Conclusion of the 3rd edition of Climate Detectives

In this edition of Climate Detectives, more than 40 teams shared their projects and actions to try to make a difference in protecting Earth’s Climate! ESA is very impressed with the fantastic work done by all teams. Some projects stood out for the way the teams explored and analysed the climate problem and for the actions proposed, and ESA has therefore decided to mention these highly commendable teams:

• Da Vinci Climate Team (Italy) - The team collected available climate data regarding severe extreme weather conditions to quantify climate change in the Civitanova Marche region and tried to change their school to a “zero emissions school”.
• Detectives del SanFer I & II (Spain) - The team investigated the effects of climate change in the Badajoz region by doing an analysis of climate data (air temperature and precipitation) from the past 30 years in their city. 
• The Land of Treehouses and Explosive Trees (Austria) - The team investigated the relationship between forests and CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere. The team also developed a smartphone app that helps users track & reduce their carbon footprint!
• Vianu Climate Detectives (Romania) - The team analysed ground and satellite data to investigate how COVID-19 restrictions may have had an impact on greenhouse gas emissions and vegetation throughout the seasons of the year.
• Water goes, water comes (Spain) - The team looked at the coastal area of Tarragona, a part of the Mediterranean coastline, to investigate the extent of sea level rise in the past few years, as well as the consequences of strong storm events.
• WWW - Weather Watch Wings (Italy) - The team explored the connection between air pollution, climate change and extreme weather events while investigating circumstances from floods, hailstorms, and record-level high temperatures in the Emilia-Romagna region.

ESA would also like to highlight a team of promising young scientists:

• Fenor NS (Ireland) - The team investigated the formation and local effects of storms and prevention of damage to the local environment. The Fenor NS team is also highlighted in the ESA Kids website, check it out here. 

Climate Detectives Final Online Event

To mark the completion of the third edition of Climate Detectives, ESA hosted a final online event highlighting the outstanding work from the student teams. Along with all the team highlights, one of our experts Magdalena FitrzykR, from ESA's ESRIN site in Italy, imparted some important messages to the young scientists: “It’s not enough to be a good scientist. The most important part of science is to communicate your results”. 

During the event, we also showed a recorded message from ESA Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is currently on board the International Space Station. He answered some of the teams’ questions about climate change from space.

ESA would like to express our sincere appreciation for the great work to all Climate Detectives teams, teachers and students, for all their hard work this year. Congratulations to all!

For more information about all teams' projects, check out the Climate Detectives 2020-2021 Project Gallery here!

The Climate Detectives school project will be back for the 2021-2022 school year. Stay tuned!