Five Kilkenny primary schools took part in the Greenwave 2009 project – a mass science experiment for Irish national schools which involves tracking the movement of spring across Ireland.
Students from participating schools were asked to record the ash, horse chestnut, and hawthorn trees, the primrose, the swallow, and frogspawn. This year, participants were also asked to record the rainfall throughout the months of February to May. In total, 12 sightings were submitted by five primary school classes from across the county.
The following Kilkenny primary schools took part in Greenwave 2009: Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Colmain, Clarach; Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Padraig Mixed, Baile Haol; Kilmoganny mixed national school, Kilmoganny; Scoil Mholainge, Listerlin, Mullinavat; and Burnchurch National School, Burnchurch, Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny.
Some of the findings by schools included: The first swallow was spotted on April 2, the highest average weekly rainfall was between April 5 and 12 with an average of 31.69mm recorded while the warmest average weekly temperature of 12.13 degrees celsius, was recorded between May 24 and 31.
Commenting on the results Eanna Ni Lahmna said: “The results over the three years that Greenwave is running now show that spring is arriving earlier, particularly in the south-west where frogs are now spawning in January. The wealth of results sent in by schools from all over the country are providing very useful baseline data on climate change.”
Peter Brabazon, programme director of Discovery Science & Engineering, added, “The success of this year’s Greenwave project is evident in the amount of children participating from all over the country. It is fantastic to see children taking such an interest in their locality while also learning valuable skills such as data gathering and measurement.”
To view the results of the project, visit www.greenwave.ie
