Tool Shortcuts: Retrieve Martian Atmospheric Data Plot Martian Atmospheric Data Record Local Atmospheric Observations and Conditions Retrieve Local Atmospheric Observations and Conditions Plot Local Atmospheric Observations

Simple Web-based tools have been developed to allow students to transfer atmospheric data to and from the Stanford server, and to allow students to generate and view graphs of this data. The tools allow participants to download or upload one week's worth of data at a time. The data may may displayed in the Web browser as either HTML tables or as plain-text files. The graphs are generated on-the-fly in response to student requests. This means that it will take a few moments for the appropriate data to be accessed and for the plots to be generated. Please have patience! It is strongly recommended that students maintain a binder for this education outreach program, and that one section of the binder be devoted to the martian atmospheric data which students transfer from Stanford, while a second section be devoted to the local atmospheric observations and weather conditions which the students transfer to Stanford. In both cases, the data are presented in neat tables which can be easily printed from a Web browser. The data may also be supplemented with graphs which participants can generate as their interest dictates. The plain-text data may be imported into a spreadsheet (after trimming the header and trailer with a word processor) if older or more advanced students are inclined to try to manipulate and/or display the data in their own way. Links to the tools are given below. School ID's and passwords are required to record and retrieve local atmospheric observations and conditions. Educators may obtain ID's and passwords by registering with joe@nova.stanford.edu.

Tools

Retrieve Martian Atmospheric Data

This form may be used to transfer one week's worth of data from the atmosphere of Mars. This data is acquired using radio occultation techniques by the MGS Radio Science Team. The data may be displayed as either an HTML table or as a plain-text file. The plain-text file may be imported into a spreadsheet (after trimming the header and trailer with a word processor) if participants are inclined to do so. If at all possible, a hard copy of the table with each week's data should be saved in each student's outreach program binder.

Plot Martian Atmospheric Data

This form may be used to generate and view graphs of the martian atmospheric data and the experimental conditions on Mars when the data were acquired. Students may view all of the available data, or may select their own start and stop dates. It is possible to select a small plot size if the standard plot is too large for the monitor on which the graph is displayed. Hard copies of the graphs may be printed from the Web browser. Periodically, hard copies of the cumulative martian atmospheric data should be included in each student's outreach program binder.

Record Local Atmospheric Observations and Conditions

Once each day, registered classes should make a few simple atmospheric observations at their own schools. This form may then be used to upload up to one week's worth of local atmospheric measurements and weather conditions to the outreach program database at Stanford University. The start date for the week in question must be selected, and the approximate time of the daily observations should be specified. It will be most beneficial if the observations are made at the same approximate time each day. This will allow seasonal trends to be easily isolated from variations which occur over the course of a day.

The form is organized so that it is easy to upload observations for an entire week at a time, but it is not necessary to do so. When data are submitted for any given day, the values are written over any entries for that day which were previously stored in the database. This form should therefore only be submitted once for a given day by any participating class, unless it is desired to correct erroneous data. If a weather station is not available at school and one can not be easily constructed, the daily information may be obtained from a local newpaper or from a Web site such as that maintained by the National Weather Service. Make sure to report the actual surface pressure at your location, and not the atmospheric pressure estimated at or corrected to sea level. Once the form is submitted, a table containing the observations is returned to the Web browser to confirm the new information.

Retrieve Local Atmospheric Observations and Conditions

This form may be used to retrieve one week's worth of local atmospheric observations which a registered class has already recorded in the outreach program database at Stanford University. The data may be displayed as either an HTML table or as a plain-text file. The plain-text file may be imported into a spreadsheet (after trimming the header and trailer with a word processor) if participants are inclined to do so. If at all possible, a hard copy of the table with each week's data should be saved in each student's outreach program binder.

Plot Local Atmospheric Observations

This form may be used to generate and view graphs of the local atmospheric observations which any of the registered classes have recorded in the outreach program database at Stanford University. Students may view all of the available data for any registered class, or may select their own start and stop dates. It is possible to select a small plot size if the standard plot is too large for the monitor on which the graph is displayed. Hard copies of the graphs may be printed from the Web browser. Periodically, it would be desirable for students to include graphs of the atmospheric observations recorded by their own class in their outreach program binder.