Crowdsourcing ionogram scaling: a citizen science project

Abstract

Citizen science (CS) is defined as a form of research collaboration or data gathering performed by non-experts or untrained individuals. CS projects benefit scientists by providing resources for data processing, gathering, pattern recognition, etc. On the other hand, for volunteers, CS represents the democratization of science, and the opportunity to be involved in local issues as well as a strong public education aspect. In this work, we will use zoouniverse.org to create a CS project using data from Jicamarca Radio Observatory’s ionosonde. Participants will use a built-in draw tool to identify the ordinary and extraordinary lines from an ionogram power image, which then can be used for parameter estimation. Furthermore, we will describe our plans for data management and public engagement. We hope this work will motivate our community to use CS projects both as a scientific and an outreach approach.