Item: Community Snow Observations (CSO): A Citizen Science Campaign to Validate Snow Remote Sensing Products
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Title: Community Snow Observations (CSO): A Citizen Science Campaign to Validate Snow Remote Sensing Products
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2018, Innsbruck, Austria
Authors:
- Katreen Wikstrom Jones [ Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, Fairbanks, AK, USA ]
- Gabriel Wolken [ Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, Fairbanks, AK, USA ] [ International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA ]
- David Hill [ School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA ]
- Ryan Crumley [ School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA ]
- Anthony Arendt [ Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA ]
- Jonah Joughin [ Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA ]
- Landung Setiawan [ Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA ]
Date: 2018-10-07
Abstract: The ability to quantify seasonal water retention and storage in mountain snow packs has implications for an array of important topics, including forecasting and mitigation of snow avalanche and flood hazards, ecosystem function, water resources, climate modeling, and our economy. Runoff models, which typically rely on gridded climate data and snow remote sensing products, would be greatly improved if uncertainties in estimates of snow depth and snow water equivalence (SWE) in high-elevation complex terrain could be reduced. The NASA-funded Community Snow Observations (CSO) project recruits winter backcountry enthusiasts to help increase the temporal and spatial coverage of snow depth observations in high-alpine complex terrain. Crowdsourced snow observations in Thompson Pass started in 2015 with a small group of skiers and avalanche professionals, since then the number of CSO participants has increased dramatically, expanding across western North America, and engaging citizen scientists globally. Recruitment of citizen scientists takes place at winter festival events, avalanche safety workshops and classroom presentations, through news media coverage, social media, and via word of mouth. Participating citizen scientists use Mountain Hub, a multi-platform mobile and web-based crowd-sourcing application to record, submit, and instantly share geo-located snow depth, SWE, and measurement location photos. Snow depth observations submitted by citizen scientists are used to validate snow remote sensing products and snow depth distribution models produced by the CSO research team. CSO submissions during winters of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 in Thompson Pass, south-central Alaska, were used as ground validation data that helped to improve snow remote sensing products, and as snow distribution model input, which greatly improved the accuracy of modeled snow depth and SWE for the area. CSO ambassadors are key to the success of our grassroots effort and include avalanche professionals, hydrologists, guides and recreationists who help promote the project in their local area. Thanks to their frequent use of the avalanche probe, CSO citizen scientists have not only contributed to snow science, they have also built on their own personal understanding of snow depth distribution in the mountains where they choose to recreate. As the CSO project moves forward, we will keep a data-driven approach to our selection of new study sites for the remote sensing and modeling work. We aim to broaden the pool of citizen scientists to ensure sustainable growth, collaborate with more snow and avalanche professionals to share critical results, and engage with other research groups to maximize the benefits of highly valuable crowd-sourced data.
Object ID: ISSW2018_O05.3.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s):
Keywords: Citizen Science, Crowd-Sourced Data, Snow Distribution, Snow Hydrology, Remote Sensing, Mountain Hub.
Page Number(s): 420-424
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