Speaker
Description
Crowd weather stations (CWS) have become a relevant data source in opportunistic sensing, particularly in urban meteorology. Netatmo stations are the most widespread CWS platform and are extensively used for air temperature and humidity observations. In addition to the standard configuration, optional modules enable wind and precipitation measurements. The pioneering work of de Vos et al. (2017) demonstrated potential and limits of using Netatmo and other CWS networks for precipitation monitoring. Their study provided one of the first systematic evaluations of crowd-sourced rainfall data and laid the methodological foundation for subsequent research in this field.
Despite this progress, precipitation measurements remain more limited than temperature observations. The density of Netatmo rain gauges is substantially lower than that of temperature sensors, restricting their applicability in many urban areas. Moreover, low-cost precipitation sensors are more sensitive to installation conditions and subsequent processing, which complicates quality assurance and consistent data use.
Here, we present a systematic assessment of the global availability of Netatmo CWS precipitation data across over 500 pre-selected cities worldwide, where we found around 120 000 Netatmo precipitations stations. In this contribution we analyse station density, spatial distribution, and temporal evolution of the network to quantify city-wise station coverage and its development over time. This large-scale inventory provides a structured overview of current data availability and identifies regions with suitable network density for urban hydrometeorological analysis.