Newsletter #8: May 3, 2012

The forecast for Your Research Missions this week is stormy. Join the team of CoCoRaHS weather watchers and record precipitation. Look for severe weather as a SKYWARN volunteer and help keep people safe. Or join Solar Storm Watch and look at weather far, far away - space weather! Some of these citizen science missions are featured at DiscoverMagazine.com. Your Research Mission is presented by SciStarter and Discover Magazine.

Congratulations to all who participated in the Big Cheer for Science last week. Check out some video of students taking part in the Big Cheer for Science! Great job, kids! Schools that participated are now a part of the Quake-Catcher Network, a citizen science project organized by the USGS. That's also something to cheer about.

Researchers and science team leaders: Are you looking for citizen science volunteers to help with research? SciStarter seeks to bring projects and people together. If you’d like your project featured, submit it to the SciStarter.com Project Finderfor consideration by the editors.

And there is still time to submit an abstract to the Public Participation in Scientific Research Conference in Portland, Oregon this summer. Share insights about your citizen science project and connect with the community involved with citizen science.

Do you have a favorite App for citizen science? If so, tell us about it. We are adding stories about Apps for citizen science on the SciStarter Blog. To contribute information about your favorite App and share your experiences with our community, email Dr. John Ohab, Director of Community Engagement: john@scistarter.com.

- The SciStarter Team

The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network

Do raindrops keep falling on your head?

Their name might be a handful, but so are the weather events their monitor! The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) includes volunteers of all ages that make measurements of precipitation across the nation and the data are used by meteorologists and educators.



SKYWARN

Safety first! Become a severe weather watcher.

Do you have a strong interest in weather and a desire to keep your community safe from severe storms? If so, consider becoming a SKYWARN volunteer. Organized by the US National Weather Service, SKYWARN volunteers are trained to spot severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail and flooding and report what they see to forecasters.



Solar Storm Watch

Search for space weather.

From the comfort of home, you can help scientists identify explosions on the Sun. Volunteers with Solar Storm Watch analyze pictures of the Sun taken by spacecraft, looking for explosions that release radiation. Catch the Sun in the act and help warn earthlings that radiation may be on the way disrupting telecommunications and endangering astronauts.