Sunday Afternoon Musing

It's a Sunday afternoon and I finally have some time to offer more information about my BIG NEWS!

Some of you probably heard that I have been awarded an Earthwatch Fellowship! Earthwatch is an international organization supporting scientific research in over
30 countries! Being offered this fellowship is a huge honor for which I am deeply grateful and totally excited! The really BIG, BIG news is that you will be going too – through cyberspace!

So, what does this all mean?

Well, during the first week of December, I will spend the week in the forests near the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, studying how climate change is affecting forests. I will be near the city of Baltimore and I'll also be near America's capitol, Washington, D.C.

I'll be staying at a place called the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. We will be conducting experiments to study the trees, leaves, roots, soil, animals and weather in an area called a hectare (this means a measurement of 10,000 square meters). All of these elements of the forest will provide clues about its health.

I will post stories, questions, pictures and video clips to this blog every day. And during the week, we will actually have a "live from the field" webcast where I will be able to see you - and you will see me - and we can all talk about what is going on! This is going to be really cool!

So get ready for a BIG ADVENTURE and consider the following questions:

-Can you imagine how weather might affect a tree?

-What do you think it would mean if there was a drought? (A drought is a period of time when there is no rain).

-What do you think animals could tell us about the health of a forest?

Let me know: what do YOU want to learn about climate change and forests?