Oral Presentation AMOS Annual Meeting and International Conference on Tropical Meteorology and Oceanography

When citizen science meets urban climate: The Sydney Schools Weather and Air Quality (SWAQ) monitoring network   (#260)

Melissa Hart 1 , Angela Maharaj 2 , Giovanni Di Virgilio 2
  1. ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, UNSW Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney

Sydney’s population is predicted to grow by 30% within twenty years, most of which is slated for the semi-rural fringes. The resulting urbanisation will adversely impact temperature and air quality in these areas of rapid population growth. Currently there are few meteorological and air quality observational sites to adequately monitor the effects of this increased urbanisation on local weather and air quality. This poster will discuss the development of a citizen science project that will place meteorology and air quality sensors in 30 schools across Sydney. The sites will complement existing networks in order to target regions lacking monitoring sites e.g., urban growth areas on the rural fringe. Students will collect and analyse research quality data in science and geography curriculum-aligned classroom activities. The data will also be freely available online to the public and researchers.