Do Citizen Science Intense Observation Periods Increase Data Usability? A Deep Dive of the NASA GLOBE Clouds Data Set With Satellite Comparisons

Abstract

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) citizen science program has recently conducted a series of month‐long intensive observation periods (IOPs), asking the public to submit daily reports on cloud and sky conditions from all regions of Earth. This provides a wealth of crowdsourced observations from the ground, which complements other conventional scientific cloud data. In addition, the GLOBE reports are matched in space and time with geostationary and low Earth orbit satellites, which allows for a straightforward comparison of cloud properties, and minimizes the biases associated with mismatched sampling between participants and satellites. The matched GLOBE data set is used to calculate the mean observed cloud cover by atmospheric level both worldwide and by region. The overall magnitudes of cloud cover between the GLOBE participants and the matched satellites agree within 10%, which is notable given the distinctly different natures of the data sources. The mean vertical cloud profiles show GLOBE reporting more low‐level clouds and fewer high‐level clouds than satellites. The low cloud disagreement is likely related to satellites missing low clouds when high clouds block their view. Conversely, the high cloud disagreement is related primarily to cloud opacity, as satellites may miss some optically thin clouds. Monte Carlo testing shows the results to be robust, and the tripled amount of IOP data reduces uncertainty by half. These findings also highlight ways in which citizen science IOP data may be used to support scientific research while accounting for their unique properties.

A Google Earth Engine Platform to Integrate Multi-Satellite and Citizen Science Data for the Monitoring of River Ice Dynamics

“…Citizen science is defined in this paper as a collaboration between public environmental observers and professional scientists to address a public or scientific concern [28], and we focus here on contributory citizen science where public participants primarily collect, submit observations, and access data products, but play a limited role in data analysis [29]. Citizen science programs, through large scale initiatives like the NASA-supported Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program in over 140 countries around the world, and regional initiatives like the Fresh Eyes on Ice project in Alaska, offer valuable ground-truthing and observational data that enhance model validation and provide a more nuanced understanding of local environmental conditions [9,30,31]. The inclusion of such data not only enriches scientific research, but also fosters a stronger connection between science and the community, encouraging public engagement, placing science in context of community life and mutual learning of both scientists and public participants [32].…”