Citizen Science on EARTH Magazine

Citizen science (and art)

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 13:52:09 -0500

Henok Getahun created this artistic interpretation — "Boy on Jupiter Catches Io" — from JunoCam images. Credit: NASA/Henok Getahun.

Juno carries a visible light camera, JunoCam, which is intended primarily to take photos that, it’s hoped, will provoke public interest in Jupiter. The images sent back are available for anyone to download and manipulate for scientific or artistic purposes. Thousands of images, both raw and manipulated, have been made available for viewing, and hundreds of citizen scientists have been engaged in the project. Scientists say they are delighted at how JunoCam has resonated and increased interest in, and understanding of, the Juno mission. See www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam

An aurora named Steve

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 16:49:04 -0400

In 2015 and 2016, more than 30 reports of odd, purple-hued ribbons of light over southern Canada popped up in forums on Aurorasaurus, a citizen science project funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation that tracks the aurora borealis through user-submitted reports and tweets. The amateur astronomers nicknamed the strange phenomenon “Steve,” and in a new study, researchers have defined the new type of aurora.

Desktop seismology: How a maker-inspired device is changing seismic monitoring

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 12:37:49 -0500

Created in 2016, the Raspberry Shake is a personal seismograph that can detect local to regional earthquakes. The Shake was developed by OSOP, a geophysical instrument company headquartered in Panama. Marketed toward makers and the earthquake-curious, it also has the potential to help professionals increase the station density of seismic monitoring networks. Credit: OSOP.

Earth groans and shimmies constantly, producing everything from occasional building-collapsing earthquakes to subtle shaking humans don’t even feel. There are many ways to track this shaking, ranging from sensitive, expensive seismograph stations to various citizen-science approaches, including the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” program, through which people can report what they felt during an earthquake using an online survey.

Geomedia: Apps: Join the crowd: Introducing a new generation of geo-apps

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:06:44 -0500

A new app uses smartphones to detect cosmic rays. Credit: Crayfis.io.

At a time when the technical and computing capabilities of science are evolving at breakneck speeds, it might seem like researchers would always seek out more powerful and sophisticated tools to tackle their scientific questions. But some have chosen the opposite strategy: drawing on the dispersed resource of millions of relatively low-tech devices like smartphones and personal computers — and their users.

Changing the landscape: Geoscientists embrace 3-D printing

Thu, 07 Aug 2014 09:59:19 -0400

Credit: Kathleen Cantner, AGI.

Franciszek Hasiuk prints T. rex skulls in Iowa State University's school colors using a 3-D printer. He uses these and other printed "fossils" for teaching and outreach. Credit: Franciszek Hasiuk.

In a modest, low-slung room tucked in the back of Oregon State University’s Pacific Slope Archaeological Laboratory, a small box sits quietly buzzing on a countertop and hiccuping each time the mechanical arm inside abruptly changes direction. Behind the box’s clear walls, an object has started to take shape. It looks something like a lumpy plastic pancake, but closer inspection reveals sharp edges and a scalloped surface. It is actually a half-finished replica of an arrowhead excavated from Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, an idyllic spot along the Salmon River inhabited by early North Americans 13,000 years ago. The box producing it — a 3-D printer called a Replicator 2, designed by the Brooklyn-based company, MakerBot — is much newer.

People's earthquake reports influenced more by locomotion than location

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 13:11:55 -0400

Intensity surveys help geologists study earthquakes. This map compiles all responses to the U.S. Geological Survey's Did You Feel It? survey between 1994 and 2012. Credit: USGS

Intensity scales like the Modified Mercalli scale, used in the U.S., and the European Macroseismic scale measure the strength of shaking produced by an earthquake at a certain location, as determined from surveys assessing the effects on people, structures and the natural environment. For example, a II on the Modified Mercalli scale is: “Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings,” whereas a V is “felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop.”

The rise of community remote sensing

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

If you ask someone involved in community remote sensing to define the emerging field, the most likely response will be a chuckle followed by “That’s a hard question to answer…”

Bill Gail, a director at Microsoft’s Startup Business Group in Boulder, Colo., coined the term, and he says he likes to keep the definition “nebulous” as the field takes shape. At its core, the movement is about remote sensing — collecting data from afar. Remote sensing “has revolutionized science and Earth monitoring,” Gail says. Airplanes, satellites, space probes and the like have helped scientists gather information on long-term, global scales, but these tools have limitations: They fail to capture what’s happening at the local level, he says.

Using Citizens in Science Research

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Glittering stars and wisps of gas create a breathtaking backdrop for a massive star's self-destruction, called a supernova. NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI, AURA

Three glowing gas rings around supernova 1987A. P. Challis

Robert Evans has spotted 42 supernovae, more than any other person. The bright star above the spiral galaxy is supernova 2005df, Evans' 40th supernova discovery. European Southern Observatory

Stars, just like people, have finite life spans. Some die quietly. Others go out in a blaze of glory, as supernovae. These brilliant explosions are sometimes visible from Earth, but most appear as only a faint twinkle.