Surface Pressure Observations from Smartphones: A Potential Revolution for High-Resolution Weather Prediction?

Abstract

Millions of smartphones possess relatively accurate pressure sensors and the expectation is that these numbers will grow into the hundreds of millions globally during the next few years. The availability of millions of pressure observations each hour from smartphones has major implications for high-resolution numerical weather prediction. This paper reviews smartphone pressure-sensor technology, describes commercial efforts to collect the data in real time, examines the implications for mesoscale weather prediction, and provides an example of assimilating smartphone pressure observations for a strong convective event over eastern Washington State.

Crowdsourcing Methods for Data Collection in Geophysics: State of the Art, Issues, and Future Directions

“…For example, automobiles are equipped with a variety of sensors, including cameras, impact sensors, wiper sensors, and sun sensors, which could all be used to derive weather data such as humidity, sun radiation, and pavement temperature (B. Mahoney et al, ; W. P. Mahoney & O'Sullivan, ). Similarly, modern smartphones are also equipped with a number of sensors, which enables them to be used to measure air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity (Anderson et al, ; Madaus & Mass, ; Mass & Madaus, ; Mcnicholas & Mass, ; Sosko & Dalyot, ). More specifically, smartphone batteries, as well as smartphone‐interfaced wireless sensors, have been used to indicate air temperature in surrounding regions (B. Mahoney et al, ; Majethisa et al, 2015).…”

Mapping atmospheric aerosols with a citizen science network of smartphone spectropolarimeters

“…Over the last years, citizen science approaches have transformed scientific data collection [e.g., Boersma and De Vroom , ; D'Hondt et al ., ] and analysis [e.g., Fischer et al ., ; Cooper et al ., ] in some areas, mostly due to technological advances and the increased willingness of the general public to be involved in the scientific practice [ Bonney et al ., ; Freitag and Pfeffer , ; Raddick et al ., ]. Mobile phone technology now enables the collection of atmospheric quantities such as pressure [ Mass and Madaus , ] and temperature [ Overeem et al ., ]. Up to now, this data collection has been largely passive: the citizens' equipment automatically submits data to a database without any specific user actions necessary to acquire the data.…”

The curious case of ice pellets over middle Tennessee on 1 March 2014

“…2, the clustering of mPING reports within 50 km of the Nashville radar (KOHX) was observed between 0220 and 0418 UTC (820 to 1018 pm local time). The proliferation of smartphones and web-enabled GPS devices has facilitated such crowdsourcing of meteorological observations, including surface precipitation type (Elmore et al 2014), urban temperature (Overeem et al 2013), and surface pressure (Mass and Madaus 2014). The mPING reports provide a valuable resource for observations of surface precipitation type when conventional surface reports are unavailable or inadequate.…”