The Potential of Citizen Science Data to Complement Satellite and Airborne Lidar Tree Height Measurements: Lessons from The GLOBE Program

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is an international science, citizen science, and education program through which volunteers in participating countries collect environmental data in support of Earth system science. Using the program\u27s software application, GLOBE Observer (GO), volunteers measure tree height and optional tree circumference, which may support the interpretation of NASA and other space-based satellite data such as tree height data from the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) and Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation instrument. This paper describes tree heights data collected through the GO application and identifies sources of error in data collection. We also illustrate how the ground-based citizen science data collected in the GO application can be used in conjunction with ICESat-2 tree height observations from two locations in the United States: Grand Mesa, Colorado, and Greenbelt, Maryland. Initial analyses indicate that data location accuracy and the scientific relevance of data density should be considered in order to align GLOBE tree height data with satellite-based data collections. These recommendations are intended to inform the improved implementation of citizen science environmental data collection in scientific work and to document a use case of the GLOBE Trees data for the science research community

GLOBE Observer Data: 2016–2019

This technical report summarizes the GLOBE Observer data set from 1 April 2016 to 1 December 2019. GLOBE Observer is an ongoing NASA‐sponsored international citizen science project that is part of the larger Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, which has been in operation since 1995. GLOBE Observer has the greatest number of participants and geographic coverage of the citizen science projects in the Earth Science Division at NASA. Participants use the GLOBE Observer mobile app (launched in 2016) to collect atmospheric, hydrologic, and terrestrial observations. The app connects participants to satellite observations from Aqua, Terra, CALIPSO, GOES, Himawari, and Meteosat. Thirty‐eight thousand participants have contributed 320,000 observations worldwide, including 1,000,000 georeferenced photographs. It would take an individual more than 13 years to replicate this effort. The GLOBE Observer app has substantially increased the spatial extent and sampling density of GLOBE measurements and more than doubled the number of measurements collected through the GLOBE Program. GLOBE Observer data are publicly available (at observer.globe.gov)

GLOBE Observer Data: 2016–2019

This technical report summarizes the GLOBE Observer data set from 1 April 2016 to 1 December 2019. GLOBE Observer is an ongoing NASA‐sponsored international citizen science project that is part of the larger Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, which has been in operation since 1995. GLOBE Observer has the greatest number of participants and geographic coverage of the citizen science projects in the Earth Science Division at NASA. Participants use the GLOBE Observer mobile app (launched in 2016) to collect atmospheric, hydrologic, and terrestrial observations. The app connects participants to satellite observations from Aqua, Terra, CALIPSO, GOES, Himawari, and Meteosat. Thirty‐eight thousand participants have contributed 320,000 observations worldwide, including 1,000,000 georeferenced photographs. It would take an individual more than 13 years to replicate this effort. The GLOBE Observer app has substantially increased the spatial extent and sampling density of GLOBE measurements and more than doubled the number of measurements collected through the GLOBE Program. GLOBE Observer data are publicly available (at observer.globe.gov)