Drought Information Supported by Citizen Scientists (DISCS) Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program (CSESP) Andrew Molthan1, Christopher Hain1, Manil Maskey1, Paul Meyer1, Udaysankar Nair2, Chris Phillips2, Cameron Handyside2, Kris White3, Michelle Amin3 1Marshall Space Flight Center / Earth Science Branch, Huntsville, AL 2 University of Alabama Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 3NOAA/National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Huntsville, AL 98th AMS Annual Meeting, 7-11 January 2018, Austin, Texas Motivation • The ROSES 2016 Citizen Sciences for Earth Systems Program solicitation sought new and innovative activities to engage citizen scientists, participating in the collection and analysis of NASA mission data to support new discoveries and applications • Our emphasis: supporting observations of drought • NASA is uniquely well-suited to contribute observations of vegetation, precipitation, soil moisture, and drought impacts. • We need observations to help with validation of soil moisture, crop stress indicators, and other factors. • Creating a platform to solicit citizen science observations of drought impacts benefits the broader drought analysis and response community. Citizen Science Goals • Engage weather-minded folks and those in agriculture • Regional focus first, leveraging agricultural extension officers and NOAA/NWS partnerships (via SPoRT) to their Cooperative Observer network – over 100+ years of citizen scientist partnerships • Working to beta test with NWS Co-Ops, Auburn U. agricultural extension, Alabama A&M Research Farm and other observers in N. Alabama and Middle Tennessee • Develop a smartphone app that allows them to contribute observations about crop type, health, soil moisture, irrigation status, other comments, and digital photography • Supplement their observations with innovative, low-cost soil moisture sensors via DIY activities or off-the-shelf solutions • Educate them on NASA remote sensing and modeling products that they can use to monitor their local conditions. • We use their observations to address science questions: • How well do our products represent the state of the drought? • They use their observations to meet their needs: • How do my conditions compare to those around me, and NASA data sets? • How can national drought analysts (Drought Monitor, USDA) incorporate observations to understand the current drought situation and impacts? Smartphone Application • The team collaborated to develop a smartphone application that allows for: • Sharing of NASA products (hosted by MSFC/SPoRT) and supplemental weather information from NOAA • Display of the latest U.S. Drought Monitor information to update on the official drought status • Observations collected by citizen science participants Recent Reports Active Sensors User Location Default Map Display Active Sensors Pinch / Zoom Display User Location Recent Reports Data Layers NOAA 3-Day Rainfall Ending 12/6 U.S. Drought Monitor 4-Week Evaporative Stress Index