DATA UNCERTAINTY AND THE POTENTIAL POWER OF CITIZEN SCIENCE (Invited Presentation)

As model complexity increases so does the need for higher resolution measurements to quantify complex processes. Citizen science or crowdourced data collection is a promising way to collect supplemental data for model calibration at low cost to researchers. Various disciplines have made use of crowdsourced data for years and hydrologic applications are growing as well. Focusing on crowdsourced data, we face the problem of quantifying the associated uncertainty. We present an example of a newly developed method for collected hydrologic data via mobile phone text messages to demonstrate the calculation of uncertainty and further review results from other projects. An obvious method to calculate uncertainty is to validate citizen-science measurements with alternative methods. Uncertainty beyond measurement precision includes sources such as expertise of observers, timing of volunteer measurements, and the potential for “data vandalism” or intentional incorrect results.