Track spring with Greenwave

Anyone who's keeping an eye on the countryside will see that growth is slow to start this year, but it's hard to measure that accurately. But Greenwave, a mass science experiment is encouraging students to track the progress of spring - participants will log their sightings of the six species that are indicators of spring on the Greenwave website. Schools across the county are invited to take part in this year's Greenwave (in 2009 St. Anne's NS, St. Patrick's NS, St. Joseph's NS, Killinkere NS, Virginia Mixed NS, Corratober NS, Lacken NS and Arva 2 NS recorded sightings). There is an increased focus on maths this year, as students will be asked to measure wind speed at their schools. They will learn how to build an anemometer (to measure how fast the wind is blowing) and record speeds during the course of the project, which will help participating students relate maths to their everyday lives. Greenwave is based on the fact that during spring, buds on trees and hedges begin to open up, creating a green wave that is visible from outer space. It green wave begins in the south of Europe in February and as the temperature rises, moves up across Europe at about four miles per hour. Students will log sightings of species including ash, horse chestnut, hawthorn trees, the primrose, the swallow and frogspawn and to record wind speed, rainfall and temperature. The results are mapped on the Greenwave website to see whether spring moves from north to south or inland from coast to centre. The information obtained will be valuable in determining whether climate change is causing flowers to bloom earlier and, as a result, how Irish wildlife is affected. The data will be plotted on greenwave.ie, where you can see the findings and track the progress of nature. Students who participate in the experiment could win prizes by submitting photos of their sightings on greenwave.ie. Eanna Ni Lahmna and Gerald Flemming will judge the photos and the winning school will receive a digital camera and printer. • Register at greenwave.ie. The project also caters for Gaelscoileanna, with materials available in Irish on the website. All schools taking part in the Greenwave project will earn credit towards the Discover Primary Science Awards of Science and Maths Excellence.