MetLink International - Schools Weather Project

John Harris, Radley College, Abingdon, UK mjh@radley.org.uk

MetLink International is an exciting collaborative schools weather project, sponsored by the Royal Meteorological Society and the UK Met Office. Teachers and students use the Internet to exchange and analyse thier own weather observations. The aim is to encourage an appreciation and understanding of weather from both scientific and geographical standpoints and to develop ICT skills.

The project has run since 1998 and is open to students of all ages, worldwide, and includes schools in UK, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia (map). It has strong cross-curricular relevance for Geography, Science, Mathematics and also supports Key Skills such as Communication, Number and ICT.

MetLink aims to enhance the study of weather and the atmosphere in schools to:

• record and exchange weather data.
• enter data on the Metlink weather database.
• interpret live weather data, satellite images and charts.
• contact weather experts.
• publish graphs and analysis on the web.
• allow students to write and exchange information about weather news.

The project has three phases:

1. Contact: introductory information is exchanged describing school location, latitude, longitude, altitude and weather recording methods along with a brief general description. There is fact file with school websites and a photo gallery with pictures of student weather observers and their activities. Project maps are available for classroom use and display.

2. Data Exchange: daily weather recordings are entered onto the Metlink weather database, hosted by Reading University Department of Meteorology. Daily results are also published on the web site along with relevant satellite images, animated gifs and weather movies. This means that students have instant access to live weather information.

School locations and data are superimposed onto the current Meteosat weather images with live worksheets and web links. Maps, worksheets and help files can be printed out for classroom use and displayed or downloaded in Excel, Word or pdf format.

An analysis is published at the end of each day. Weather experts are available to answer specific questions such as

• what causes tornadoes
• how can you weigh a cloud
• converting snowfall into rainfall
• how is wind-chill calculated
• what is the tramontana?

Live links are made to useful weather websites.

3. Weather Projects: students present and exchange data, graphs, maps, images and text. These are published on the Metlink students page. Schools may contact each informally both during and after the main programme. The following are examples of projects undertaken

• Best and Worst! The hottes, coldest and wettest places.
• maps, graphs and analysis of variations in temperature, wind, rainfall and pressure.
• relationships between latitude/altitude with temperature and other variables.
• the influence of continentality on temperature range and rainfall.
• personal accounts of severe weather events.
• how weather affects daily life.
• bubbles for wind investigations
• school micro-climate and temperature variations
• visits to weather stations.

MetLink students exchange reports of extreme weather events and this enhances the awareness and understanding of weather hazards and global climatic variations.

1999

• Sweden reported record low temperatures of minus 54 deg Celsius: power cuts, frozen pipes and frostbite.
• Malta freak hailstorms, temperatures plunged to a 16 year record low.
• Peterhouse School, Zimbabwe flash floods washed away bridges and roads.
• 80kph winds hit Petersfield, Hampshire, UK uprooted trees, power lines, blocked roads.
• thunderstorms in Madagascar caused widespread damage.
• gales in Scotland uprooted trees and disrupted travel.

2000

• flooding in Southern Africa, Mozambique and Cyclone Eline.
• Edmonton, Canada temperatures dropped to -18°C.
• Bombay experienced severe air pollution and smog.
• Melbourne, Australia heatwave; temperatures of 38 degrees centigrade, drought and fire hazard.

MetLink has been operational since 1998 and is under constant development. Feedback from teachers and students has been very positive.

The MetLink development team is currently researching the publishing of live weather data, weather cam images and automatically generated weather charts on the website. More online weather worksheets and downloadable files will be provided.

The project cooperates closely with the Royal Meteorological Society, BBC Weather Centre and UK Met Office.

Please contact: Malcolm Walker, Education Officer, Royal Meteorological Society education@royal-met-soc.org.uk

MetLink International http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/metlink.html

Cloudwatch Europe http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/cloudwatch/cwhome.html