Tess O'Hara, F. McClean, Roberto Villalobos Herrera, E. Lewis, H. Fowler
{"title":"Filling observational gaps with crowdsourced citizen science rainfall data from the Met Office Weather Observation Website","authors":"Tess O'Hara, F. McClean, Roberto Villalobos Herrera, E. Lewis, H. Fowler","doi":"10.2166/nh.2023.136","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n This paper demonstrates the potential for crowdsourced rainfall data to infill gaps in the official rain gauge network and to provide new datasets for use in research. We use data from the Met Office Weather Observation Website (WOW) over 10 years (2011–2020) to generate two open-source datasets for Britain; multi-parameter raw data in an easy-to-use format; and an hourly rainfall dataset. We have compiled and prepared the data and detail here station selection, rain depth calculation, and data resampling to hourly intervals to create a consistent dataset for further processing (including statistical quality control) and application. Mapping the new rainfall dataset establishes that WOW observations fill spatial gaps in the official ground-based rain gauge network over Britain, particularly in urban areas. This could be particularly useful for post-event analysis of rainfall that results in pluvial flash flooding. Here, we focus on Britain but due to agreements with meteorological services in Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland, plus many citizen scientists globally opting to share data via WOW there is potential for the development of similar datasets using these methods around the world.","PeriodicalId":55040,"journal":{"name":"Hydrology Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Hydrology Research","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2023.136","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Environmental Science","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
This paper demonstrates the potential for crowdsourced rainfall data to infill gaps in the official rain gauge network and to provide new datasets for use in research. We use data from the Met Office Weather Observation Website (WOW) over 10 years (2011–2020) to generate two open-source datasets for Britain; multi-parameter raw data in an easy-to-use format; and an hourly rainfall dataset. We have compiled and prepared the data and detail here station selection, rain depth calculation, and data resampling to hourly intervals to create a consistent dataset for further processing (including statistical quality control) and application. Mapping the new rainfall dataset establishes that WOW observations fill spatial gaps in the official ground-based rain gauge network over Britain, particularly in urban areas. This could be particularly useful for post-event analysis of rainfall that results in pluvial flash flooding. Here, we focus on Britain but due to agreements with meteorological services in Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland, plus many citizen scientists globally opting to share data via WOW there is potential for the development of similar datasets using these methods around the world.
期刊介绍:
Hydrology Research provides international coverage on all aspects of hydrology in its widest sense, and welcomes the submission of papers from across the subject. While emphasis is placed on studies of the hydrological cycle, the Journal also covers the physics and chemistry of water. Hydrology Research is intended to be a link between basic hydrological research and the practical application of scientific results within the broad field of water management.