| Title | An EU-wide citizen science network to monitor hydrological conditions in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams |
| Abstract | Studying Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams (IRES) requires regular observations of
streamflow. Unfortunately, intermittent streams are poorly monitored, particularly in temperate
climates. To fill gaps in knowledge of the dynamics of intermittent streams, a pilot initiative within
the SMIRES project (Datry et al., 2017, https://www.smires.eu/) was launched in April 2019. This
initiative invited citizens to submit observations for a large number of European intermittent
streams.
The goal was collecting datasets that can be used in robust scientific inquiries:
- To identify IRES at the European scale. Everyone was encouraged to report the flow state
for any stream in Europe at any time during 2019;
- To investigate the dynamics of flow intermittence by repeating field observations along an
IRES at least once each month and if possible at multiple locations.
The CrowdWater app (https://crowdwater.ch/en/crowdwaterapp-en/) was used to collect the
observations. Each contributor was asked to take a picture of the stream and to identify the
current flow state of the stream as one of six classes, from "dry" to "flowing". The citizen science
network has collected, in eight months, more than 3500 observations in ~500 river reaches across
15 countries.
In this presentation, we will discuss the benefits and the limitations of this citizen science effort
(i.e., how these data complement the information provided by gauging stations, how and why the
collected data were used by the main contributors, how participants can be engaged in the longterm
etc.). We will compare the success of this international initiative to other regional or local
scale initiatives. |
| Source | 22nd EGU General Assembly,, held online, 4-8 May, 2020, id.4807 |
| Keywords | streamflowcitizen science |
| Year | 2020 |
| Type | Presentazione |
| DOI | 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1790, 2019 |
| Authors | Eric Sauquet, Ilja van Meerveld, Cath Sefton, Josep Fortesa, Helena Ramos Ribeiro, Iakovos Tziortzis, Anna Maria de Girolamo, July England, Joan Estrany, Pau Fortuño, Antoni Munné, Zoltan Csabai, Manuela Morais, Helena Alves, and Thibault Datry |
| Text | 438377 2020 10.5194/egusphere egu2020 1790, 2019 streamflow citizen science An EU wide citizen science network to monitor hydrological conditions in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams Eric Sauquet, Ilja van Meerveld, Cath Sefton, Josep Fortesa, Helena Ramos Ribeiro, Iakovos Tziortzis, Anna Maria de Girolamo, July England, Joan Estrany, Pau Fortuño, Antoni Munne, Zoltan Csabai, Manuela Morais, Helena Alves, and Thibault Datry Inrae, Villeurbanne cedex, France eric.sauquet@irstea.fr IRSA CNR Studying Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams IRES requires regular observations of streamflow. Unfortunately, intermittent streams are poorly monitored, particularly in temperate climates. To fill gaps in knowledge of the dynamics of intermittent streams, a pilot initiative within the SMIRES project Datry et al., 2017, https //www.smires.eu/ was launched in April 2019. This initiative invited citizens to submit observations for a large number of European intermittent streams. The goal was collecting datasets that can be used in robust scientific inquiries To identify IRES at the European scale. Everyone was encouraged to report the flow state for any stream in Europe at any time during 2019; To investigate the dynamics of flow intermittence by repeating field observations along an IRES at least once each month and if possible at multiple locations. The CrowdWater app https //crowdwater.ch/en/crowdwaterapp en/ was used to collect the observations. Each contributor was asked to take a picture of the stream and to identify the current flow state of the stream as one of six classes, from dry to flowing . The citizen science network has collected, in eight months, more than 3500 observations in 500 river reaches across 15 countries. In this presentation, we will discuss the benefits and the limitations of this citizen science effort i.e., how these data complement the information provided by gauging stations, how and why the collected data were used by the main contributors, how participants can be engaged in the longterm etc. . We will compare the success of this international initiative to other regional or local scale initiatives. Published version 22nd EGU General Assembly, held online 4 8 May, 2020, id.4807 Internazionale Contributo An EU wide citizen science network to monitor hydrological conditions in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams EGU2020 1790 print 1 .pdf Presentazione annamaria.degirolamo DE GIROLAMO ANNA MARIA |
