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| Paper: |
Validation of GLOBE Citizen Science Air Temperature Observations Using Data from the Great American Solar Eclipse |
| Volume: |
516, Celebrating the 2017 Great American Eclipse: Lessons Learned from the Path of Totality |
| Page: |
501 |
| Authors: |
Rahman, I. u.; Czajkowski, K.; Jiang, Y.; Weaver, K. |
| Abstract: |
During the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017, students and citizen scientists across the United States took weather observations as part of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program. They collected air temperature and cloud cover through the GLOBE Observer app and land surface temperature using protocols established by the program. The data will be used to understand the effects an eclipse can have on the weather. Over 80,000 observations were taken before, during and after totality or maximum eclipse. Given the large number of observations, the eclipse was a great opportunity to investigate the accuracy of the GLOBE citizen science data collection. For this study, 700 GLOBE air temperature observations were compared with data from 92 National Weather Service weather stations. Citizen Scientist observations taken within 15 km of a NWS weather station between 15:00 and 20:00 UTC on the day of the eclipse were compared. The results show that there was good correlation with an R2 of 0.9°C. A t-test showed that the observations were related. Future studies will include further validation of the GLOBE citizen science cloud cover and land surface temperature observations as well as analyses of weather changes during the eclipse. |
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