Enhancing national environmental monitoring through local citizen science

Volten, H.; Devilee, Jeroen; Apituley, Arnoud; Carton, L.J.; Grothe, M.; Keller, Christoph U.; Kresin, Frank; Land-Zandstra, Anne; Noordijk, E.; Putten, Edith van; Rietjens, Jeroen; Snik, Frans; Tielemans, Erik; Vonk, J. Arie; Voogt, M.H.; Wesseling, J.

doi:10.2307/j.ctv550cf2.30

Cited by 14 publications

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“…RIVM has therefore been participating in citizen science projects on air quality since 2012. The nature of these early projects, the degree of involvement and collaboration partners have been described in detail elsewhere [10]. Despite the varying nature of these projects, RIVM's main input in these citizen science projects revolved around some common themes, primarily around the need for expert information on questions like:…”

Section: Citizen Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Implementation of a Platform for Public Information on Air Quality, Sensor Measurements, and Citizen Science

et al. 2019

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The use of low-cost sensors for air quality measurements is expanding rapidly, with an associated rise in the number of citizens measuring air quality themselves. This has major implications for traditional air quality monitoring as performed by Environmental Protection Agencies. Here we reflect on the experiences of the Dutch Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) with the use of low-cost sensors, particularly NO2 and PM10/PM2.5-sensors, and related citizen science, over the last few years. Specifically, we discuss the Dutch Innovation Program for Environmental Monitoring, which comprises the development of a knowledge portal and sensor data portal, new calibration approaches for sensors, and modelling and assimilation techniques for incorporating these uncertain sensor data into air pollution models. Finally, we highlight some of the challenges that come with the use of low-cost sensors for air quality monitoring, and give some specific use-case examples. Our results show that low-cost sensors can be a valuable addition to traditional air quality monitoring, but so far, their use in official monitoring has been limited. More research is needed to establish robust calibration methods while ongoing work is also aimed at a better understanding of the public’s needs for air quality information to optimize the use of low-cost sensors.

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Section: Citizen Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Implementation of a Platform for Public Information on Air Quality, Sensor Measurements, and Citizen Science

et al. 2019

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“…The previous sections show a snapshot of the rich landscape of citizen science initiatives involving environmental agencies in Europe. However, and despite the opportunities ahead, there are still challenges to be addressed before the potential of citizen science can be fully realized, especially in monitoring (Volten et al, 2018;Wesseling et al, 2019), their policy impact (Nascimento et al, 2018), but also in its integration at the institutional level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seeing this opportunity, around 2012 the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) 9 , responsible for the official air quality monitoring network in the Netherlands, started to get involved in citizen science projects. The project iSPEX 10 , initiated that very year, played a key role in changing RIVM's views on the contribution of citizen science (Volten et al, 2018). The project involved measuring aerosols using iPhones with a small add-on for the camera.…”

Section: Measuring Air Pollution Together-samen Metenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EPAs are starting to consider citizen science as instrumental to achieve their core mandate, that is, environmental protection (Hindin et al, 2016, NACEPT, 2016, Owen and Parker, 2018. Many have launched platforms, catalogs and portals to have a better overview of the different initiatives (for example, Scotland's environment Citizen Science Portal 16 ) and in some cases are adopting a more strategic approach toward citizen sciencesuch as the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) (Nascimento et al, 2018), RIVM (Volten et al, 2018, Wesseling et al, 2019 or, outside Europe, the US Environmental Protection Agency (NACEPT, 2016). In this section we focus on two cases in Europe: the Finnish Environment Institute and the UK Environment Agencies.…”

Section: The Value Of Citizen Science Data-fulfilling Our Core Mandatementioning

confidence: 99%

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Citizen Science and Environmental Protection Agencies: Engaging Citizens to Address Key Environmental Challenges

et al. 2020

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Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) have been involved in citizen science initiatives for decades, engaging with citizens with the goal of protecting and restoring our environment. Yet the data and knowledge generated and the possibilities for engaging citizens have grown significantly in the last decades thanks to the recent developments in mobile technologies and the access to internet, resulting in a transformation of how environmental protection can be done. This perspective provides some examples on how European EPAs and their partners are currently addressing key environmental challenges and exploring new institutional approaches by bringing in citizen science data and methods. It also points out challenges that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of citizen science as a complement to the monitoring efforts by these agencies. Finally, it presents the Interest Group on Citizen Science of the Network of the Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA Network), an informal forum where EPAs across Europe share examples and bring together strategic insights on citizen science approaches into their daily activities.

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“…Success stories of collaborations between public authorities and different kinds of lower-cost sensing initiatives (Volten et al 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

Joint Statement on new opportunities for air quality sensing - lower-cost sensors for public authorities and citizen science initiatives

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Herding²,

Fellermann³

et al. 2019

RIO

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Low-cost air quality sensors continue to spread. While their measurement quality does not compete with high-end instrumentation deployed in official air quality monitoring stations, they have a great potential to complement existing air quality assessments. However, we still see challenges related to data quality, data interoperability, and for collaborating on data assimilation and calibration. In order to move ahead we gathered as a group of 38 organisations from 14 different countries, including governmental authorities, network operators, citizen science initiatives, environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and academic researchers to explore how we can collaborate and better leverage each other’s work. This statement captures our joint findings and recommendations. Our key observations include: Co-operation between official monitoring networks (reference quality data) and lower-cost sensor operators is a key to make air quality data more usable. To be able to combine forces and benefit from each other’s expertise, the different perspectives of all stakeholders should be taken into account. There is a need to ensure that all users understand the possibilities and the limitations of making sense out of observations from different sensors. It is not realistic to expect that in the near future the data quality of lower-cost sensors will be as good as that of the official data. A way to make use of data that is of lower accuracy is by employing them in air quality modelling. Transparency about data quality is important to build more trust in the data, and to avoid unrealistic expectations. The need for interoperability should be clearly articulated and promoted by potential data users. There a need (and an opportunity) to provide guidance and standard operating procedures for the deployment and calibration of lower-cost sensors in order to increase the data quality delivered by participants of citizen science projects. Presently, we prefer to consider fixed-stationary sensors in a network instead of mobile sensor data. Furthermore, stationary data should not be aggregated with data from mobile sensors. Publishing and sharing this statement is only small step in the right direction and further actions have to be taken, inlcuding more in-depth discussions of the recommendations in smaller groups and follow-up meetings on dedicated topics. Co-operation between official monitoring networks (reference quality data) and lower-cost sensor operators is a key to make air quality data more usable. To be able to combine forces and benefit from each other’s expertise, the different perspectives of all stakeholders should be taken into account. There is a need to ensure that all users understand the possibilities and the limitations of making sense out of observations from different sensors. It is not realistic to expect that in the near future the data quality of lower-cost sensors will be as good as that of the official data. A way to make use of data that is of lower accuracy is by employing them in air quality modelling. Transparency about data quality is important to build more trust in the data, and to avoid unrealistic expectations. The need for interoperability should be clearly articulated and promoted by potential data users. There a need (and an opportunity) to provide guidance and standard operating procedures for the deployment and calibration of lower-cost sensors in order to increase the data quality delivered by participants of citizen science projects. Presently, we prefer to consider fixed-stationary sensors in a network instead of mobile sensor data. Furthermore, stationary data should not be aggregated with data from mobile sensors. Publishing and sharing this statement is only small step in the right direction and further actions have to be taken, inlcuding more in-depth discussions of the recommendations in smaller groups and follow-up meetings on dedicated topics.

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Enhancing national environmental monitoring through local citizen science

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Development and Implementation of a Platform for Public Information on Air Quality, Sensor Measurements, and Citizen Science

Development and Implementation of a Platform for Public Information on Air Quality, Sensor Measurements, and Citizen Science

Citizen Science and Environmental Protection Agencies: Engaging Citizens to Address Key Environmental Challenges

Joint Statement on new opportunities for air quality sensing - lower-cost sensors for public authorities and citizen science initiatives

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