Jungle Kids Team

Manaus | SuperpowEARTH

Awards & Nominations

Jungle Kids Team has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!

Global Nominee

AMANA, the water cycle hero.

High-Level Project Summary

According to the Yanomami natives, the forest has animal spirits capable of seeing evils, such as fires, from above and alerting us. Our super-hero, AMANA, which means “water that comes from the sky”, transforms herself into three macaws, each with its own power. These macows have the power to control the water cycle and directing rainwater to fires, preventing damage caused by climate change.

Link to Project "Demo"

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GN8Wjt8IPNii4k9MYoPNeQ3N2yB23HC-?usp=sharing

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GN8Wjt8IPNii4k9MYoPNeQ3N2yB23HC-?usp=sharing

Detailed Project Description

The earth already has the incredible power of having a water cycle. In our research on NASA's database, we found that the atmosphere plays an important role for the planet, retaining water in a liquid state on the surface and allowing the existence of clouds and rain . The power of water cycles with evaporation and precipitation regulate the planet's temperature, however, the earth does not have the ability to direct rain to the exact time and place where fires occur.

As the earth cannot solve the problem of human interventions in nature as fires, we imagine a super hero that could control the water cycles inspired by the amazon natives culture. According to the Yanomami natives, the forest is populated by animal spirits that from above see the entire forest and warn us of the evils. For this reason, our superhero was inspired by the natives' explanation of the importance of forest animals, since all animal spirits are represented in a single image.

Our super hero AMANA, which means water that comes from the sky, has the super power to control the water cycle to fight the xawara epidemic - the fires, as called by the Yanomamis. For this, it turns into three macaws, each with a specific power, managing to direct rainwater to the fires and prevent the harms of climate changes. The red macaw has the ability to locate where fires occur, as do infrared satellites that detect heat. The green macaw, on the other hand, evaporates water from rivers to form a cloud, collecting the amount needed to use into the fire. Finally, the blue macaw manages to move the cloud to make it rain in the exact spot, eliminating the fire and preventing the danger from spreading.

We think of macaws, as they are typical Amazonian birds that move great distances during the day between resting and feeding places and can identify fires that are harmful to the planet from above. They usually fly in pairs or groups of three individuals. It also demonstrates NASA's important values: teamwork, excellence and inclusion. Macaws join forces, just as explained in the native culture where forest animals work together to protect the forest.

AMANA represents the power to identify and eliminate fires harmful to forests, controlling the water cycle to water where it is needed. She will be able to locate fire areas and move rain clouds to the exact location of the fire in order to eliminate the fire. We consider that the risk of desertification and the increase in water evaporation due to climate change as threat to human beings because they can create droughts in some regions and cause water supply problems, as is happening now in some regions of Brazil.

We developed AMANA using free drawings on paper and crayons and also digitally, using the Procreate app for Ipad. The video editing was done through Funimate and the PowerPoint app was used to organize the presentation.

Space Agency Data

In this challenge, we learned that NASA is much more than space. We realized that there are important researches about the earth that help us to understand the functioning of its different systems. With this experience, we deepened our knowledge about the water cycle, climate change, native culture and we were also able to work as a team, solve problems and keep goals. We are inspired because we are concerned about fires and the future of the planet.

Nasa Goddard YouTube videos helped us to understand how the water cycle works and its importance to control climate on Earth. We could clearly visualize how the water flows below, above and over the surface, constantly changing its state, helping us to develop our hero's superpower. Also, the data collected by NASA helped us to understand the importance of the atmosphere to the earth and to the living beings on the planet. The paper on how NASA is transforming water management in the U.S. West with NASA Data, let us to understand the evapotranspiration process, and inspired us to imagine a extra super power if the earth could be able to control this kind of process as was needed. That aspect along with our local experience with fires in the Amazon (where we live) provided the final inspiration for designing Amana.

Hackathon Journey

In this challenge, we learned that NASA is much more than space. We realized that there are important researches about the land that help us to understand the functioning of its different functions (its different systems). With this experience, we deepened our knowledge about the water cycle, climate change, indigenous culture, and we were also able to work as a team, solve problems and meet goals. We are inspired because we are concerned about fires and the future of the planet.