In spring of 2011, University at Buffalo hydrogeologist Chris Lowry hammered a giant measuring staff into the bottom of a pond in Western New York
In spring of 2011, University at Buffalo hydrogeologist Chris Lowry hammered a giant measuring staff into the bottom of a pond in Western New York. Nearby, he posted instructions explaining how passersby could read the staff and text him the water level.
With these humble beginnings, CrowdHydrology was launched.
The initiative has since expanded to streams into 14 states, and Lowry is now looking to use it to improve predictions of flooding in the United States.
With new funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he is working to integrate crowdsourced data from CrowdHydrology into the National Water Model, a tool developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to forecast conditions along the country’s waterways.
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Image via University at Buffalo.
