Old Weather Forum

• https://nestwatch.org/

  NestWatch is a nationwide monitoring program designed to track status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch, and how many hatchlings survive. Our database is intended to be used to study the current condition of breeding bird populations and how they may be changing over time as a result of climate change, habitat degradation and loss, expansion of urban areas, and the introduction of non-native plants and animals.

• https://feederwatch.org/

  Project FeederWatch turns your love of feeding birds into scientific discoveries. FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. You don’t even need a feeder! All you need is an area with plantings, habitat, water or food that attracts birds. The schedule is completely flexible. Count your birds for as long as you like on days of your choosing, then enter your counts online.

• Walrus are facing the reality of the climate crisis and we need to know more about how they are affected.
• WWF and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are asking the public to become ‘walrus detectives’ and help contribute to conservation science by spending as little as thirty minutes searching for walrus in thousands of satellite images taken from space.
• The project aims to carry out a census of Atlantic and Laptev walrus populations over five years, which will help scientists to spot changes over time.

• The climate crisis is having a significant impact on the Arctic, with this polar region warming almost three times faster than the global average.
• Walrus rely on sea ice, but the warming world is melting the ice from beneath them.
• Resting on land (as opposed to sea ice) may force walrus to swim further and expend more energy to reach their food (which is also being impacted by the climate crisis) and reduces the region that they can search. 
• The Arctic Ocean is becoming more acidic as it absorbs carbon dioxide. This makes it difficult for animals like bivalve molluscs (clams), sea snails and crabs – the main prey of walrus – to build their shells. 
• Walrus can also be disturbed by shipping traffic and industrial development as the Arctic becomes more accessible to such activities when sea ice is lost.
• As the Arctic is a vast and changing place we simply don’t know enough yet about how many walrus there are, the trends in their population and how the climate crisis is affecting them.

Zooniverse Team wrote:Dear NASA/Zooniverse Citizen Scientists,

We wanted to let you all know about a new NASA citizen science project: Mountain Rain or Snow

Have you ever noticed snow falling when the air temperature is above freezing? Your eyes aren’t deceiving you! Temperatures near freezing can bring rain or snow, posing a real challenge for water managers who need to know how much precipitation falls as what type. More accurately predicting rain vs. snow is important for understanding our snowpack and year-round water availability.

You can be part of the team that is solving this problem by sending real-time observations of winter weather. Together, we are improving our understanding of the rain-snow transition temperature, which is used in weather forecasts and hydrologic models. Normally, we use weather stations to observe air temperature and precipitation, with computer models or mathematical relationships indicating whether it is raining or snowing. However, there are inconsistencies with the current models. With help from weather spotters, Mountain Rain or Snow recorded evidence of snow consistently falling at above-freezing temperatures in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Anyone can submit an observation at any time via your smartphone, laptop, desktop, tablet, or any other device with a browser by visiting https://rainorsnow.app/surveys. Please check out the project website for more information!

> Dear EvolDir Community,
>
> A research team from the CNRS (France), UMBC (USA), and the University
> of Bristol (UK), is conducting a study of visual pattern preferences in
> humans, with the broader goal of understanding the evolution of animal
> signal design. We would very much appreciate your participation in our
> online study! We need a large sample size, and we hope that you also
> ask your friends and family to participate. The task is visual—it will
> take less than 15 minutes, and your anonymity is secured. We thank you
> in advance for advancing evolutionary science! Results will be published
> and shared with the community.
>
> Please follow the link to participate:
> http://isemsurvey.mbb.univ-montp2.fr/pattern/
>
> (Participation must be completed on a computer screen — it is not
> designed for a smartphone or tablet.)
>
> Thank you again! (And thanks to those who have already played!)
>
> Tamra Mendelson
> Yseult Hejja-Brichard
> Julien Renoult
> Michel Raymond
> Innes Cuthill

• How often do sprites occur? Why do they take the shapes they do?
• What conditions in the upper atmosphere trigger sprite initiation?
• How do sprites affect Earth’s global electric circuit, and what is their contribution to the energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere?
• How are sprites connected with gravity waves, which send wind-driven ripples of energy through our upper atmosphere?