Research papersCrowdsourced data for flood hydrology: Feedback from recent citizen science projects in Argentina, France and New Zealand

- We introduce three independent citizen science projects to document floods.
- Crowdsourced images were used for discharge estimation or flood mapping.
- The projects provide consistent feedback on the key drivers for success.
- Especially: the support of stakeholders and the public awareness of natural hazards.

New communication and digital image technologies have enabled the public to produce large quantities of flood observations and share them through social media. In addition to flood incident reports, valuable hydraulic data such as the extent and depths of inundated areas and flow rate estimates can be computed using messages, photos and videos produced by citizens. Such crowdsourced data help improve the understanding and modelling of flood hazard. Since little feedback on similar initiatives is available, we introduce three recent citizen science projects which have been launched independently by research organisations to quantitatively document flood flows in catchments and urban areas of Argentina, France, and New Zealand. Key drivers for success appear to be: a clear and simple procedure, suitable tools for data collecting and processing, an efficient communication plan, the support of local stakeholders, and the public awareness of natural hazards.