USING CROWDSOURCING IN HYDROLOGIC MEASUREMENTS: CROWDHYDROLOGY

Crowdsourcing and citizen science is gaining momentum within many disciplines where large data sets need to be evaluated or collected. In the hydrologic sciences there is an increased demand for new ways to collect spatially and temporally distributed measurements, such as baseflow at the watershed scale. In the work presented here, we focus on building a database of stream stage measurements using passive crowdsourcing via mobile phone text messages. Citizen scientists are encouraged to send in measurements of stream stage at designated staff gages placed at popular fishing locations. These staff gages have a distinct station identification number and instructions on how to make stream stage measurements. Crowdsourced stream stage based on a two-year data set demonstrates the accuracy of the measurement methods as well as challenges associated with crowdsourced data. Preliminary results show crowdsourced data is a supplement to other hydrologic data collection methods but has the potential to become a primary method for stimulating public engagement.