David R. Brooks, PhD

President
Institute for Earth Science Research and Education
2686 Overhill Drive
Eagleville, Pennsylvania 19403 USA
Phone: 610-584-5619
E-mail: brooksdr@drexel.edu
Much of the work described on this site has been made possible by support from the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Click here for policy statements concerning this website.

Big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus (?)
January 26, 2012. This big brown bat (we suppose it might be
a little brown bat instead) is roosting under the eaves above
our garage door. Its body is about 8 cm long and it probably
weighs no more than about 15 gm (0.5 oz). It (assuming it's the
same bat!) appeared several weeks ago, disappeared, and then
reappeared this month. We have no idea why it is roosting alone
in this very exposed location, or how it avoids freezing at night.
Big brown bat populations are being decimated as a result of "white
nose syndrome," but this bat's nose looks OK to us!

You can now use your PayPal account to purchase instruments from IESRE.
Notes from a Temperate Climate. A site dedicated to students, teachers, and my friends living in Thailand's tropical climate.


Links to some other useful and interesting sites:  

In light of recent controversy surrounding poor siting of many "official" weather stations around the country, this link to information about sites in Pennsylvania, with photos from 1983 and 2003, is very interesting: http://pasc.met.psu.edu/PA_Climatologist/cooptan/. Almost without exception, the quality of these sites is good and the surrounding environment has not changed significantly.



Hurricane Irene, August, 2011. This graph of barometric pressure taken from the weather station at a small airport near IESRE dramatically shows the passage of Irene through our area. The eye of this storm passed along the coast to the east of us, but the drop in pressure is still dramatic. We had some high winds and well over 6" of rain. There was some heavy flooding in low-lying areas and some tree damage, but we never lost power during this storm.


Intute, a site maintained by a consortium of UK universities, is an excellent site for searching for information about science topics, among other things. It contains brief but helpful descriptions of each site referenced.
Presentations from the Asia-Pacific Regional GLOBE Learning Expedition, Hua Hin, Thailand, 13-18 November, 2007:
      Student Climate Change Research, 2008-09 version (9.4 MB PowerPoint document)
Spreadsheet model for "designing" your own planet
Our Fox Family, 2006
Calculate solar position and the time of solar noon at your coordinates.
Set your watch or clock accurately. Use the UTC "time zone" to display the internationally accepted time for reporting scientific data.
Link to current weather conditions in Pennsylvania (Get other states by changing "pa" to another two-letter state code.)
Link to weather during past 24 hours at Wings Field, Blue Bell, Montgomery County, PA
Link to an excellent local weather and climate site.
My local weather and forecasts
(Look here for weather during past 24 hours at other places.)
Historical weather data around the globe
More historical climate data around the globe
Link to satellite overpass predictor
Link to DEP air quality monitoring information for Pennsylvania
Naval Research Lab's Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System Global Aerosol Model (NAAPS)
NOAA description of meteorological station model symbols (a interesting example of how to use clickable images)