For Release: Oct. 5, 1997
Catherine Watson
(757) 864-6122
Release No. 97-119
1981 East Lansing High School Grad Now NASA Scientist
Scientist Teaches Local Students to Observe Clouds for NASA
NASA scientist Dr. Lin Chambers, a1981 graduate of East Lansing
High School, is returning to her hometown to teach local students
how to observe clouds for NASA's latest Earth-observing satellite
project. The Students' Cloud Observations On-Line
(S'COOL) project is part of a satellite experiment that
will begin later this year with the launch of an instrument
developed by researchers at NASA Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va., where Chambers is stationed.
From Oct. 6-8, Chambers will work with students at Marble School
in East Lansing; Murphy Elementary in Haslett; Galewood Elementary
and Charlotte High School in Charlotte; and the Potterville Junior
and Senior High Schools. Chambers will teach students how to
observe the weather and various types of clouds that form over
their school, and how to send their observations to a NASA computer
in Virginia. Early next year, the fully-trained students' will make
cloud observations that NASA can compare to its new satellite
instrument. Chambers and her NASA Langley colleagues are training
students worldwide to observe clouds for the project.
The new NASA satellite experiment, the Clouds and the Earth's
Radiant Energy System
(CERES) instrument, will provide global data on the
Earth's clouds and energy budget. CERES will be launched in late
1997 aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission observatory as
part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. Scientists are
trying to determine what effects clouds have on the balance of
incoming solar energy and outgoing heat energy from the Earth. The
CERES measurements will help scientists better understand this
balance and determine any future changes that may occur.
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