Cli-DaRe@Images: Citizen Science for Italian Climate Data Rescue with Images

Italy has long played a pivotal role in the development of meteorology, from the invention of key instruments to the establishment of some of the earliest international observational networks. Over the past three centuries, this legacy has resulted in a vast and valuable archive of meteorological data preserved in Italian repositories. Although numerous initiatives have contributed to safeguarding parts of this heritage, a substantial fraction of the records remains available only in paper format. These collections are particularly vulnerable to physical deterioration, putting at risk data of considerable scientific value for meteorology, climate science, and climate change assessments.

This study presents a recent project developed by the Italian Association of Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (AISAM) within the framework of Climate Data Rescue (Cli-DaRe) initiatives. In particular, the Cli-DaRe@Images project, launched in 2024 and close to its end, integrates education and climate change awareness with the recovery of historical meteorological data. The project actively involves high school students in the Trentino region in the digitization of meteorological records preserved at the San Bernardino Library in Trento.

Following the photographic acquisition of the original documents, the data will be transcribed into digital spreadsheets, thereby recovering and making accessible a priceless scientific heritage. The project adopts a Citizen Science approach, moving beyond a traditional educational model, in which students are passive recipients of knowledge, toward one in which they become active contributors to scientific research. Through this process, participating students gain firsthand experience in the digital retrieval of historical meteorological data and manuscripts in addition to the subsequent processing.