In recent times, we find an increasing number of people exploring mountain areas where they expose themselves to a variety of hazardous natural processes (e.g., rock fall, collapsing seracs, landslides, or torrential floods) and adverse conditions (e.g., eroded trails). Ongoing climate change with its destabilizing impact on glaciers and permafrost makes such hazards even more ubiquitous. Moreover, remote mountain areas are not covered by standardized management schemes for natural hazards and there is usually no systematic monitoring. However, many relevant observations are made by experienced alpine professionals (such as guides, rescue teams, park rangers, geoscientists etc.). The “AlpsWatch” project intends to build on co-creation of information by this “highly-qualified crowd” to establish an interactive information platform for natural hazards in a mountainous pilot region (Tyrol, Austria). The project develops and implements an easy-to-use mobile app where expert users can readily document and share their qualified field observations. The collected observations are synchronized and structured in a spatio-temporal database, which, in turn, can be accessed by the expert users. Thereby, the project contributes to more informed decision making on the mountain and during planning of activities and, thus, enables mountain professionals to enhance the safety of themselves and of their clients. A focus of the project will be on standardization and structuring of the observations, as well as on possibilities to automatically trigger requests for human intervention via quality checks, further investigation, or warning via authorities. We are also investigating possibilities to combine the crowd-based field observations with remote sensing and geomorphological process models. Thereby, we aim to improve the understanding of geomorphological dynamics and to develop more advanced and spatially continuous information products for natural hazards in mountain areas.

How to cite: Mayr, A., Rosendorfer, M., Knaus, M., and Rutzinger, M.: Engaging a highly-qualified crowd in an information system for natural hazards in mountain areas, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-6147, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6147, 2024.

Into the Deep is a Citizen Science Project that brings remote marine ecosystems directly to your laptop and allows adult learners to take part in real time research by annotating images of marine ecosystems. For this pilot, there are 4 data sets from different marine environments, and an intuitive image annotation tool called BiiGLE PARTY. In this session we will present how Citizen Scientists (CS) are being strategically recruited in two ways: through social media and through pre-existing partner networks. All participants are introduced to four ecosystems and each CS must first elect to follow a short course that was developed in close collaboration with the scientists and adult education experts. This dynamic, online course explains the importance of each ecosystem, detailing human impact on a habitat and gives them the information to answer a specific scientific question. The course is Non-Formal Education, achieving specific learning goals, but not formally evaluated. We will present key data aligning educational input and CS projects, showing how learning helps both maintain and actively engage adult learners in climate-positive action. Following the notion that when people are more educated about the topic (in this case marine ecosystems), it fosters a more positive attitude towards the ocean, and promotes greater compliance with measures put in place to protect it. After completing the short course, participants automatically enter the BiiGLE PARTY CS tool and can annotate images from the relevant habitation dataset with gamified prompts and point systems to keep them engaged. Statistical parameters and check points are incorporated into the program to exclude annotation outliers and cross-check for accuracy. The results of these annotations feedback to the scientific owner of the dataset and into ongoing research. We present some of the ways results provide valuable help to scientists, including training machine learning for automatic image detection. The main goal of Into the Deep is to provide an easy-to-use tool for both researchers and adult learners, and to facilitate the dialogue and continued commitment between CS and the researchers they assist. To this end, we will present an E-book and framework outlining how scientists can easily incorporate this tool for their own research purposes and information about how to reach interested CS.

How to cite: Johansen, C.: Into the Deep - Marine Image Analysis Hub for Citizen Scientists, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-7613, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-7613, 2024.

The understanding the motivations and benefits of potentially participating individuals in citizen science (CS) is a key element in the success of CS projects This knowledge is essential for developing effective strategies to recruit, engage and retain CS participants, and ultimately to increase the data quality in environmental science projects. Marketing tools such as stakeholder analysis and Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) are recognised as valuable tools in CS. Similar to a customer-focused approach in a business context, these tools are able to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, engagement and evaluation of CS initiatives, when integrated into recruitment and communication processes. The presented poster highlights the use of quantitative measures, specifically key performance indicators (KPI's), to measure inputs, activities and outputs in CS projects. KPIs provide quantitative evidence of project success and play a critical role in helping stakeholders trust the reliability of citizen science data. The poster presentation shows the applicability of marketing tools in CS projects using exemplarily a case study focusing on the observation of urban climate effects. By involving diverse groups and taking into account their everyday activities, CS projects can broaden their data sources and increase their impact. It also highlights the need for continuous adaptation to ensure the relevance and success of CS initiatives, as future analyses of urban climate impacts may require targeting new groups to fill data gaps.

How to cite: Koedel, U., Schuetze, S., Liang, C., Hermann, T., Dietrich, P., and Schuetze, C.: Improving the effectiveness of citizen science projects for environmental monitoring through the targeted activation of selected stakeholder groups, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-8921, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-8921, 2024.

Imagine that you run a museum along the Danube. You know that the Danube and its ecosystem play an important role in the area and for the people that live there. You would like to involve these people in an active way in the ecosystem recovery of the Danube and its basin, aiming to increase and change their awareness and knowledge. But how?

At this point the EU Horizon project DANUBE4all (https://www.danube4allproject.eu/) may step in, dedicated to developing a strategic Danube Basin Restoration Action Plan in close collaboration with stakeholders, by fostering Citizen Science as an element in community co-design. It will be able to trigger the change by integrating action on environmental concerns with social and economic wellbeing; embracing a science-to-people approach that actively integrates public interests and empowers all Danube basin inhabitants and communities to monitor the change in the ecosystem around the Danube.

For this, we are working on a Citizen Science Toolbox, a changemaker that can be used by communities, CSOs, museums, nature parks, and many other organizations in the Danube basin. We will share the set-up of this toolbox, which will consist of a decision tree of options of (existing) citizen science monitoring tools, programs, apps, and methods useful to contribute to ecosystem restoration. The decision tree will guide these museums and other community groups to choose what level of involvement they want and how they make use of the tools and methods. Next to that, there will be a sensor multi-tool connection kit for water quality monitoring added, where we assist people in how to make use of existing low-cost sensors, what quality they have, and what fitness for use. We focus in this Toolbox not only on the technical knowledge that these museums and their participants need, but also on how to relate to the actual need within the basin, and to connect them to researchers, research questions, and make it so that their collected citizen science data becomes valuable for the ecosystem restoration in the Danube Delta. To connect them to sustainable monitoring and research in the basin like for example the Join Danube Survey that is already organized along the Danube and where scientists collaborate to monitor the river status. 

How to cite: Vries, S. and Gajdusek, F.: Develop A Citizen Science Toolbox for Change in the Danube Basin Ecosystem , EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-11489, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-11489, 2024.

Black carbon (BC), also known as soot, is a fine particulate matter consisting of carbon particles produced from incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels. BC contributes significantly to the air quality degradation and has various environmental impacts. BC is a short-lived climate agent and contributes to global warming.

Measuring BC using citizen science involves simple but precise methods to estimate its presence in the environment. The Black Carbon EDUcational program (BC-EDU) is an initiative supported by the Caliph'air project. Calisph’Air is an outreach activity of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales in the frame of the CALIPSO space research program. BC-EDU actively involves middle school teachers and students. The BC-EDU serves as an educational tool, raising students' awareness of pollution issues by studying soot particles in the ambient atmosphere.

BC atmospheric concentrations are measured daily using a light absorption technique on air filters thanks to a small aethalometer specifically designed for the students (manufactured by Staneo). The total BC deposit on the air filters is finally analyzed using a thermo-optical method (Sunset OC/EC analyzer).

We present the campaigns carried out with 8 middle schools in 2018 and new experimentations on indoor and outdoor BC concentrations in 2024 in France. We evaluate the students and teachers engagement in such a research-led initiative and the impact of crowd-based BC monitoring for understanding BC sources and transport in and around middle schools.

How to cite: Delville, L., Léon, J.-F., Macouin, M., and Raynal, E.: Participatory science at school: The Black Carbon educational experiment, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-15061, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-15061, 2024.

Community-engaged data collection and research, known as citizen science, is becoming increasingly popular in modern research. Citizen science programs, using social media platforms, provide an efficient means of rapidly gathering substantial and relevant data for scientific inquiries in a cost-effective manner.

In Hungary, the first citizen science program, titled "Life in Undies”, was launched in 2021 by the Institute for Soil Sciences. This initiative, inspired by the Canadian "Soil your Undies" challenge and other similar initiatives around the world, focused on collecting soil data by surveying the decomposition of cotton underpants. The percentage decomposition of the cotton underwear serves as an indirect indicator of soil health and contributes to the creation of a map illustrating seasonal microbiological activity in the soil.

The second, ongoing citizen science program is called "InvestiGATE for Your Soil". This initiative continuously collects primary soil data, including pH, CaCO₃ content, soil texture, thickness of surface humic layer by easy measurement methods carried out with household tools following a strict tutorial. The aim is to build a comprehensive and diverse dataset of proxy variables, facilitating the creation of thematic soil.

In addition to the short introduction of the two initiatives, our poster will highlight innovations implemented in data collection to improve the efficiency of the data cleaning process.    Validation mechanisms have been incorporated to ensure the reliability of the collected data, contributing to the success not only of these citizen science programs but also of others.

Our poster will showcase the outcomes of these citizen science programs, featuring: 

• A thematic map illustrating soil microbiological activity in the spring of 2021, derived from over a thousand data points collected nationwide.
• A preliminary thematic map depicting key soil properties from our continually expanding database generated by the ongoing citizen science program.

Acknowledgement: This work has been carried out with the support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office K-131820 together with MEC N-140646.

How to cite: Takáts, T., László, P., Takács, K., Mészáros, J., Kovács, Z. A., Koós, S., Balog, K., Pásztor, L., and Árvai, M.: Citizen Science Programs as Scientific Data Collection Approach of Soil Medium, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-16755, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-16755, 2024.

Although the term 'Citizen Science' was coined in 1989 [Kerson, 1989], it gained momentum in 2009, when it first appeared in academic papers [Bergerot, 2022]. Over the past decade, a paradigm shift has occurred driven by the widespread adoption of mobile devices, DIY sensors, and open data platforms. These elements act as catalysts to democratize science with a significant impact on environmental monitoring [Coulson et al., 2021; Brenton et al, 2018]. In this context, the SECOSTA project emerged in 2018 as a pioneering citizen science initiative with a dual mission: (i) educating high school students about the impact of the climate crisis on coastal regions and (ii) actively engaging them in scientific research to fill observational gaps in coastal oceanography.

SECOSTA involves the development of low-cost instrumentation based on ARDUINO open-source technology to collect crucial data for understanding coastal oceanography. After an initial phase in which educators are trained to guide students in constructing these devices, teachers initiate cross-disciplinary educational projects aided by a collection of educational resources selected by the SECOSTA team. Then, students actively participate in hands-on data collection, and their observations undergo rigorous processing, transforming them into valuable supplementary datasets for researchers.

We currently offer five distinct devices tailored for secondary schools, each varying in complexity regarding construction and operation. This enables teachers to choose devices that align seamlessly with the characteristics of their participating students and the specific requirements of their educational projects. This inclusive approach has been pivotal to SECOSTA's success, fostering a harmonious partnership among researchers, regional government bodies, and secondary schools. The initiative has engaged over 4,000 students from 35 educational institutions. Notably, the SECOSTA2022 Student Conference marked a significant milestone, with over 140 students from 10 schools presenting year-long research findings. The success continued into the SECOSTA2023 Student Conference, where 170 students from 12 schools showcased the ongoing positive impact of the project.

Our project exemplifies the practical implementation of technological advancements fostering citizen science initiatives in recent years. By providing secondary school students with accessible equipment, we enable them to actively participate in the scientific exploration and protection of the marine environment. To date, students have made substantial data contributions, including topographic records for 19 Balearic beaches and time-series data on sea level and water temperature, currently under analysis by the research team. This presentation not only unveils SECOSTA's phases, offering valuable insights for implementing citizen science initiatives in secondary schools, but also serves as a testament to SECOSTA's success. Additionally, it delves into the wider implications of marine technology, sparking a global movement where citizens actively contribute to addressing critical issues that threaten our society.

How to cite: Herrada, E. A., Puigdefàbregas, J., Villalonga-Llauger, J., Gomis, D., and Jordà, G.: Student-Driven Coastal Monitoring through Low-Cost Open Source Devices: SECOSTA's Citizen Science Experience Integrating Technology and Education, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-18398, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18398, 2024.

Freshwater ecosystems are crucial for life on our planet. These habitats are home to 10% of all known species, including a third of all vertebrates. In the last decades, most of the world’s freshwater ecosystems have suffered dramatic changes and negative impacts mainly due to anthropological activities and global warming. The assessment of riverine habitats quality could be helpful to preserve (or restore) freshwater ecosystems and to counteract biodiversity loss as well. Citizen Science is increasingly adopted in environmental monitoring projects. The increase in spatial and temporal resolution is just one of the strength points of participative projects: these can provide additional data for research purposes and monitoring agencies. In this context, a new CS-based research project called CS4Rivers has been created by the University of Siena and developed within the NBFC - National Biodiversity Future Center. CS4Rivers aims to monitor the biodiversity and the river habitats quality by using a transdisciplinary approach. During the project, several monitoring activities will be carried out: the freshwater chemical quality, the riparian vegetation, the macroinvertebrates, and the biodiversity target species in the fluvial corridor. For each activity, ad hoc sampling and monitoring protocols have been developed. Monitoring activities will be held on the Ombone River and its tributaries (Siena and Grosseto provinces, Tuscany, Italy). The project will last until December 2025. A pilot project has been already launched on the Idice River (Emilia-Romagna region, Italy). Future perspectives of this project will regard the export in national and international context of the transdisciplinary approach adopted in CS4Rivers.

How to cite: Polvani, A., Vitillo, C., Gumiero, B., Galgani, L., Di Grazia, F., Sanna, V. S., Loppi, S., Monaci, F., Capineri, C., and Loiselle, S. A.: CS4Rivers: a transdisciplinary approach for monitoring freshwater habitats and their biodiversity., EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-20692, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20692, 2024.