Climatechangewillimpactwhereandhowhumanslive.Astidesriseandstormsintensify,humanswillbeforcedtoadapttothechangingenvironmentandincreaseresiliencybylearningmoreaboutlocalimpactsofrisingtidesandintensifiedstorms.TheCoastalObserverAppencouragescitizenstobecomeactiveinmonitoringweatherandwaterlocally,andwillhelpresearchersbuildapathwayforasustainablefuture.
Thecitizenscientistsmaychoosefrom4activities:
1)basicenvironmentalobservationsbysharinghowthecurrentsettingmakesyoufeel.
2)weatherobservationstodocumentthecurrentweatheranditsimpacts.
3)waterleveltodocumentwherethewaterlevelsareandhowthismightimpactinfrastructure,life,orproperty.
4)waterqualitytodocumenthowourenvironmentisimpactedbyhumanpractices.
ObservingWeatherEvents
Weathereventscanhavedevastatingeffectsonlocalcommunities.Usingthisapplication,theobservercanmakenoteofstormyconditionsanditsassociatedaffects.Thisinformationwillbedocumentedthroughphotographsanduserdocumentation.
MeasuringWaterLevel
Ifthereisaninstalledandfixedwaterlevelgaugenearyou,feelfreetousethatgaugetoenteryourwaterlevel.Forhelplocatingexistinggauges,pleasevisitthislink.Iftherearenoinstalled,fixedgauges,youcanreportavaluefromanearbyautomatedgaugeatthetimeofyourobservation,orsimplytakeapicturetodocumentthewaterlevelvisually.NOTE-Neverattempttomeasurewaterlevelsduringunsafeconditionsorwithoutpropertraining.
MonitoringWaterQuality
UsersmayuseaSechhiDisktomakemanualobservationsofwaterclarity.Formoreinformation,visittheSecchiDiskProject(http://www.secchidisk.org/).
CoastalObserverforSchools
SchoolscaneasilyincludetheCoastalObserverAppintheircurriculum.EducatorscanutilizetheapptoteachreadingwaterlevelsorusingaSecchiDisktoincreaseenvironmentalawarenessinstudents,whilealsoprovidingtheopportunitytoexpressfeelingsaboutwaterandweatherevents.
TheCoastalObserverapprunsontheSPOTTERONCitizenScienceplatform.
Moreinfosareavailableatwww.spotteron.net