MacDonald, Elizabeth and Case, Nathan and Clayton, Jessica and Hall, Michelle and Heavner, Matt and Lalone, Nicolas and Patel, Kasha and Tapia, Andrea (2015) Aurorasaurus : a citizen science platform for viewing and reporting the aurora. Space Weather, 13 (9). pp. 548-559. ISSN 1539-4956
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Abstract
A new, citizen science based, aurora observing and reporting platform has been developed with the primary aim of collecting auroral observations made by the general public to further improve the modeling of the aurora. In addition, the real-time ability of this platform facilitates the combination of citizen science observations with auroral oval models to improve auroral visibility nowcasting. Aurorasaurus provides easily understandable aurora information, basic gamification, and real-time location-based notification of verified aurora activity to engage citizen scientists. The Aurorasaurus project is one of only a handful of space weather citizen science projects and can provide useful results for the space weather and citizen science communities. Early results are promising with over 2,000 registered users submitting over 1,000 aurora observations and verifying over 1,700 aurora sightings posted on Twitter.