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GSL offers new educational tour “HRRR Smoke and 2020 fire season”

Four million acres burned in California alone this year, making 2020 a record fire season for the Western U.S. To explore this historic wildfire season, The Global Systems Laboratory’s (GSL) Science On a Sphere® (SOS) team released a new interactive educational tour about the 2020 wildfires on its free mobile app – SOS Explorer™ (SOSx). “Tour – HRRR Smoke and the 2020 fire season” explores how NOAA satellites detect fires and how atmospheric research models like the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh – Smoke model can predict how smoke from wildfires will move in the atmosphere. The tour includes post-tour exercises for students.

Science On a Sphere Explorer™ datasets can be quite complex. Tours guide users through a story using science datasets in a way that makes them understandable and more tangible. Tours incorporate supplemental media – images, videos, audio, webpages – as well as text and questions to support user learning.

You can find more tours here: https://sos.noaa.gov/education/sosx-tours/

Do you have an idea for a tour? Reach out to hilary.peddicord@noaa.gov

Last Update: November 09, 2020

Our Mission

Lead research and directed development through the transition of environmental data, models, products, tools, and services to support commerce, protect life and property, and promote a scientifically literate public.

Research Areas

Organizational Excellence, Earth System Prediction, Advanced Technologies, and Decision Support are the foundation to achieving the GSL Grand Challenge: Deliver actionable global storm-scale prediction and environmental information through advanced technologies to serve society.

Global Systems Laboratory