H2020 GROW Project: CRECER Observatory
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2016 -2019
- Assigned Budget 5.096.919,64 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto GROW
GROW developed and refined a framework for COs, outlining principles, concepts, and a step-by-step process. Key dimensions were GROW Missions: coordinated periods of citizen science activity; and GROW Places: priority areas for community development and sensor distribution, achieving minimum viable and high-density sensor distribution in geographically diverse areas. A GROW sensor network was developed to enable citizens to contribute valuable, validated data at scale across Europe. GROW deployed the entire global stock (15,000 sensors) of leading consumer soil, using geographical and scientific criteria designed for scientific exploitation. Data were transmitted using mobile phones connected to the sensors via Bluetooth. The entire data collection chain was tested, from training to data access for exploitation.
This included user manuals for metadata collection, deployment in representative areas, frequent data collection, transmission, and storage on the GROW platform. The physical robustness of the sensors was assessed through winter stress tests; the quality of sensor measurements was evaluated under laboratory conditions and against high-quality sensors in the field; and an initial comparison with Sentinel-1 was conducted. Data collection protocols and tools were developed and tested for the soil sensors and other key soil and land parameters collected through citizen science observations and experiments.
The GROW data platform was designed to be scalable, considering new types of soil sensors. An ecosystem of services for sensor data collection was developed, and steps were taken to integrate it with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Interface services include the GROW social platform and app. Information services include visualizations of local weather and soil conditions, and a growing advisory service based on integrated algorithms and a database of edible plants. An original contribution of GROW was the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to scale rigorous citizen science.
These methods enabled GROW to build engaged and highly participatory communities across Europe, active in the creation, sharing, and utilization of earth and soil observations. GROW applied professional sensing protocols to the low-cost IoT domain and provided high-quality crowdsourced data. For the first time, crowdsourced in-situ data were used to validate satellite soil moisture products. Operational prototypes of information services for use in agriculture and climate forecasting were tested. GROW also collaborated with artists to illustrate CO2 concepts and stimulate ideas. GROW demonstrated that the CO2 concept and system can generate broad adoption, solid scientific knowledge, and societal impact. Awarded the 2019 Land and Soil Management Prize, and recognized by the jury as "the best example for future significant sustainability projects targeting soil health." Named first in the EC's annual GEO plenary statement on major developments in Earth observation in 2019.
Urgent action, based on new information and knowledge, is needed to maintain soil as a sustainable resource, balanced with the need to maintain/increase agricultural productivity. Sound soil management and land-use practices are vital for economic growth, sustainable development, food security, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, and water resource protection. The availability of soil moisture data is important for understanding the impacts of climate and climate change, as well as for improving weather forecasts, drought monitoring, flood prediction, promoting agricultural productivity, and detailed analysis of the water, energy, and carbon cycles.
The GROW Observatory was one of four projects funded by the European Commission to demonstrate the concept of Citizen Observatories (COs) under operational conditions. GROW's objective was to create a sustainable platform and citizen community for generating, sharing, and using information on land, soil, and water resources at a resolution never before considered. The vision was to create a movement around environmental observations, empower citizens to participate in environmental decision-making, scale up and reduce the costs of global Earth observation activities, and contribute to innovation in the Digital Single Market. GROW is the first continental-scale CO measurement system that continuously monitors a key parameter for science over an extended period and with unparalleled spatial density. The focus was on soil moisture, a vital element for understanding climate phenomena such as floods, droughts, and wildfires.
The GROW Observatory (GROW) will create a sustainable platform and citizen community for generating, sharing, and utilizing information on land, soil, and water resources at a resolution previously unconsidered. The vision is to support smart and sustainable land and soil stewardship while meeting the demands of food production and to address a long-standing challenge for space science: the validation of soil moisture sensing from satellites. GROW is a highly innovative project that leverages and combines low-cost consumer sensing technology, a simple soil test, and a large user base of growers and plant enthusiasts to contribute individual soil and soil data.
It is designed to primarily involve individual producers and smallholder farmers across Europe, enabling them to develop new knowledge and innovative practices through the collective power of shared and open data and knowledge. Citizens contributing data will gain access to the first comprehensive single-source crop and irrigation advisory service for individual and smallholder farmers, incorporating scientific and crowdsourced information. Furthermore, they will develop “campaigns” (coordinated sampling operations) around local needs and issues to support smarter decision-making and the implementation of policy objectives. GROW will actively identify and enable new and credible social and business innovation processes, creating new services, applications, and potential markets.
The result will be a central hub of open knowledge and data, created and maintained by producers, that will be valuable to citizens themselves, as well as to communities of specialists in science, policy, and industry. The GROW partnership will connect and expand to globally dispersed communities linked through digital and social platforms, and to a wide range of additional citizen associations and NGOs in sustainable agriculture, gardening, food democracy, and land management.
Communities and intermediary organizations have been empowered to generate data, knowledge, and collaborative action around local and global environmental and societal challenges. A broad transdisciplinary community of citizen scientists has been built across international borders. Social innovation increased exponentially where shared practices were adapted to regional contexts and local issues. GROW pioneered the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to scale rigorous citizen science in a country. The deployment of a massive sensor network and the significant amount of open, quality-controlled data expand the in situ segment of Copernicus and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). GROW data are available to the GEOSS community in a consistent and compatible format and have been integrated into the International Soil Moisture Network.
GROW's high-density clusters of low-cost sensors can represent variability at the satellite pixel scale, and the gridded product provides a robust and scalable model with similar performance across larger and smaller areas and different time periods. This enhances Earth observation capabilities at the European level. GROW improves field verification of satellite products: calculating average soil moisture from all low-cost sensors in a satellite pixel delivers much higher accuracy than the most representative or highest-quality sensor (for both coarse- and fine-resolution products). Thanks to GROW's unprecedented spatial coverage, we were able to assess for the first time the spatial consistency of high-resolution satellite soil moisture products with respect to in-situ measurements.
A more precise understanding of spatial and temporal patterns of soil moisture can improve the quality of diverse applications, from crop yield estimation to drought monitoring, weather and climate predictions to landslide forecasting. GROW enables the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) to achieve sustainable soil management in Europe. GROW has helped thousands of people become resilient regenerative food producers. Surveys demonstrate increased adoption of regenerative practices among people accessing GROW services.
GROW's operational prototype services enable farmers and land managers to analyze dynamic spatial patterns of soil moisture and manage resource and crop use with great precision. GROW set an ambitious goal: to integrate CO2 into overall management. This noble ambition has extended and become part of the broader citizen observer narrative in Europe, taken up by the WeObserve coordination and support project. GROW has created a thriving and sustainable Citizen Observation ecosystem, and GROW's data communities and practices have been sustained after the project's conclusion.
- UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE (UNIVDUN)
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