Cutting Edge Projects in Aurora Participatory Science

Abstract: Participatory science, also called citizen science, connects scientists with the public to enable discovery, engaging broad audiences across the world. In aurora science, direct collaborations, crowdsourced efforts, and community engagement bridge aurora chasers with scientists to do research. These efforts have been fueled by recent large storms, evolving consumer camera technologies, social media, and dedicated citizen science projects. In this presentation, we highlight recent, cutting-edge participatory science efforts. Aurorasaurus is an award-winning citizen science platform that has been operating for over a decade. Aurora chasers submit aurora visibility reports and photos, which are filtered and cleaned to generate science-quality datasets. During the May 10–11, 2024 geomagnetic storm, Aurorasaurus compiled more than 5,000 vetted reports from 50+ countries, allowing for unique data-model comparisons and auroral oval boundary tracking. Recently, “campaign-style” efforts have demonstrated potential for aurora participatory science. We note the AurorEye project’s low-cost deployable all-sky timelapse units, SolarMaX mission in coordination with SpaceX’s Fram2 launch, and collaborations between aurora chasers and the SuperDARN team to supplement radar measurements with optical aurora data. With the ongoing solar maximum, it is important to harness the excitement and enthusiasm surrounding the aurora and space weather. Participatory science efforts build important relationships between public communities and scientists and unlock unique research benefits.