1. 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

2. 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!

3. “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.

4. 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

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

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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 The peak in July corresponds to the storm event that caused a flash
flood in Ellicott City, MD (downstream of Catonsville).

10. 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.

11. 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.