Jeffrey C. Davids|Nischal Devkota|Aakash Pandey|Rajaram Prajapati|Brandon Ertis|Martine Rutten|Steve W. Lyon|Thom Bogaard|Nick van de Giesen
Soda Bottle Science—Citizen Science Monsoon Precipitation Monitoring in Nepal
Delft University of Technology|Nepal Development Research Institute|Nepal Development Research Institute|Nepal Development Research Institute|Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences|The Nature Conservancy|Delft University of Technology|Delft University of Technology
citizen science compliment groundbased remotelysensed precipitation measurements promising approach improving precipitation observations 2018 monsoon may september smartphones4water s4w nepal young researcherled water monitoring network partnered 154 citizen scientists generate 6656 precipitation measurements nepal lowcost 1 usd s4w gauges constructed repurposed soda bottles concrete rulers measurements recorded androidbased smartphones using open data kit collect included gpsgenerated coordinates observation date time photographs observerreported readings yearlong s4w gauge intercomparison revealed 29 error compared standard 203 mm 8inch gauge used department hydrology meteorology dhm nepal analyzed three sources s4w gauge errors evaporation concrete soaking condensation 05 mm day1 n 33 08 mm n 99 03 mm n 49 respectively recruited citizen scientists leveraging personal relationships outreach programs schoolscolleges social media random site visits motivated ongoing participation personal followups via sms phone site visit bulk sms educational workshops opportunities use data lucky draws certificates involvement certain cases payment average citizen scientist took 42 measurements min 1 max 148 stdev 39 paid citizen scientists n 37 took significantly measurements per week ie 54 volunteers ie 39 alpha level 001 comparing actual values determined photographs citizen science observations identified three categories observational errors n 592 9 total measurements unit n 50 8 errors readings centimeters instead millimeters meniscus n 346 58 errors readings capillary rise unknown n 196 33 errors cost per observation analysis revealed measurements could performed little 007 030 usd volunteers paid citizen scientists respectively results confirm citizen science precipitation monitoring lowcost gauges help fill precipitation data gaps nepal data scarce regions