In this mini-lesson, students analyze soil moisture quantities associated with Hurricane Harvey around Houston, Texas on August 25, 2017.

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Soils protocol bundle. 

Students review Earth System phenomena that are affected by soil moisture.  They analyze and evaluate maps of seasonal global surface air temperature and soil moisture data from NASA satellites. Building from their observations, students will select a location in the U.S.

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Water Cycle protocol bundle. 

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Water Quality protocol bundle. 

Students watch a visualization video and answer questions on the potential of increasing megadroughts in the southwest and central United States from 1950-2095 using models created by soil moisture data.

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Rivers and Lakes protocol bundle. 

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Mosquito protocol bundle. 

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Weather protocol bundle. 

Elizabeth Forsbacka is an instrument manager. She leads a diverse team to design, build and test Earth or space science instruments. She says "My job is to build a good team that can do it all. Our work from design through delivery of the spacecraft usually takes about four years." See what it's like to work on this sort of project.