Geography
Hampshire Geography Teachers Climatology and GIS Field Day 2010
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:43:00 BST
Rake Bottom, Butser Hill, Hampshire.
Nick Pepin, Alastair Pearson, Brian Baily, Martin Schaefer and Paul Carter ran a one-day climatology field day at Butser Hill in the South Downs for Hampshire A/S and A2-level teachers. The 20 teachers from all parts of Hampshire enjoyed one of the hottest days of the year during a day designed to introduce teachers to the various methods of measuring climatic data and position fixing using the latest technology. The site at Rake Bottom, just to the north of Butser Hill, offered opportunity to measure and subsequently map variations in wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, ground and air temperature, and relative humidity. Measurements were taken by the teachers using the latest meteorological instrumentation and their positions measured by a mixture of electronic theodolites and global positioning systems (GPS). A digital elevation model of the field area was also surveyed.
A mobile field lab was set up in an annexe at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park Centre where laptops and a data projector were made available for teachers to input their data and then admire the results of their labours (see images below).
The day was very well received as it provided everyone with first-hand experience in calibrating, recording, inputting and analysing climate data. It was very well received in spite of the tremendous heat experienced by all, particularly as we climbed out of the coombe. Feedback from the day included the following comments:
“A big thank you to you and your team for the marvellous day you gave us on Friday. It is so enjoyable (even slogging up steep hill on hottest day of year!) to get back to hands on practical learning.”
“Thank you for last Friday, great fun, please thank your team. I always enjoy the time we have had with you and I hope it will happen again.”
“You made it a very pleasant and productive day.”
“We could not have had more glorious weather for this climatology day!”
“The whole day was very worthwhile.”
