Climate Detectives Projects 2018-2019

Project title: Climate change in Andalusia

Team: CuartoAC IES Fernando Savater

2018-2019   IES Fernando Savater   Jerez   Spain   50 Student’s age: 14-15

Our project consists of comparing local meteorological data with data obtained from the satellite images of the European Space Agency. We will analyze variation of maximum temperatures, heat waves, rainfall and intensity of storms. We also want to analyze the vegetation cover of the soil and the evolution of desertification. In addition to conducting this study, we intend to make a series of posters with explanations about our research, and design models that help explain our project to the general public. Finally, we intend to analyze what measures can be useful to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and organize an information campaign to the population. We will present our work and our conclusions in a great street science fair that takes place in our town in May 2019.

We have prepared maps with the images of the Sentinel 2 satellites on the vegetation cover of the area of ​​Western Andalusia, and we have compared it with the data we have obtained from local organisms. We have studied the tropical storm that entered the Iberian Peninsula in October 2018. It was the first hurricane to approach the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, and fortunately it became a tropical storm before reaching the coast. For this we have analyzed satellite images and we have searched for information in the local press. We have designed several models to explain to people what the greenhouse effect is and why it is produced. We have also made other models where we explain how are the orbits of polar satellites such as Sentinels, and meteorological satellites such as Meteosat. Finally, we made a model where we studied the effect of vegetation cover on the loss of fertile soil and the subsequent desertification that occurs.

We have shown the problem of climate change and the work done by the satellites of the European Space Agency to study this environmental problem. For this we have organized a large exhibition in our school for the entire school community. We have also participated in the street science fair in our town, where we had the opportunity to show our work and talk about climate change to thousands of people. We are currently organizing an awareness campaign on this problem and on the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. For this we give a series of tips on changes in our daily life, which basically consists of spending less resources and less energy.

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