How Citizens Can Put the Data They Collect Giovanni : How Citizens Can Put the Data They Collect in Context James G. Acker NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) Building the NASA Citizen Science Community June 21, 2019

Map of Daily “Late Run” Precipitation from the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) Averaged Over the Year 2018 for the State of Maryland Created with the Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) A citizen scientist’s rain gauge in Catonsville, Maryland, set the all-time state record for precipitation measured in a year in the state – just over 7 feet of rain!

“Citizen Scientists” traditionally make measurements that are used in scientific research … yet there is a long tradition of citizen naturalists collecting and analyzing their data, and contributing to science in a more active manner. Citizen Scientists may take more interest in the measurements they are making ̶ and make those measurements with more care and accuracy ̶ if they can place their measurements in both a scientific and environmental context, and even perform contextual data analyses themselves. Via the NASA Giovanni system, many analyses of this nature are possible.

The NASA Giovanni System is easy to use – only 4 user selections are required to make a map or plot Visualization Selection Time Period Selection Region-of-Interest Selection Faceted Search or Keyword Search

Giovanni’s most popular options are data maps and time-series plots Examples of data maps and citizen science measurements Snow Cover February 2018

Examples of data maps and citizen science measurements Euphotic Depth (meters) Chesapeake Bay July 2010 Measuring Secchi Depth

Examples of data maps and citizen science measurements Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Daytime Cloud Fraction during the Great Backyard Bird Count, February 16-19, 2018

Hand-held sun photometer AOD measurement Examples of data maps and citizen science measurements Giovanni output maps can be displayed with Google Earth Hand-held sun photometer AOD measurement

Examples of time-series and citizen science measurements This is the backyard rain gauge that set the Maryland annual rainfall record. Ellicott City flash flood event Time-series of TRMM 3B42 daily precipitation rate data for the Catonsville, MD region in 2018. The peak in July corresponds to the storm event that caused a flash flood in Ellicott City, MD (downstream of Catonsville).

Examples of time-series and citizen science measurements Wind speed (color) and surface pressure (contour lines) for the “bomb cyclone” wind event in March 2018, also created with Giovanni. Interested weather observers can obtain simple off-the-shelf weather stations, such as this one from Oregon Scientific. The time-series plot above shows hourly sea level pressure during the March 2018 “bomb cyclone” wind event from MERRA-2 model assimilated data, which could be compared to home weather station data.

Summary: Giovanni gives citizen scientists the capability of becoming citizen naturalists by putting their individual Earth science observations in a larger context; regional, hemispheric, and global Advantages: By introducing citizen scientists who are participating in an observational study to Giovanni, these observers may: learn more about the data they are collecting; take a more active part in the research; use their data and data in Giovanni as a starting point to learn how research science is practiced; be more motivated to take careful, accurate observations; support Earth science research actively (advocacy and awareness); and understand how Earth science data is used, within a STEM education context.

https://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov