Summer 2026 – How to Document the Effects of Drought with Citizen Science Apps

Why Document the Effects of the Climate Crisis?

Although there is rarely such broad agreement in science on a topic as there is on the human-made climate crisis (and there are plenty of data to prove it), documenting precisely such periods of drought is extremely important. These visible signs that we all witness can, once recorded, still provide important data for research. Above all, however, observations from the public are often easier to understand than scientific data and statistics, which means they have a higher potential to collectively illustrate what is happening in front of our eyes.

How to Document the Effects with Citizen Science Apps

We all experience the impacts of the climate crisis differently: one person suffers from high temperatures in the city, another loses a large part of their harvest, someone else runs out of cold water for fish farming, while a 90-year-old sees the stream behind their house completely dried up for the first time. All these experiences and observations are currently being discussed within small circles – but when correctly documented, they can become part of a larger picture that can be demonstrated and traced over time.

Citizen Science Apps and Citizen Action Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform for Documenting the Climate Crisis 

At SPOTTERON, we work together with scientific projects on interactive Citizen Science Apps that make it easy for all of us to record our own experiences and observations. These include Citizen Science and Citizen Action Apps that allow anyone to specifically document the impacts of the climate crisis:

Fridays For Future App

The first climate crisis App we would like to introduce is the Fridays For Future App.
Fridays for Future see itself as a horizontal, grassroots grassroots movement that acts apolitically and refers to science for the facts. To involve the global population more closely, this App was developed with the help of SPOTTERON.

In the Fridays For Future App, positive and negative influences on the climate crisis can be documented (e.g. Positive = expansion of public transport / Negative = land sealing). In addition, climate crisis effects such as heatwaves, drought, floods, loss of nature, etc., as well as individual information, can be specifically recorded.

The aim of the App is to find out how and what citizens perceive about the climate crisis and which positive and negative emotions are associated with specific topics related to the biodiversity crisis and climate crisis. Everyone from anywhere can use this App for their observations – it is available in German and English.  

P51 App

P51 is a project by La Ruta del Clima (Costa Rica) with the aim of collecting knowledge from communities about the impacts of climate change on various topics such as infrastructure, territorial changes, human rights, loss of species and territories, etc. The project offers the opportunity to make observations throughout Latin America, where the impacts of climate change have in some cases exceeded the limits of adaptability and where significant damage and loss are already occurring, which many communities often have to live with invisibly.

The P51 App is available in Spanish and English and can generally also be used outside Latin America for documentation, even though researchers currently only evaluate the data on a regional level.

COSEA App

For the next App on our list, we have selected an App for marine observations in Europe and worldwide. The COSEA App was developed together with two Horizon Europe projects: EFFECTIVE and TRANSEATION.

With COSEA, Citizen Scientists can observe the marine environment, document coastal habitats or species, and report on climatic effects in our seas and oceans. Specifically in the "Weather and Climate Impacts" category of the App, marine heatwaves, rising water temperatures, ocean acidification, ocean deoxygenation, extreme temperatures, as well as temperature effects on, for example, coral reefs can be recorded.

The observations made in the App will help scientists better understand the impacts and drivers of marine factors in order to protect and promote a healthy relationship between humans and the seas.

ClimateWatch

The ClimateWatch program is the collaborative brainchild of Earthwatch Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology and the University of Melbourne to understand how changes in temperature and rainfall are affecting the seasonal behaviour of Australia's plants and animals. The ClimateWatch Citizen Science App enables every Australian to be involved in collecting and recording data that will help shape the country's scientific response to climate change.

The more broadly we document the effects of climate change across society and landscapes, the more likely we are to recognise how necessary serious climate action is – which above all also requires our willingness to change.

Thank you for documenting!
Your SPOTTERON Team