Citizen scientists tracking sea level rise

Shareable - The King Tides Project, run by the California Coastal Commission, is a successful example of a citizen science tracking project. The project’s map (available to the public) tracks sea level rise all over the state through photos submitted by local citizen scientists. To participate, citizens just need a camera or smartphone — they take photos of rise in their area and submit it to the commission to be inputted into their database. Whitney Berry is the climate change program manager for the Ocean Protection Council, a close partner of the commission that utilizes the project and hosts it on its website. She says citizen science is immensely useful for research like hers. Citizen Science “advances scientific research by providing extra hands or eyes, and it includes everyone, so you get participation from folks who might not have a PhD or a Master’s degree, but they have years of local knowledge and have a closer relationship with the area.”