National High School Space Weather Network

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PROJECT SUMMARYHEMISPHERE: Developing a National High School Magnetometer Array.We propose to offer schools across the country the opportunity to measure and experimentwith Earth's natural environment, to contribute data to the nation's space weatherprogram, and to have effective teaching tools to educate young scientists about the spaceenvironment. We have developed a relatively inexpensive, robust, sensitive magnetometer inkit form that can be purchased and distributed to schools, assembled by students, then setup and used to take research-quality data. Teachers will be trained in their operation andhow to use them in classroom activities that demonstrate "space-weather." The data will betransmitted through a Web-based database, so that students can compare their localreadings with those of students at other sites around the continent and can be used byuniversity and other researchers to study geomagnetic Ultra-Low Frequency (ULF) waves.Low- to mid- latitude magnetic pulsations provide important information about the solarwind-magnetosphere interaction and the dynamic coupling of the magnetosphere andionosphere. The magnetic variations observable at low to mid latitudes include: Pc 3-4pulsations (periods of 10-45 s), which are thought to have their source in the upstreambow shock and or magnetosheath; and Pi 2 bursts (damped pulsations with 40-150-s periods)which are associated with substorm expansion onsets. This proposal seeks funding to trainMaster High School science teachers in the use of induction coil magnetometers, providethe basic space science content needed for the understanding of magnetic pulsation data inspace physics research, and develop mentoring relationships between space physicists andlocal high school science teachers and their students. These relationships will allow themagnetometer data to be fully utilized both scientifically as well as educationally.Specifically we plan to develop the documentation for the magnetometer, training materialfor testing the instrument, and educational material for using the instrument in theclassroom. This material will be the basis for a one-week teacher workshop at UCLAbringing together six geographically diverse science teachers that have already gonethrough a space weather workshop at NOAA Space Environment Center in order to train themas Master Teachers in the use and implementation of the magnetometer. This projectdirectly impacts pre-college education by providing High Schools with real-life spacephysics instrumentation and ULF data for analysis.