Cutting-Edge Projects in Aurora Participatory Science

Participatory science, also called citizen science, connects scientists with the public to enable discovery by engaging broad audiences across the world. In aurora science, direct collaborations, crowdsourced efforts, and community engagement bridge aurora chasers with scientists to do research. These efforts have been fueled by recent large geomagnetic storms, evolving consumer camera technologies, social media, and dedicated citizen science projects. In this presentation, we highlight recent, cutting-edge participatory science efforts with a primary focus on the Aurorasaurus project and how it can be used to study major storm-time auroral activity.

Aurorasaurus is an award-winning citizen science platform that has been operating for over a decade. Aurora observers submit visibility reports and photos, which are filtered and cleaned to generate science-quality datasets. We highlight Aurorasaurus data from recent major geomagnetic storms in 2024 and 2025, emphasizing how rapid, widespread reporting during extreme events enables mapping of storm-time auroral extent and tracking changes in the auroral oval boundary at low latitudes. During the May 10-11, 2024 geomagnetic storm, Aurorasaurus compiled more than 5,000 vetted reports from 50+ countries, allowing for unique data-model comparisons and tracking of the extent of auroral visibility.

We also address the efficacy of using citizen science photos for research. We discuss how submitted images not only provide additional perspectives and validation of reported auroral forms, but can also constitute unique scientific datasets beyond the capabilities of traditional instrument networks. For example, modern consumer cameras can capture high spatial resolution views of fine-scale auroral structure, and photos from multiple observers can be combined to enable stereoscopic and tomographic reconstructions of auroral morphology and its evolution.

Finally, we briefly note complementary campaign-style participatory science efforts, including the AurorEye project’s low-cost deployable all-sky timelapse units, the SolarMaX mission in coordination with SpaceX’s Fram2 launch, and collaborations between aurora chasers and the SuperDARN team to supplement radar measurements with optical aurora data. With the ongoing solar maximum, it is important to harness the excitement and enthusiasm surrounding the aurora and space weather. Participatory science efforts build important relationships between public communities and scientists and unlock unique research benefits.