Crowdsourcing air temperature from citizen weather stations for urban climate research

Meier, Fred; Fenner, Daniel; Grassmann, Tom; Otto, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.uclim.2017.01.006

Cited by 211 publications

(265 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…City Airport, which itself exhibits a consistently warm bias, is the main anomaly in this exercise, but this can be explained by its location directly adjacent to the large thermal mass of the Thames Estuary. The observed biases of the other sites appear to contradict the cold bias of the Netatmo unit previously identified by Meier et al (), but it is important to highlight that this is unlikely to be an instrumentation bias, but a siting bias. Instead, the results emphasize the ‘warming’ effect of the increased data coverage in less well‐exposed residential areas (Bell et al , ), as opposed to areas of greenspace (e.g.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 61%

“…Longer term issues could also be a problem as it is well documented that lower cost sensors require more frequent calibration due to a greater tendency for drift (Young et al , 2014), emphasizing the need for regular calibration which is particularly challenging in a citizen science setting. However, despite these concerns, the results from the validation exercise in the paper along with previous comparisons of the Netatmo with standard measurements have proved promising (Meier et al , ), although extended records and larger scale studies are required before any significant conclusions can be drawn.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Data is transmitted wirelessly, using a combination of Bluetooth and Wi‐Fi, to the cloud where it can be accessed via a smart device, as well as being made available online via a ‘weathermap’ on the Netatmo website with observations updated every 5 min (Netatmo, ). The accuracy of the Netatmo weather station in controlled climatic conditions, and against standard outdoor apparatus, has been assessed by Meier et al () in which a sample of eight outdoor modules was tested and found to be mostly within the manufacturers specifications of between 0 and 30 °C. However, a cold bias (of up to 1 °C) was identified at higher temperatures.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The selection of a rural site is often difficult and care is needed to avoid unwanted biases from surface effects such as nearby water bodies or significant elevation differences (Stewart, ). Also given the small biases identified with the Netatmo unit by Meier et al (), it is important for consistency that the reference site is also a Netatmo station rather than a standard site. The site chosen was at Hildenborough, Tunbridge Wells (latitude: 51.216995; longitude: 0.243991; elevation: 47 m).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can the crowdsourcing data paradigm take atmospheric science to a new level? A case study of the urban heat island of London quantified using Netatmo weather stations

Chapman

Bell

2016

Intl Journal of Climatology

147

115

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Crowdsourcing techniques are frequently used across science to supplement traditional means of data collection. Although atmospheric science has so far been slow to harness the technology, developments have now reached the point where the benefits of the approaches simply cannot be ignored: crowdsourcing has potentially far‐reaching consequences for the way in which measurements are collected and used in the discipline. To illustrate this point, this paper uses air temperature data from the prolific, low‐cost, Netatmo weather station to quantify the urban heat island of London over the summer of 2015. The results are broadly comparable with previous studies, and indeed standard observations (albeit with a warm bias, a likely consequence of non‐standard site exposure), showing a range of magnitudes of between 1 and 6 °C across the city depending on atmospheric stability. However, not all the results can be easily explained by physical processes and therefore highlight quality issues with crowdsourced data that need to be resolved. This paper aims to kickstart a step‐change in the use of crowdsourcing in urban meteorology by encouraging atmospheric scientists to more positively engage with the new generation of manufacturers producing mass market sensors.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 61%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can the crowdsourcing data paradigm take atmospheric science to a new level? A case study of the urban heat island of London quantified using Netatmo weather stations

Chapman

Bell

2016

Intl Journal of Climatology

147

115

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“…For example, Meier et al (2017) used sensor data from a commercial consumer-grade weather station network to examine fine-scale urban heat island effects in the city of Berlin. In another example, Chapman et al (2014) developed a road sensor network to monitor road surface temperatures to optimally salt roads during the winter months in Birmingham.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mobile sensor network to map carbon dioxide emissions in urban environments

et al. 2017

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Abstract. A method for directly measuring carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions using a mobile sensor network in cities at fine spatial resolution was developed and tested. First, a compact, mobile system was built using an infrared gas analyzer combined with open-source hardware to control, georeference, and log measurements of CO 2 mixing ratios on vehicles (car, bicycles). Second, two measurement campaigns, one in summer and one in winter (heating season) were carried out. Five mobile sensors were deployed within a 1 × 12.7 km transect across the city of Vancouver, BC, Canada. The sensors were operated for 3.5 h on pre-defined routes to map CO 2 mixing ratios at street level, which were then averaged to 100 × 100 m grid cells. The averaged CO 2 mixing ratios of all grids in the study area were 417.9 ppm in summer and 442.5 ppm in winter. In both campaigns, mixing ratios were highest in the grid cells of the downtown core and along arterial roads and lowest in parks and well vegetated residential areas. Third, an aerodynamic resistance approach to calculating emissions was used to derive CO 2 emissions from the gridded CO 2 mixing ratio measurements in conjunction with mixing ratios and fluxes collected from a 28 m tall eddycovariance tower located within the study area. These measured emissions showed a range of −12 to 226 CO 2 ha −1 h −1 in summer and of −14 to 163 kg CO 2 ha −1 h −1 in winter, with an average of 35.1 kg CO 2 ha −1 h −1 (summer) and 25.9 kg CO 2 ha −1 h −1 (winter). Fourth, an independent emissions inventory was developed for the study area using buildings energy simulations from a previous study and routinely available traffic counts. The emissions inventory for the same area averaged to 22.06 kg CO 2 ha −1 h −1 (summer) and 28.76 kg CO 2 ha −1 h −1 (winter) and was used to compare against the measured emissions from the mobile sensor network. The comparison on a grid-by-grid basis showed linearity between CO 2 mixing ratios and the emissions inventory (R 2 = 0.53 in summer and R 2 = 0.47 in winter). Also, 87 % (summer) and 94 % (winter) of measured grid cells show a difference within ±1 order of magnitude, and 49 % (summer) and 69 % (winter) show an error of less than a factor 2. Although associated with considerable errors at the individual grid cell level, the study demonstrates a promising method of using a network of mobile sensors and an aerodynamic resistance approach to rapidly map greenhouse gases at high spatial resolution across cities. The method could be improved by longer measurements and a refined calculation of the aerodynamic resistance.

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Integrated Assessment of Urban Overheating Impacts on Human Life

Nazarian

Krayenhoff

Bechtel

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Urban overheating, driven by global climate change and urban development, is a major contemporary challenge that substantially impacts urban livability and sustainability. Overheating represents a multifaceted threat to the well-being, performance, and health of individuals as well as the energy efficiency and economy of cities, and it is influenced by complex interactions between building, city, and global scale climates. In recent decades, extensive discipline-specific research has characterized urban heat and assessed its implications on human life, including ongoing efforts to bridge neighboring disciplines. The research horizon now encompasses complex problems involving a wide range of disciplines, and therefore comprehensive and integrated assessments are needed that address such interdisciplinarity. Here, our objective is to go beyond a review of existing literature and instead provide a broad overview and integrated assessments of urban overheating, defining holistic pathways for addressing the impacts on human life. We (a) detail the characterization of heat hazards and exposure across different scales and in various disciplines, (b) identify individual sensitivities to urban overheating that increase vulnerability and cause adverse impacts in different populations, (c) elaborate on adaptive capacities that individuals and cities can adopt, (d) document the impacts of urban overheating on health and energy, and (e) discuss frontiers of theoretical and applied urban climatology, built environment design, and governance toward reduction of heat exposure and vulnerability at various scales. The most critical challenges in future research and application are identified, targeting both the gaps and the need for greater integration in overheating assessments.Plain Language Summary Many major cities are faced with the compounding effects of climate change and rapid urbanization. One of the main challenges that result is urban overheating, which leads to negative impacts on human life (deteriorating health, productivity, and well-being) and urban energy systems. Heat exposure in cities, however, is only the trigger and there are other factors that influence impacts. Urban heat vulnerability exists when sensitive people and infrastructure are exposed to extreme heat, and negative impacts ensue if there is a lack of capacity to respond and adapt. Accordingly, to combat overheating challenges, it is critical that multidisciplinary solutions are integrated to mitigate exposure, reduce sensitivity, and increase adaptive capacities. This paper provides an integrated assessment of urban overheating literature, defining pathways for addressing the impacts on human life. We review the state-of-the-art methods used to quantify heat hazards and exposure, detail the sensitivity of people and infrastructure to overheating, and elaborate on the adaptive capacities that individuals and cities can undertake in response. We provide recommendations for both researchers and policymakers that will minimize overheating impacts. Thes...

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Crowdsourcing air temperature from citizen weather stations for urban climate research

Cited by 211 publications

References 39 publications

Can the crowdsourcing data paradigm take atmospheric science to a new level? A case study of the urban heat island of London quantified using Netatmo weather stations

Can the crowdsourcing data paradigm take atmospheric science to a new level? A case study of the urban heat island of London quantified using Netatmo weather stations

A mobile sensor network to map carbon dioxide emissions in urban environments

Integrated Assessment of Urban Overheating Impacts on Human Life

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