CloudWatch data entry page, i.e. http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cloudwatch/clouddata00.html you will find a box for comments. If you see any of the following, please will you say so in the comments box. I shall, if possible, refer to and (I hope) account for these special observations in my daily reports. 1.. Aircraft condensation trails. Please tell me something about them, for example "Contrails persisting", "Contrails evaporating quickly", "Persistent contrails spreading out sideways". 2.. Wave (lenticular) clouds. These can look a bit like flying saucers! They occur over and downwind of hills/mountains. 3.. Kelvin-Helmoltz Billows. These are clouds that look like breaking waves. See the attached picture, which has come from a webpage called Houze's Cloud Atlas. Its URL is: http://eos.atmos.washington.edu/~gcg/301/atlas.html Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Dear CloudWatch participants During the CloudWatch project, we are hoping that you will be able to make cloud and precipitation observations three times each day during the period 20-24 March. We suggest that you make the observations at the beginning of each school day, at lunchtime and at the end of each school day. This will make the observations more or less simultaneous in each time zone, which will be useful for analysis purposes. If you have any questions about procedures during the observational phase of the project, do please contact me. Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Dear CloudWatch participants Next Monday, the project begins. I hope you have all received your booklet on Clouds and your cloud recognition chart. If not, please let me know. You may be interested to know that CloudWatchEurope is officially a National Science Week project. This Week (20-24 March) is organized by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and involves hundreds of activities across the United Kingdom. There is an entry for our project in the National Science Week handbook. You can see some publicity for the project on the BBC's weather site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/notebook/cloudwatch.shtml It says on this page that 63 schools are taking part. The number is now about 70. For maps showing the locations of participating schools, see: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/cloudwatch/ukmap.html and http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/cloudwatch/eurmap.html I wonder if any participating schools have obtained any publicity for their involvement in the project. If you have, please let me know. Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Message 5: How to use the Cloudwatch database 14 March Dear CloudWatch participants In response to a number of queries, I am writing to clarify the procedure for using the CloudWatch database. First - you go to the following webpage: http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cloudwatch/clouddata00.html Then, you enter your password, the date, your cloud/precipitation observations, etc. Please note that the drop-down menu for date contains only 20-24 because those are the dates of the actual project. When you test the database, just choose any date you like. That's OK for testing purposes. Next, you click on the button marked "Submit data". After ten to fifteen seconds, a message appears on your screen, telling you that the data you have entered will be added to the database. If you have made a mistake, a message on screen will tell you so. If you enter the wrong password, for example, a message will tell you that you have done this. The database is updated every hour on the hour, so you cannot view your observations in the actual database until the next hour has been reached. To see if your observations have been added, go to: http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/cloudwatch/cgi-bin/cloudfind00.cgi In the box to the right of "For:", type a comma and press the button marked "Start searching". After ten to fifteen seconds, you will see the scroll bar on the right of the screen move up the screen. Then, you simply scroll down the page to find the observations. You can "block" (highlight) the observations and export them to a spreadsheet such as EXCEL. I have been told by a couple of information technology specialists that this facility to use the observations in a spreadsheet is a feature of CloudWatch that most on-line projects do not think of! Please do test the database. We want to make sure everyone is familiar with it BEFORE the project begins. So far, well under half the schools taking part have tested the database successfully. Good luck! Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Message 6: Cloudwatch procedures From: education@royal-met-soc.org.uk Subject: CloudWatchEurope - procedures for next week Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 23:06:08 -0000 Dear CloudWatch friends Soon it will be time to make your observations of clouds and precipitation. The project begins next Monday. We are greatly looking forward to seeing your observations. We suggest you make: -- your first observation at the beginning of each school day; -- your second observation at lunchtime; -- your third observation at the end of the school day. We ask you to make your observations at the same time each day. If you cannot enter the observations in the database immediately, then it is perfectly OK to enter them when you can. You may find it convenient to enter all three observations at the end of the school day or, if you are using your home e-mail (as I know some are), to enter the observations when you get home. I have already asked you to report wave clouds, Kelvin-Helmholtz Billows and aircraft condensation trails (called 'contrails'). If you see ANY cloud or precipitation phenomenon you would like us to know about, please send me an e-mail. If anything nearby has influenced the clouds and/or precipitation in your area (a nearby power station, for example), do please let us know. Quite a number of schools are in really interesting areas. I won't spoil things just now by saying which ones, but I will comment that I am especially looking forward to the observations from The Eagle's Nest, which is high up on a mountain in the Cevennes, France. The observers there will probably be above the clouds quite often. My colleagues and I hope very much that you enjoy the project. It should be great fun and your students should learn a lot from it. If there's anything I've forgotten to tell you, please let me know. Good luck! Malcolm Walker
Dear CloudWatch friends In the past day or two, quite a few changes have been made to the CloudWatch home page. See: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/cloudwatch/cwhome.html John Harris has added a lot more webcams and weather data sites to http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/cloudwatch/cams.html I'm sure your students will really enjoy seeing live weather on the cams. There is a brilliant Accufind Europe map of clouds and temp on: Europe (Accufind) Changes have also been made to: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/cloudwatch/data/data.html I hope you and your students enjoy visiting these pages. Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Message 8: World Meteorological Day 23 Mar 2000 Dear CloudWatch friends Today is World Meteorological Day. What is the significance of 23 March 2000? Well, 23 March is World Meteorological Day every year, but it's especially significant this year because the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) came into force on 23 March 1950, so this year WMO celebrates its 50th anniversary. See: http://www.wmo.ch/wmo50/ and http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/WMD2000.html There's a theme for World Meteorological Day every year. This year, it's "WMO - 50 years of service". WMO is a Specialized Agency of the United Nations. It is based in Geneva and has 185 members (179 Member States and six Member Territories). It's a very important body in meteorology. For details of WMO's work, visit: http://www.wmo.ch/ Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Dear CloudWatch friends I think the following report will be of interest to you. I received it this morning (Saturday 25 March) from a CloudWatch participant. "There was a grand display of different types of clouds in the Edinburgh sky yesterday evening. There were a few cumulus to the north - I haven't seen many of those recently here. I'd imagine other observers saw those cumulus clouds yesterday and the day before - I haven't checked the reports yet. There was a band of Ac clouds from the north right across the sky into the south. Then there were lots of what seemed like wave-like cirrus - I've seen a lot of these in Boulder Co over the Rocky Mountains. My son (5) even remarked on how beautiful the clouds were and saw a Z-shaped cloud. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera." If you would like to share any cloud or precipitation observations with CloudWatch participants, please send details to me in an e-mail and I shall be pleased to forward them via my master distribution list. Best wishes Malcolm Walker
Message 10: Clouds in a jar and the freezer! Dear CloudWatch friends I thought the following would be of great interest to you. Alan Blyth, the person who sent the message to me, is a CloudWatch participant. I enclose the header of Alan's message, from which you can obtain his email address. Best wishes Malcolm Walker I was thinking this morning that other CloudWatch participants might wish to try a couple of demonstrations in the classroom to do with clouds. There's a really nice little book by Craig Bohren called Clouds in a Glass of Beer that discusses quite a few experiments. One that he discusses is producing a cloud in a large jar: I use quite a large jar - about 20 cm in diameter, 30 - 40 cm high. I'd imagine that the experiment would work with smaller jars. Place some water in the bottom of the jar. Strike a match and throw into the jar, so the smoke fills the jar. Then blow (or use a pump of some sort) into the jar. Then release the pressure suddenly. It works really well to have light behind the jar. You can also demonstrate the need for cloud condensation nuclei (the smoke from the match) by trying it without the match first. Another very nice experiment is to form ice crystals in a chest freezer. It's important to place black cloth around the inside of the freezer so the crystals can be seen. Put packing bubbles in the freezer several hours before the expt. You will also need a torch. Extinguish a match in the freezer and blow into the freezer - that produces an amazing cloud. Then pop a few of the packing bubbles in the torch beam and wait a few seconds. I have seen a small "thermal" of ice crystals come from the bubble. Fairly soon the freezer will be full of crystals. You can align them with a comb that you've combed your hair with. I learnt this experiment from Charles Moore who worked with Vince Schaefer, the person who invented cloud seeding. I think a cold box with dry ice under a metal plate would work instead of a freezer.
Dear CloudWatch friends Here's another contribution from Alan Blyth. I feel sure it will be of interest to you. "One aspect of observing clouds I particularly enjoy is the optical effects associated with the clouds. I don't know if that aspect has been mentioned to the CloudWatch observers. I saw a marvellous display this morning while walking to work. The sun was just about to come out from behind a cumulus cloud. There were crepuscular rays and there were colours around the edge of the cumulus cloud and in the decaying regions of clouds near the cumulus. The colours are caused by diffration from 1 - 2 micrometre sized drops (approx); the crepuscular rays are the same effect as railway lines going off into the distance. The book by Robert Greenler called Rainbows, Halos, and Glories describes both of these effects, as does the classic book by Mineart (Light and Colour in the Outdoors)." Best wishes Malcolm Walker
