USING SOCIAL MEDIA AND CITIZEN SCIENCE FOR HYDROLOGIC DATA COLLECTION

Using Social Media and Citizen Science for Hydrologic Data Collection

Katrina K. Lindsay, University at BuffaloDominick Ciruzzi, Department of Geology, University at Buffalo

Christopher S. Lowry, Department of Geology, University at Buffalo

There is an increased demand in the hydrologic sciences to collect finer spatial and temporal resolution measurements. However, these measurements come at a significant cost and as a result new and innovative techniques are needed to meet these increased demands. In an attempt to address these demands we have developed a new method to collect hydrologic data by asking citizens to send in text messages of water levels in various parts of the United States. This method has been successful thus far both in responses received and accuracy. Citizen science is becoming a more popular way to conduct research in the environmental field. Since social media is a part of everyday life for many individuals, combining the various networking platforms is the next step in the future of citizen science. Although texting is an effective way of conducting research, it is believed that using texting in conjunction with social media such as Twitter, could increase the amount of responses. Combining social media and citizen science is expected to produce a clearer picture of distributed hydrologic measurments.