{"id":100,"date":"2025-11-05T12:16:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/?page_id=100"},"modified":"2025-11-18T09:02:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:02:45","slug":"2024-goes-virtual-science-fair-top-projects","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/goes-vsf\/2024-goes-virtual-science-fair-top-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 GOES Virtual Science Fair Top Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

High School: 1st Place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Title: Tracking Canadian Wildfires with GOES-R Products
Katie Dong, Chelsea Sun, and Brandon Yu from River Hill & Atholton High School, Columbia, Maryland
Coach: Li Ren<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Abstract: Canada’s recent wildfires had severe consequences, including a drastic reduction in air quality due to smoke and particulate matter. These fires also caused significant environmental damage by releasing unprecedented amounts of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Perhaps most concerning were the negative health impacts, with increased risks of injuries and respiratory problems. Our objective is to extract and analyze satellite data to track the evolution of smoke plumes and to better prepare for potential consequences of future wildfires. In this study we focus on the Canadian wildfires event in summer 2023. What did we experience in summer 2023? On June 8th, the air became very foggy, and the sky was orange. Many came to school with masks on to avoid being affected by the heavily polluted air. The picture (shown in the poster) shows what the sky looked like in Baltimore on that day. It was extremely gloomy and polluted. To track the smoke movement, we relied on the GOES-R satellite system. These geostationary satellites provide near real-time imagery and data covering the continental United States and parts of Canada. The key instrument onboard is the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), which captures high-resolution images of Earth across multiple spectral bands. This allows for highly accurate data and imagery used to observe various environmental aspects, including smoke plumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube Video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download the poster (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Middle School: 1st Place<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Title: How does El Ni\u00f1o Affect Wildfires in Canada?
Carsten Drury, Max Meyer, Benjamin Gurch, and Emerson Kremkrau from Beacon Hill Middle School, Decatur, Georgia
Coaches: Ms. Beyers and Ms.<\/em> Nicks<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Abstract:<\/strong> The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was the harshest on record, images of the New York City skyline smothered in the smoke from the country’s many fires is fresh in the mind of both the American and Canadian public. Our group decided to investigate the likelihood of naturally caused Canadian wildfires in the upcoming El Nino year which will worsen weather patterns. This is due to the fact that the heat caused by El Nino will lead to drought and create more inflammable conditions for forests and increases the probability of human caused fires. It also reduces storm amounts in Northern regions such as Canada leading to drier conditions. This leaves more opportunities for fires and increased area burned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download the poster (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Middle School: Honorable Mentions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Title: Solar Eclipse Affects Convective Clouds
Aparna Venugopal, Aniyah DeFreitas, Aubrie Powell, and Ava Waterman from Medford Middle School, Medford, NJ
Coach: Vicky Gorman<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Download the poster (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Title: Solar Eclipse Causes Decrease in Cloud Cover
Sofia Basto-Cabrera, Elana Farwell, and Frankie Hargrave from Medford Middle School, Medford, NJ
Coach: Vicky Gorman<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Download the poster (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High School: 1st Place Title: Tracking Canadian Wildfires with GOES-R ProductsKatie Dong, Chelsea Sun, and Brandon Yu from River Hill & Atholton High School, Columbia, MarylandCoach: Li Ren Abstract: Canada’s recent wildfires had severe consequences, including a drastic reduction in air quality due to smoke and particulate matter. These fires also caused significant environmental damage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-100","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions\/288"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/virtual-science-fairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}